Conflicted: Keegan's Chronicles (9 page)

“Did you know Rourk has left and joined the
human military?” Keegan blurted out.

“Yes, he came and talked to me,” Richard
answered, stroking his red beard and not quite meeting her eyes.
“He just wants to do what’s best for you, Keegan. Joining the human
army is a long tradition for elves. I think it’s the right thing
for him to do.”

Neither Keegan nor her mother said
anything.

“Creed and I are going to be going out of
town for a few days. We have some business to take care of.”

“Saving the humans from destruction one day
at a time?” Keegan rolled her eyes and cuddled back down under her
blanket.

Her father ruffled her hair, “Something like
that kiddo.”

“Will you two be staying for dinner?” her
mother asked.

Richard exchanged a glance with Creed, who
had been respectfully silent during the scene.

“I can’t speak for Richard, but I’m starved.
I’d love to stay for dinner.”

Emerald smiled and headed off to the
kitchen.

“You might have made a mistake Creed. My mom
is not much of a cook.”

“Keegan, that’s not true. Your mom is a
great cook.”

Her mother peaked around the corner. “I can
hear you guys.”

Keegan sat up straighter. “Creed, when you
get angry do you turn things into ice?”

Creed laughed. “I can’t say that I have that
ability. Why do you ask?”

Keegan sunk back into the couch. “That’s
what happens to me. When I get angry my body starts getting cold
and when I get
really
angry I freeze everyone around me. I thought
maybe it was a dark thing since you guys always have a lower body
temperature.”

Her father stared intently at her. “Why am I
just hearing about this now?”

“I don’t know, Dad, why am I just hearing
about Rourk leaving?”

“Fair enough.”

Creed watched her from across the room. “I
have to say that is very interesting, Keegan. I will ask around,
maybe someone can help from the side of the dark.”

“That would be great. I don’t need to
attract attention to myself by randomly freezing people.”

They chatted for a while and then had
dinner. Emerald had made chicken breast, rice, and corn and it was
surprisingly good. Thaddeus still hadn’t returned from his run. He
could spend all day out in the woods.

Her father left and Keegan sat at the table
with her mom and had a cup of hot tea.

“Mom, you don’t mind Dad being gone all the
time? That’s what it would be like for me if I stayed with Rourk.
I’m not sure I would like it too much.”

Her mother looked over and smiled. “I don’t
think I could handle it if your father was home all the time. I
like having my space. Plus, it makes us miss each other more.”

“I can see that, I guess.” She leaned back
and crossed her arms like a spoiled toddler about to stomp her
feet. “Mom, what am I going to do? I’m so confused.”

“It will all work out. Life is funny. You
don’t always take the path you expected to take.” Emerald stood,
her mug in hand. “I need to make some phone calls. If you need to
talk later you know where to find me.”

After her mother left, Keegan flipped
through the TV channels. Nothing good was on. There were so many
crappy shows out. She really didn’t get the interest. Too bad
Vampire Diaries wasn’t on, now that was a good show. There was
never enough Damon Salvator.

Keegan looked down at her phone and realized
she never replied to Rourk’s text. She quickly typed.
Sorry I didn't reply earlier, I
was at school. I got your letter.

Keegan waited for a reply, but it never
came.

Touching her lips she thought of the kiss
with Donald. She was so confused. She liked Donald, but she also
felt sad about Rourk leaving.
Why did things have to get so
complicated?

She felt like she was about to go stir crazy
staying in the house. She went up to her room to go through some
photos. On an impulse, she looked through the photos of her and
Rourk. She did this at random times in the hopes it would bring
back some feelings. Sadly, it did not.

After a couple of hours of manipulating
photos, she got ready to go to sleep. She pulled her covers over
her head and fell back on the bed. She wasn’t tired. She would
probably be up all night going over everything in her head. It was
ironic that saving Donald severed her bond to her chosen. Maybe
fate really had stepped in.

Her phone beeped which brought a smile to
her face. It was Donald.

Goodnight, I can't wait to see you tomorrow.

Ditto, sleep well.

It was early morning when Rourk walked
through the doors at the Military Entrance Processing Station. He
glanced around and saw many young guys and girls who appeared
nervous and unprepared. The building was sterile and drab. The grey
walls with the peeling paint reminded him of a prison. In a way, it
was.

They were all at the MEPS to sign away a few
years of their lives.

After signing in, Rourk waited his turn for
the medical exam which he passed with flying colors. He already had
an 18X slot, so he got to bypass some of the steps. However, it was
still a lot of the “hurry up and wait” for which the Army is
famous.

Rourk could have laughed when he was brought
into a room and taught how to stand at attention. They obviously
didn’t know he’d been going through the motions for several years
already. He knew he had more experience than the others, but he
just sat back and did what was asked of him, regardless of
expertise.

A young officer went over the Oath of
Enlistment with him. Apparently, they were afraid someone might
stand incorrectly or not repeat the correct words. It was a joke.
After they thought he was fully prepared, they sent him to sign his
contract and take the oath. They seemed surprised that he didn’t
have any family members there to take his photograph. Whatever.

It turned out to be a long day, but rather
painless. When he walked out the door and felt the crisp air hit
him, he thought about Keegan. He wondered what she was doing and if
she was angry at him for not seeing her before he left. He hoped
he’d made the right decision, because he would not see her again
for almost a year. Just the thought of it made physical pain shoot
through his body.

