Page 84 of The Burning
“I am happy for you,” Elodie exclaimed, “but I don’t want you to go. You were my first friend here.” She stood up to hug him, squeezing his hand, which was so much bigger than hers. I looked away as he rubbed the other hand across her back.
I stood there in front of the couch, the back of my calves pressed against it. Like a needy child, I wanted it to be my turn.
“I’m not going far. Atlanta’s just a drive away. Don’t worry.” He kept on assuring Elodie.
My eyes shot up at him. I knew he loved Atlanta, and I knew I couldn’t force him to stay near me in Fort Benning—a huge trigger for his trauma and PTSD. But hearing him say it again and again had me panicking a little. His departure was a constant thought in the back of my head, especially now that we were in whatever kind of relationship we were in. Both of us did our best to avoid the topic outright, but here it was staring us in the face. I wondered just how limited our time was, and if I would wake up one day and he would be gone.
Austin’s voice interrupted my depressing thoughts, “Have you told anyone else yet?”
“No. I came straight here,” Kael responded, looking at me. Not at Austin, not at Elodie.
I was so relieved that he’d come here first. Austin and Elodie celebrated Kael’s news like he was family—and there I was, the brat in the corner, too lost in her head to join in but full of internal commentary.
“Everything is going to be so different without you here,” Elodie said, “Both of you.” Her voice cracked a bit and Austin sweetly patted her back.
I knew Elodie would miss Austin, too; he had become like a brother to her since he’d been back. But she would have her baby and her husband soon to fill her life. I hadn’t heard her and Phillip fighting since before the camping trip. Even if things were rocky between the two of them, I was sure it would get better once he was back home by her side.
I wanted everything in Elodie’s life to go well, to be full of happiness and laughter, sunlight and peace. I would be losing my twin, and my best and pretty much only friend, by the time Phillip returned. I had already lost my mother, I wouldn’t mind losing my father, and now Kael was leaving, too. So much change. So much chaos. I went from wanting to congratulate Kael and wrap my arms around him and pull him into my room, to wishing we had never gotten back together. But then, a moment later, I wanted him to hug me and never let go. These circular thoughts made me dizzy.
“I need to call my ma; I haven’t told her yet,” Kael said, pulling his phone from his uniform pocket and walking toward the front door.
I nodded, still not able to say a word.
“Wow. I can’t believe he’s getting out.” Austin spoke over Kael’s mumbled voice on the porch. My brother’s head began to hang as he said, “All of this is starting to feel real. Me leaving for basic, Martin getting discharged . . .”
“Stop talking about it, you’re making me and the baby sad.” Elodie looked at him, and then at the clock hanging on the wall. “Oh, no. it’s almost eight and I need to run to the PX before they close.”
I had told her I would go with her when she mentioned it this morning. Now that Kael was here and we had so much to talk about, I regretted my offer.
“I got a coupon for one of those fancy video monitor things and it expires tomorrow,” she explained to Austin who looked confused over the urgency of going tonight. She looked at me, then toward my front door to Kael. “Do you still want to go?” She knew me well enough to know that my mind was on Kael right now and the last thing I wanted to do was go to the PX.
“Uhm . . .” I started to reply.
“I’ll go?” Austin said to Elodie, either to save me or just to get out of the house. Regardless, I was grateful for the interruption.
“Yes.” She smiled. “You can go with me sinceshehas other things to do,” she teased, nodding toward Kael on the phone outside. “Plus, you can help me carry stuff. Oh, I also want strawberries and that whipped stuff . . . what’s it called again, Karina?”
“Cool Whip.”
She smiled and walked over to the coat rack on the wall near the door. She threw a hoodie on over her pajamas and slid her feet into a pair of dirty white platform sneakers. She always looked so effortlessly adorable and stylish.
“Do I have anything on my face?” Elodie asked, patting her fingers against her dewy, freshly masked skin. I shook my head and she smiled.
I could see out the window that Kael was walking around my yard now, his Army uniform blending in with the dead grass. He turned around and was smiling—a smile that warmed me from the inside out. I couldn’t begin to imagine how happy his mother was; it almost brought me to tears.
“Let’s go now, please? Are you ready?” Elodie tilted her head, smiling at Austin.
He nodded. “We’ll be back.”
“Do you need anything? Want some more cheese puffs?” Elodie asked as she shoved her keys and phone into the front pocket of her hoodie.
I shook my head. “I’m saving money, remember?” I reminded her right as Kael walked up the porch steps and opened the door.
“Where are you all going?“ Kael asked my brother.
“Elodie and me are going to the PX,” my brother replied.
Elodie grabbed on to Austin’s sleeve, practically dragging him out the door. “We need to go! The store is closing!”
