The hallways overflowed with people laying in the concrete floor of the small hospital in the remote village. The staff ran in desperation as every new patient carried in was more critical than the last. Bandages were in short supply, as were rooms, beds, and doctors, but perhaps importantly, blood. Plenty of it ran freely in the halls, and in the field from which everyone was carried from, but not enough laid in the refrigerators of the humble building in charge of the fate of dozens of people now seeking its mercy.

David was one of the many running through the halls, but though his heart was with everyone he passed in desperation, his mind was clearly on someone else. He had left the scene soon as it was secure and tracked down the hospital where everyone was being taken too. It was clear breach in protocol but, damn the protocol. He needed to find Parisa, Hakim, and their mom. They were his family.

"Have you seen a young woman, maybe 17 years old, and a young boy, 13? They are with an older, olive-skin woman, wearing an old, worn-out black robe? Have you seen them?"

He asked every nurse, doctor, officer anybody that looked official, and even families of the injured waiting for their turn to be looked at. He rushed from bed to bed disrupting anyone who could give him any information, eventually angering some of the staff, and patients in the process. He didn't mean to of course, but he had no choice.

"David! What the hell are you doing man? Come on!" Corporal Stevens pulled David off of a nurse frightened by the wild eyes of the American officer.

"Corporal? What are you doing here?"

"Getting your ass back to the base. You're out of control! They send us out to the site you should be in command of and nobody can find you. I'm taking you back before you are arrested, or brought up on charges." The Corporal dragged David by the arm as everyone looked in disgust at the ridiculous scene distracting from their own pain.

"I can't leave yet. I need to find them. I gotta know what happened to them!"

"Look around David! All these people are suffering for their real family. You're being an ass here, chasing after what? Some fantasy?"

"You don't understand. They need me!"

"No David, you need them! You're all screwed up in your head. They have each other. Let the people here do their job, and you need to do yours."

"I don't care about that. I'm not leaving them until I know they are fine."

"David, you're coming with me even if I have to drag your ass out of here."

"Do what you have to do. But I have to find them, let them know they are not alone. You're not getting me out of here until I do."

Both stood facing each other in the middle of the hall, Corporal Stevens trying not bring attention to their stand off and David wanting to continue his search.

"10-33." Corporal radioed discreetly in to his mouthpiece never taking his eyes off of David who obviously recognized the command.

"You brought back up?"

"It's just the guys. Nobody knows why we're here, and they don't need to know. Come on, we all want to help."

"Then help me find them."

"We will. You just have to come with us first. You know we'll be back later, but you have to come back and report with us."

David shook his head, not happy with the compromise. "That will take too long. Something could happen by then."

"I can't have you disrupting these people man. Give me a break here."

"Just give me a couple of minutes, please."

"You got 5 minutes! After that you are coming with me. But you can't go around disrupting any of the patients."

They asked in vain for five and then ten minutes with no success. There was just too much chaos and it's not like there was a high tech registry logging everyone in. Record keeping was not the high priority at the moment, and David did not have the best description to go off of.

"Okay man, it's been long enough. We have to go. You gave me your word."

"Just a little longer. I know they are here."

"David let's go!"

"Not yet! I have to find them."

David gave the corporal no choice. He pulled David by the arm who tried to wrestle himself free.

"I don't want to hurt you man!"

"Then let me go."

They wrestled in the hallway which was a surreal sight to everyone in the hospital since it was two individuals who they never expected to be involved in this. Everyone backed off in a "let them handle it on their own" mentality. But the corporal knew that the police could intervene and if they did it would not go so well for either of them. So he had no choice. Corporal Stevens used to be a high level judo competitor before the military, and used that experience to take down his well experienced friend with severe prejudice.

He slammed David on his face with the throw which stunned him long enough for the Corporal to slap some hand cuffs on his friend.

Rumors swirled over what happened that day and what should happen to David, but nothing was concrete.

