The Soldier Next Door

They say that life flashes before your eyes when the end is near; well, I say that is bullshit. The only thing I saw flashing in front of me was the lights of the car that nearly hit me.

It was close, but the car was not the reason I fell; this damn prosthetic leg slipped and gave away under me. But that is not what Ana saw; she saw the car heading straight for me and coming to a dead still.

Now I am lying on the pavement with a head that is pounding like a bïtch. I swear if it were even possible, my goddamn leg would be broken.

The pain shooting from my leg is so intense that I find myself grinding on my teeth. My eyes are still closed as I wait for the world to stop spinning.

Then I hear her voice, the voice of an angel. She has lifted my head and placed it on her lap. She is sitting next to me on the floor, clinging to me, holding my face in her hands.

She is crying; I can hear her voice tremble as she says my name over and over again.

“Soldier, please don’t go, please stay with me. Please fight forme, please don’t go.”

I have never heard the desperation in her voice before. Is she truly that scared to lose me? Just a day ago, I broke her heart, but all she is begging for is for me to stay.

“Dammit soldier, you survived a goddamn bomb; what can a poor pissy ass car do to you? You fight dammit, do you hear me! You fight!”

I want to open my eyes so desperately, but they don’t seem to work for some reason. My head is still pounding and even moving my eyelids seems to hurt.

“Soldier, please, I have never asked you much, but I am asking you now to fight. I fucking love you; you can’t go leaving me now. You fight, you hear me, you fight!”

And that is all I need to hear; I slowly start to flicker my eyes open, adjusting to the bright light bit by bit. She is still on the ground next to me, holding my face in her hands.

Her eyes are closed, but I can hear her whisper over and over again.

“I love you, I know now I love you, I wish you knew that I love you, you love me and I love you, and now I will never get to say those words to you.”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

There is a pain in her voice, and her tears are dripping on my cheeks. Seeing her like this is tearing my heart into pieces. I do love her, and god knows I never want to be without her.

“Boo…”

She opens her eyes suddenly and sits up straight

“Soldier! My god, you are alive; I thought you are dead.”

“Boo, I am fine, just my old fucked up leg that decided to give up on me.”

“But the car, I saw the car hit you.”

“No, boo, the car missed me, my leg slipped, and I crashed to the pavement.”

“So you were alright? For how long where you awake? How much of everything did you hear me say.”

“Argh, not much. Only the small part where you might have perhaps told me that you love me, but I am not sure, I think you should say it again.”

“I don’t think you hit your head hard enough on the pavement; I never said that.”

“Mmm, then I must have imagined it but guess what.”

“No, but I am sure you are going to tell me.”

“I love you, Ana, you are my boo, and I always want you to be my boo.”

“But what about your deployment soldier?”

“Boo, I will give up the Marines for you. I cannot lose you; I see that now.”

“Soldier, there is a secret I need to tell you, but first, let’s get you home. Matty, can you please help me lift him up, Katarina can you see how fast those stilettos can carry you and go fetch the car.”

But then Maggie steps in, “Not to worry, dear, I will take you young ones home.”

The first thing that goes through my mind…Oh god, here comes driving Miss Daisy

“Thank you, Maggie, but please can I ask that you don’t put this in the paper?”

And let us not forget Katarina, who has grown quite a disliking to Maggie. She is not ashamed to say what she feels like saying. “And while you at it, lady, you can cancel that centerfold.”

I turn to Maggie with a perplexed expression on my face, “What is this centerfold? What have you been up to now again, Maggie?”

“Oh, it is nothing, my boy, just the wild imagination of a teenage girl.”

Then Katarina snaps back at Maggie again, “Mmm wild imagination, my ass.”

Then you get Matty that always drives the conversation in a different direction, and believe me; I did not hear what he has to say next. “And my wild imagination is all over your ass.”

“Matty, this is so not the time for that; please help me up, so I can get my clumsy, dumb ass home.”

But Ana stops him, “Please can you come to my place, soldier. We still need to talk before you make any rash decisions.”

Much to my shock, I cannot believe I am asking Maggie, “Will you take us to Ana’s home?”

“Are you sure? Don’t you need to go see a doctor?”

