That was three weeks ago.
Jackson was at the airport, waiting to get picked up by his dad. They had all agreed that if he did well enough at his new school, he could visit his dad at home as well as visit the university that scouted him earlier.
His phone buzzed in his pocket yet again and it's no question who it is. He picked up his phone, just to make sure it wasn't his mom or something, and- nope, he was right, it was Carolina texting him yet again.
Not only did guilt eat at him for sleeping with the girl he actually had a crush on's best friend, it was also two days later when he realized that Carolina was actually crazy as HELL. He's always heard that Latinas were crazy. But he though it was just a stereotype like white people can't dance or black people love fried chicken, that kind of thing.
But no, this bitch is actually crazy.
She's excessively texted him over the last couple of weeks and he explicitly told her that while she was a very pretty girl, it was just a one time thing that should've never happened.
But does she listen? No.
"We'll speak more when you get back," she insisted in their last text.
Jackson ignored her, again, and just as he put his phone away, his dad pull up in front of him. Jackson placed his luggage in the back of the suv he owned, and got in the passenger side of the car. "You're looking good," his dad commented as he started driving home.
"Thanks. You too," he replies.
"Any idea where you wanna go to college?" His dad asked, making him roll his eyes. Here we go...
"I'm still deciding. Might even take a gap year," he tells him.
After half-heartedly answering his question, his dad takes them out to a diner so they could both eat. It was pretty obvious they still weren't on good terms, but Jackson figured he needed to get out of town for a bit to clear his head and get away from all the crazy drama.
He thought moving with in with her mom would suddenly fix everything. And then he met a girl.
When they went home, it was late. His dad left left Jackson to settle in his old room again, and he saw that everything was as he last left it. A clean bed, nightstand, desk and chair. It looked like any other room in the house. Jackson walked around the house, trying to see if there were any new changes in the past six months, but nothing. He assumed all his dad did was work, eat and sleep. He looked at the photo on the walls and fireplace and saw a picture of his whole entire family, his mom included and brother included. His mom, dad, Ryder and him.
Jackson almost rolled his eyes at photo.
Happy family his ass.
* * * *
Vietnam, 1975
He woke up to excruciating pain radiating off his leg. He screamed, going over to reach whatever's broken, but was stopped by someone else's hand.
"Dừng lại, bạn sẽ làm cho nó tồi tệ hơn!" He heard. The language was unintelligible. He now dreaded opening his eyes. Not only did he hurt himself, he was now also captured by...who knows.
"Please monsieur, stop moving!" He heard a feminine voice say now. Confused, he opened his eyes to see two people hovering over him. One was a younger Asian boy, about twelve. And the other was an older Asian girl, but he couldn't tell her age. She could've been anywhere from sixteen to twenty-one, he wasn't too sure. He was in a small grass hut but he wasn't too sure where. He didn't know anything.
He halted his movements and he watched carefully as the girl fixed gash on his calf, covering it in aloe before saying a few words in a different language to the boy. He runs out of the room, before coming back two minutes later with some cloth in his hand. She wraps his leg in the cloth, before moving up to his arm. He watched as she gently rubbed aloe again, making him hiss slightly out in pain.
"I️-I️'m sorry," she whispered in a slight accent.
"It's alright. It just hurts," he reassured her, looking up at her now. She focused on patching up his wounds, finally moving to his head. They met eyes for a moment, but then she looked up at the cut on his forehead. "Who...who are you?" He asks. "Do you speak English?"
"Un peu," she answers softly in what he could recognize as...French? "My...how do you say? Grand-père, spoke French and English. Ma mère, spoke French and Vietnamese," she tells him. "He talked to me in English, said I️ would need it one day."
Well thank god for grand-père, whoever that was.
"Je m'appelle Mai," she introduced once she was done wrapping his head. The boy from earlier came back in, now with a cup of something steaming. "This is my petit-frère Hao," she says.
He nodded his head at both of them. "Okay but...who am I️?"
Mai stands up and crosses the room, picking up a heavy jacket and a metal necklace before kneeling in front of him and handing it over to him. It was then he noticed he was in a green t-shirt, damn near ripped to shreds and underwear. Thats it, that's all he was wearing. "Oh!" He quickly used the jacket to cover himself. He looked at the front and saw "Carter" on the left side. He then picked up the dog tags and read them closely.