David laid in his bunk thinking of all the times he saw Perisa smile at him, every word she had said; of every instance he had been near her. It was his only defense to the sickening sights of burned, and mutilated bodies who laid motionless by the dozen. To the hundreds of terror filled faces that searched through the chaos for hope, and to the eyes of the mother who found everything but. David's heart beat so viscously in this conflict, that his body felt trampled by every burst.

"How you holding up man?" asked Corporal Stevens walking in and seeing his good friend in his desolate state.

"I'm good," David replied with a forced, half smile which contrasted his tired, pain-filled eyes.

"Sheesh man. I'm getting depressed just seeing you."

"What's up?" asked David. Amongst the rumors, David had heard of someone from state side coming to see him. Probably to take him away.

"Ha. You never beat around the bush I'll give you that. There is someone here to see you. Some General, it looks serious. I was asked to come get you." The gravity in the Corporal's words forewarning David.

"They figure it would be easier coming from you," David replied.

"Listen, I'm here for you no matter what, you know that right? We all are. Whatever happens, you look for me alright?" said the Corporal stretching his hand to help David off his bunk.

The two walked the barracks into a conference room. Everyone hated that room because only bad news happened there. Not that there would much reason to have good meetings in the first place. Corporal Stevens opened the door for David and waved to him as if wishing him good luck.

"Sir, it's you?" said David immediately recognizing the individual.

"Hello son. It's good to see you. Why don't you take a sit?" said General Kasey.

General Kasey was a very old friend of the family. He was the reason David was able to go to military academy, and then West Point.

"Thank you Sir. It's been a while," said David concerned and curious of what the matter of the visit was.

"It's good to see you son," a genuine smile across the Generals face greeted David, but eyes that also betrayed him. He looked worn and tired, possibly due to the long flight.

"If they sent you to talk to me it must not be good. Is it that bad?"

General Kasey walked sullenly over to David, putting his hand on his shoulder, contemplating the news he needed to break. David noticed a slight tremor in the General's hands as he tried to mask a deep breath. The slight silence which consumed the General heightening David's anxiety into a slight panic.

"Sir?"

"It's your father, David." There was another silence. David's eyes suddenly found new life as they widened, searching for the words the General struggle to find.

"My dad? What about him, Sir?"

"It seems he was driving late a couple of night ago, and was possibly drinking. Seems he lost control of his car, and crashed into an embankment. I'm sorry David. There wasn't anything they could do for him."

David focused so intensely on what the General said that the words lost all meaning.

"Wait? No. What did you just say?" David's head pulsed as his blood rushed out just as he suddenly stood. He had to lean on the conference table to keep from losing his balance.

General Kasey walked towards David, placing both hands on his shoulder.

"David, he's gone," His voice broke, just like his expression. The General had lost a lifelong friend.

"What the hell? No! How?!" David turned, and walked away from the General, leaving him alone in his grief, while David spun in a daze of misfortune trying to find solid ground to stand on.

"No, it can't be. Not my dad? He would never do that," David said still in shock. His heart pounding harder in his chest to the point his body swayed back and forth with every beat. The room around him growing longer and spinning as he struggle to breath.

"He'd been having problems the last couple of years. He started drinking more and more. We all saw it, but never realized how bad it'd gotten..." the General spoke as David fought to keep his composure. He resisted every urge to lose control. Maybe if he didn't accept any of this it wouldn't be true. If he fought it, maybe he could reverse everything bad that had happened the last few days.

"David, I'm here to take you home."

"No, no. I can't go home now. My commander was shot, our unit was attacked ...and...there was the bombing of the market. I have to stay, there's a lot of work here. They need me here," David said moving around the room in nervous anxiety.

"What are you talking about? David this is your Dad, your family we are talking about. Your sister Elizabeth, and your Grandmother. They need you now."

"I can't! I made a promise. I can't go now. Not just yet. I have to find her."

"What are you talking about? Is this about the girl? David, I talked to your commander, and your unit. Son you have to let her go. Now I promise we'll look for her and do our best, but you have to come home with me."

"No, that's not good enough!"

"Why not?"

"Because...someone's gotta pay!"

"Who?"

"All of them, every single one of them!"

"For what?"