“Nah, Maggie, I feel fine.”

After helping me off the ground and taking my busted leg off, Matty and Ana help me into Maggie’s car.

Torture is not the word for it, painful yes. I have never seen anyone go so slow that they can almost go into reverse. She makes a dead stop where no stop is required, and when she has to stop, all she does is go. If that near accident did not kill me, then this definitely will.

“Maggie, you do know you are a danger on the road?”

“What did you say, my boy?” And with those words coming from her mouth, I immediately regret my decision to ask her to take us home.

Katarina looks to me and then to Ana; she shakes her head. “Fuck, she can’t drive, and now she is deaf too. Perfect lady to hitch a ride with Ana.”

Ana bursts out in laughter, “Hahaha, would you have instead tested those stilettos out for a run. Soldier here can not even run on his special leg; how is your big ass going to run on those?”

“You did not just call my ass big.”

Matty comes in sideways with an inappropriate comment directed at Katarina, “I will call that ass anything just as long as it can be mine.”

“Wow, that is a mouth full of forward,” then she turns to me. “Soldier, did he learn all those smooth moves from you?”

Then Ana hit us all with the biggest comment of all, “Get your smooth paws away from my man a play with the boytoy.”

“Ouch, take that old Matty.”

Maggie smiles a smile like an old lady does as we all burst out laughing.

When we get to Ana’s place, Matty and Katarina head to the deck while Ana helps me into the lounge.

“Sit down, soldier, let me look at that leg.”

She rolls up my shorts and takes her stump into my hands. I have never, apart from the doctors, allowed anyone to touch me like this. I am somewhat nervous and even just a slight bit scared. What if she touches it and cringes from disgust, what if it is too much, what if she only touching it cause she feels she must?

What if, what if, what if. What if I am wrong and she does it because she really wants to because she really loves me.

I watch her intently; she is running her fingertips slightly over the edge of my stump. It feels heavenly; there is something almost erotic about the way she is doing it.

“Is this sore soldier?”

“. Boo when you touch me like that, then I feel no pain.”

“Has anyone ever touched you like this?”

She runs her fingers from the edge of my leg, drawing little circles up my inner thigh.

“Mmm, boo, are you trying to seduce a man here?”

“I was just wondering if you can feel anything.”

“Trust me; I feel that in more places than one.”

“Hahaha let me get you cleaned up before you get too excited over there.”

She disappears into the kitchen and comes back with a bowl of water and a first aid kit.

“Do you mind if I do this, or do you want to do it yourself?”

“It’s fine, boo; I am comfortable if you do it, you will probably do it even better than I would.”

She soaks a piece of cotton wool into the water and dabs it gently on the patches where my skin has scraped off.

“Goddamn, that is sore!”

“Shit soldier, do you want me to stop? Am I hurting you?”

“No, boo, it is fine; the skin is just more sensitive over there.”

She continues to clean all around my stump then gently dries it off with a towel.

“I only have this ointment. Is that ok to put on?”

“No, boo, just put a clean dressing around it; I will put some cream on when I get home.”

She takes my leg once more into her hands and slowly wraps the bandage around my leg.

Once she is done, she comes and sits right next to me.

“Soldier, did you mean it when you said you love me?”

“There is nothing I mean more in the world, and nothing in the world means more to me than you.”

“Well, I meant what I said too.”

“What did you say?”

“You know, what I said back there in town.”

“No, I don’t know; I can’t remember you saying anything to me.”

“Come on, you do.”

“No, boo, I don’t.”

“You gotta be shitting me.”

“No, I am not.”

“I know what you are doing.”

“What am I doing?”

“You want me to say it.”

“Say what?”

“Say I love you .”

“You do?”

“Urgh! Of course, I do; I love you, soldier.”

I looked deep into her eyes. The swirls of emotion I see there makes me gasp. Before I could think any further, I pull her into my chest and covered her mouth with mine in a hungry kiss.

In the silence that our kiss brings, everything we feel lays bare, the passion and the spark of love that exists between us. At this moment, our love feels strong

As we pull apart, I take my hand to her face, wrap a stray lock of hair around her ear, and rub my thumb over her smooth lips.

“So, what is this secret that you needed to tell me?”