CARTER, NATHAN
773-12-1903
B POS
CATHOLIC
He looked up at Mai, who patiently looked at him back. "Is this mine?" He asked. She nods her head yes. "Do you know what happened to me?" He asks. She shakes her head no. "Oh god..." he panics. He didn't know anything. He didn't know why he was there, what happened, where he was from, who his family was, where he was even-
"Did you say you spoke Vietnamese?" He asked her again. She shook her head yes. "So I'm in..."
"North Vietnam, outside Hanoi," she informs.
He looks down at his jacket. This was a military jacket. Was he in the military? He checked the jacket again and saw "U.S. Marine Corps". This was a good place start. At least he knew his name and that he was in Marines. "Do...do you know where I️ can find other Americans?" He asked.
Mai bit her lip at that one. "Um..." she hesitated.
"What? What's wrong?" He asked.
"We're not supposed to help Americans," Hao answered for her. "We could be killed. All of us," he warns.
Nathan's face fell. "What? Why?" He asks, confusing them both.
"Are you dumb?" Hao asks, making Mai scold him in another language.
"Do you not see that this man is not well!?" She hissed. She then turned back around and faced him. "We are war with the Americans right now. That's probably why you were sent here," she tells him.
He nodded his head in understanding. So this was a combat injury? He looked down at his bandaged leg and arm and head. He considered himself lucky he barely got away with a few scratches. He wondered what happened. "Do you know when it'll be safe to leave?" He wonders.
Both siblings look at each other. Mai spoke first. "Monsieur..."
"Uh..." he looked at his dog tag again, "Carter. No, Nathan," he corrected himself.
"Nathan," she repeated after him. "It's...a hostile time in our country right now. We'd have to be very careful about how we do things," she warns him. "Besides, you're hurt right now," she gently places her hands on either side of his shoulder and eases him back on his back. "You should get some rest," she tells him. He lets out a sigh and nods, deciding not to argue with her. She was right, he should sleep this off, and figure this out another day.
Both Mai and Hao leave his room, and he looks down at his jacket again, seeing a few pockets were buttoned up. He reaches down and unbuttons a few, just to see if he could find anymore clues about his life, when he notices the gold band around his finger. He lifted his hand up and took the band off his finger, inspecting it closely. Was he engaged? Married? He put it down aside next to him and continued looking through his pockets until he hit the front left one, feeling something in them. He pulls out three photos. One was him and a woman. She was wearing a long white dress and a flower crown on her head and him, a suit. He flipped them around and saw the words "Nate and Jessica's wedding day, 1973"
He then looked at the next photo, and it was a picture of a newborn baby. His almost burst out of his chest. He flipped it again; Elisa Katherine Carter, 3 days old
He then looked at the last photo which featured both the woman and the baby together, but the baby was now a bit bigger. Blues eyes, tan skin and curly hair, being held by her mom who had long dark hair and brown skin. She was really pretty, no doubt. It was a no-brainer as to why he married her. He flipped it around to read the caption on the back, but instead he found a message.
Jessica and Elisa Carter, 1974
Love you always
Followed by a small drawing of a heart next to the message. Nathan felt the tears fall down his face and lets out a choked sob, setting the pictures down.
He had a wife and daughter.
And he didn't even remember them.
_____________________________
I️ JUST WANNA SAY, IDK WHO SOCIAL ThAT IS, I️ MADE IT UP, I️ PRESSED RANDOM NUMBERS, DONT BE TRYNA STEAL NOBODY IDENTITY, PLEASE.
Anyways...moving on.
we gained a little more insight on what happened to Nate. But we don't know fully what happens. All will be revealed sooner or later. And if you end up still having questions by the end of this book then I️ did a shitty job of storytelling 💀💀
Tell me what more you hope to see or expect. Would you guys want a full on, whole story about each generation? Cause I️ could write a novella. Or do you wanna do a Q&A chapter? (WHEN I️ FINISH THE STORY......) idk, let me know what u want.
Love u lots, thanks for reading and staying with me this far 😂