"For everything...Someone's gotta pay!" David picked up and tossed a chair across the room as his frustrations boiled over. It was all too much now. Parisas, and Hakims whereabouts, leaving his unit, his brothers for good, the news about his dad. David was losing his grip on reality as he felt a hole of misery, and despair opening in the earth beneath him and quickly sucking him. He was panicking, drowning as he desperately looked for a life line, anything at all.

"I can't leave her."

In his despair, General Kasey stepped up, put his hands on David's shoulders, and embraced him as hard as he could.

"Shhh. It's ok. She's gone. You can't do anything more for her. Come home, your family needs you now."

David collapsed into General Kasey arms and let his feelings overcome him. David hugged the General, gripping him with all his strength. His finger digging into the Generals back as David struggle to secure a hold on the jacket. The long, hard journey back home had only just started.

~~~~~~

The flight back was long, and grueling. David and the General caught what little sleep they could but that only made them more tired. David was consumed with the thought of Parisa, and Hakim's unknown fate while he sat powerless flying through the air. His only comfort was that he was not alone. General Kasey was by his side, just as when he started the military academy shortly after his mother's shooting. Alone in that strange, and frightening place, the General was there. And when David decided to join the military, the General was there as well.

After almost twenty-four hours of travel, they arrived to the old L.A. home David ran off from all those years ago.

"Oh Lupe! Lupe! Mira, ya llego to muchacho!" yelled an older woman seeing David come in.

"Aye, mi muchachito," the Grandmother reached for David like she did her little boy. David hugged her back, he had always loved his Grandmother.

"It's so good to have you back," said Grams patting David on the back as she whipped a tear off her eye.

David simply nodded closing his eyes as he felt the slightest hint of a smile try to make its way out which he instinctively suppressed by pressing his lips.

"Look how tall and handsome you are! I still remember you running around in your undies getting in all kinds of troubles," she laughed, her tired eyes coming to life as if the most important person in the world was standing in front of her.

The twenty-five year old lieutenant with two tours under his belt was led by the hand by the small woman, and introduced to all of her acquaintances as he forced a grin. He was exhausted, hungry, and wanting to be alone with his thoughts and pain, but even now he couldn't say no to her. David became detached from himself as being pulled with no choice was almost satisfying.

Grandma would introduce David running off his many achievements, some of which David had forgotten about, and others he did not think she would know. Her excitement surprising, given the occasion. Did she forget this was a funeral? Grandma would leave him and look for someone else to introduce him to. Leaving him to talk to the person who would say "Ohh your grandma talks about you all the time. She goes on and on about where you go and what you've done. Her eyes light up talking about you kids." Everyone knew him, and knew more of him than he would like to. "It's so great that you are finally home so you can help her with the house and take care of her. She works too hard and should slow down. She's getting too old to be by herself. You should have been back here a while ago and not running wild out there. Sometimes you have to be less selfish and think about the family first." They would say as David nodded.

The conversations soon deteriorated with people who asking him about what he did abroad. "Are you part of the invasion?" they would ask him. "Is it true that we are just killing defenseless women and children in their own homes?" or enlighten him "You know this is just all a scam from the government to distract everyone away from immigration, or the economy, or just to claim all the oil in the region." Some would lecture him as if he was the one directly responsible for these apparent crimes. He felt them judging him, as News shows were their only source of information, and everyone had their own opinion already made. David's face grew heavy as he resisted every urge to unload on people who spoke to him without knowing of what they said. He just didn't have the will to reply. Then Grandma would call him over to meet someone else.

"Mijo I know you just got here and you have a lot of things to do but I need you to help me with your sister."

His anxiety growing with every additional demand on his efforts. "I don't know how, I haven't even seen her."

"She's in her room. I'll take you right now but I need to warn you she's difficult and well, you'll see."

