Simply to say, Peter went crazy.

When it came time to send Mike back to the U.S. Peter would not leave his side. He muttered to himself and screamed at anyone who came near. At night he would yell out song lyrics or random sentences. Most disturbingly, he would cackle and laugh uncontrollably.

I kept my distance from him by sitting for hours on end in the hospital with Davy. On the second day of fighting for his life I was sitting with my friend. He had given up on living since being told he was going home. I think he wanted to die before he left.

I didn't argue.

Davy didn't die in that hospital bed though. They shipped him out on the same plane with Mike.

"Micky, don't let them take me!" He wailed weakly.

"I'm sorry." I said through tears as the medics carried his stretcher away, and out to the helicopter.

As I watched him fly away I felt like dying myself. I considered suicide, but the thought scared me. I tried telling Peter but all he said was, "Serves him right! Severs you right!!" He kept repeating that over and over!

They'd confined Peter to a prison cell until he calmed down. The medics hadn't been able to examine him without being mauled, so they decided to put him in solitary confinement until he calmed down. They told me that they thought he was just under a lot of stress, and if her could be alone, he'd eventually come back to us. I hoped they were right. I needed him. Davy had listened to me and now that he was gone, I had no one to share my pain with. Well, excluding Keanu, but I hated to burden her with my troubles.

I left the cell they'd confined Peter to with a heavy heart. How was a man supposed to deal with this amount of tragedy in only a few days? I couldn't go to the tent. Too many memories laid inhabited it.

I went into town to find Keanu. She was standing just outside the gates of the orphanage.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"They take Con Trai. He have better life. Orphans leaving Vietnam. They go to America." She smiled to me with tears of joy.

I laughed and took her face into my hands.

"Keanu that's amazing!" I encouraged.

"They leave tonight." Keanu laughed.

"I'm so happy for you!" I held her close to my chest.

The two of us walked through the town for a few hours and as it got dark I asked her if I could stay the night, but she smiled and told me that I should go back to camp.

"I can't go to that tent again." I argued.

"If not tonight, then never." She said wisely.

I knew deep down she was right. After giving her the food I'd brought for, I talked a while longer with Keanu. Before I left she gave me a gentle kiss on the cheek, and despite all the negative feelings I had, love opened up like a flower within me. I reached out for her hand and brought the girl closer to me.

"I love you." I whispered to her as I held both of her hands.

"I love you too, Micky." She blushed.

I kissed her soft lips and said good night. I could hear her giggling as I skipped off down the road. Somehow through everything the past few days had offered, I was happy. Genuinely, no doubt about it, happy!

That is until I reached the tent and all the memories of my friends came back to me. Mike taking the blame for leaving the lamp on. Mike and I talking in the middle of the night and getting busted the next morning for sleeping in the same bunk. Mike confessing his failure to me. Those along with many other memories of Mike. For David I remembered when he slipped into the tent like a cat in the night. Also when he hadn't eaten and I shared my piece of chicken with him. Mostly good, but the most prevalent were the memories of his sickness. The late-night trips to the latrine. Continuous coughing, and groaning in pain!

Still I took a deep breath and walked inside. I inched my way to Mike's bunk and sat down with care. Feelings coursed through my veins and caused me to panic. I closed my eyes and took a few more deep breaths. Tears began to fall silently.

At some point I laid down on Mike's pillow and curled up under his covers. As I cried to myself I thought of a conversation we'd had at the beginning of our tour.

"I guess you'll be wanting to get back to your post then." Mike had joked.

"Well, if your offer still stands, I'd like to stay here with you Micheal, where it's safe." I'd said joking as well.

Back in reality I whispered through my tears.

"I don't feel safe anymore, Micheal."

/R�.��5