Elizabeth, or Liz as she went by, was a fifteen year old who had lived with her father, and old fashioned grandmother ever since her mother's death. She knew of David, and that he was in the military, but had not seen him in almost four years. Even prior he came home less, and less, always studying, going to competitions, any excuse not to come home. Eventually he became memory, turned into a myth, turned into a ghost. The relative talked about as if he were dead, except he wasn't.

To Liz's misfortune her mother's death, and separation of David led her father to become increasingly distant. He drank and worked as hard as he could, often having multiple jobs to make ends meet, and keep David in the academy. It was an odd situation because nobody blamed David outright but the discussion always ended, "well if only he had not been there that night...but oh well it was an accident." Regardless, Liz was the one to end up paying.

"Liz! Mija, look who is here," Grams cautiously knocked at her door and both waited as a wiry girl, wearing black jeans, with her converse, and a simple blue hooded sweater peaked out the door. Her eyes were swollen and red from crying. She was her father's little girl.

"Hi. How are you?" asked David uneasily.

Liz' lips quivered as she tried to reply, and keep from sobbing. David awkwardly embraced her but it was quick, and mechanical. The gesture felt devoid of affection on both parts, separating without saying anything else or looking at each other.

"Thanks," Liz forced herself to reply with no sincerity to what she said. A sterile exchange of affection followed by an uncomfortable silence followed.

"That's it? Don't be strangers. Talk, you're siblings!" urged Grams not satisfied with the exchange.

Liz who felt everything was an attack on her was quick to reply.

"Psh! Why I don't know him. He aint my brother," Liz lashed out and shut her door.

"Aye nina! No seas grocera," said Grams.

"It's fine. She needs time," forgave David.

"Oh my God! You must be tired son. Why don't you go put your things in your old room," she suggested.

David agreed and as he went up the stairs all the memories that house held rushed back. He could see his mother in every corner of the house, more so as he got closer to his room. Every picture frame, every decoration, even the doors and faded paint reminded him of a past that had been waiting for him.

David settled in his roomtaking a deep breath stepping in without noticing and wondered how long he couldpossibly survive here. It hadn't been more than a couple of hours and alreadythe walls were closing in on him. But it was the desperation of still notknowing what became of Parisa, and Hakim that made this caging so much morepainful. David wanted to bolt out of that house and go to them, search forthem, find them. But now guilt for wanting to run out on the old woman, and thebrat tore at his conscious. While unpacking he happened upon his safety box,the cold, sleek, sterile form of the stainless steel devoid of flawscaptivating him. The weight of its contents comforting and terrorizing him atthe same time. After a while, concern grew at his inability to put the casedown. David looked back inside the bag and at the bottom found something moreprecious.

He put down the box and picked up a stack of fashion, andentertainment magazines, worn and wrinkled with their covers ready to crumble.David handled them gently flipping the pages, as if savoring their contentswanting to make sure he took everything from them. They were marked up andwritten on with elementary Pashto, and some English in fine penmanship, it wasParisa's handwriting, with notes to David. "She beutful" Parisa said of herfavorite celebrities. Others spoke of her dreams of travelling, "me in ocean,""I go NY", "lov Paris" hastily written and circled on pictures ofadvertisements. On a travel magazine Parisa revealed her desire to go attenduniversity "I want lern to Spanish," "and Garman," "teach me Inglish?" Othersperhaps of having a family ".کوم ښکلی ماشوم او مور" she wrote next to picture of a mother holding ababy. ".هغه زما راتلونکی خاوند دی" scribed next to a picture of handsome actor witha detailed drawing of a girl kissing him. David re-read all the notes, wishing there were more forhim to discover having already memorized them on the magazines by now. He readthe horoscopes Parisa always marked up for him, always "my Tarous." Davidrecalling how she was the only person to smile at him at the market, and whenhe asked her some time later "You weren't scared of me?" Her simple answerthrough her brilliant smile still shaking him, "why? You no monster." Davidspent the rest of the night trying to convince himself of that.

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Hello again! Thank for sticking with me. I sincerely appreciate it! Well we all know it get darker before it get's better and it's as dark as it can get for poor David. Let's just hope our boy has it in him to make it though. He will be tested. ;) 

Hope you enjoyed and like always feel free to comment and vote! 

Roge. 

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