Rourk grabbed a taxi to his run-down hotel
and forced himself to move forward. He could do this. He was doing
this for her. If his unhappiness is what it took for her to be
happy, he would endure the pain.

Rourk walked in the door of the hovel for
which the military was paying and the smell of mildew and cigarette
smoke hit him.
Great. Oh well, it could always be worse.
He hung
the
do not
disturb
sign and locked the door, tossed his bag on the
stained chair and headed for the shower. The water pressure was
pathetic, but at least the water was hot. He turned it on as hot as
it would go and just stood there with his eyes closed. Finally, he
washed up and got out, and dried off before he walked back out to
the room. He wasn’t tired, but knew he would need his sleep.

He lay in bed and replayed scenes in his
mind of Keegan. Her laugh, the way she skipped all over the place,
her eyes that he could stare into forever, her hair that was almost
always a mess, the way she kissed. He had to stop himself before he
drove himself crazy. He took some deep breaths and cleared his
mind. Every time she crept back into his mind he pushed it away.
After hours of fighting it, he drifted off to sleep.

Yelling woke him up. He looked at his watch;
it was three am.
That’s what you get when you stay at a cheap hotel in the
ghetto
. He didn’t even bother to pay attention to the
argument. It was none of his business. He might as well get up. The
bus would be there at four to take them to Fort Benning, Georgia.
After he did his morning workout, changed clothes, and ate a
protein bar, he strolled out to wait for the bus.

There were a few others already waiting. He
looked over the recruits and they all looked tired. One young kid
paced around, obviously nervous.

About twenty minutes later, a bus pulled up
and the 30-50 waiting soldiers were on their way to basic training.
Rourk walked down the aisle and sat in the first outside seat, next
to a skinny boy with blond hair, pale skin, and light blue eyes.
The kid started rambling immediately. Rourk wished he had picked
another seat.

“Hey, so are you also going into the 18X
program to try out for Special Forces?”

Rourk looked over at the kid and thought:
you have to be
kidding me
. “Yes.”

“That’s awesome. It will be nice to already
know someone. My name is Tommy, by the way.” He stuck his hand out
and Rourk grasped it tightly. He was surprised to see the kid had a
firm grip. That usually told a lot about a person. “Rourk.”

“Rourk? That’s a pretty cool name. Is it
your last name or first?”

“First.”

“Are you nervous? I’m so nervous I can
barely sit still in this seat.”

“No.”

“You’re not nervous? How is that even
possible?”

“I’ve trained for this my whole life.”

“Your whole life? You’re a funny guy.”

Rourk thought,
sure, I’m a laugh a minute
. “How long have
you been training, Tommy?”

“On and off for about three months. The last
six weeks I finally took serious. I did a lot of running and
push-ups.”

“Did you run with a weighted rucksack?”

Tommy looked at him like he was crazy. “No,
I just ran.”

This kid doesn’t stand a chance.

“So Rourk, do you have a girlfriend?” Tommy
asked. “I have one and we plan on getting married once I graduate.
Here you want to see a picture?” Tommy scrolled through some pics
on his phone and stopped at a pretty girl with brown hair.

“This is Jessica. We’ve been dating about
four months.”

“She looks nice.”

“What about you, do you have girl back
home?”

Rourk thought of Keegan and what a mess that
was, then replied. “No.” It was no one’s business what went on in
his personal life. He wasn’t about to tell his life story to a
stranger.

“That’s too bad, Rourk. Maybe you’ll meet a
girl after we’re done training.”

“I don’t care about girls, Tommy. Right now
my sole focus is earning a green beret.”

“Sure, that would be nice. You still need a
girl, though.” Tommy laughed and jovially hit Rourk on the side of
his arm.

Tommy rambled on for another twenty minutes
and Rourk just nodded when it seemed appropriate.

Finally, Rourk leaned his head against the
glass and pretended to be asleep. In the darkness behind his
eyelids, he tried to locate Keegan, but it was impossible. He
missed seeing her. The longer it went on, the more he felt he would
do anything to bring their bond back. He tried not to think about
her with the shape shifter; it upset him too much.

Instead, he thought about what lay ahead. He
would spend at least sixteen weeks at Fort Benning, Georgia. Nine
weeks of initial infantry training, four weeks of advanced
individual training, and three weeks of airborne training. That was
just the beginning. He wasn’t concerned, although he did feel bad
for the kid who sat beside him.

He must have dozed off, because the next
thing he knew the bus had stopped and they were being herded off
like a bunch of cattle.

The screaming started as soon as they got
off the bus.

"Throw your bags in a pile. You guys are
pathetic," one of the drill sergeants yelled.

A few minutes later, a different drill
sergeant screamed, "Pick up your shit and you better not get it
messed up!"

It was complete chaos. Rourk stood back and
watched as all the recruits ran around like chickens with their
heads cut off. One of the drill sergeants yelled at Rourk to grab
his stuff, so he just picked up anything and walked over to the
line. He had to hide a smile while he watched the others run in
circles.

He had done many such tricks with his own
soldiers when he was an instructor for the young boys training for
the elfin army. There was no way they could get the right gear. It
would be sorted out later. He noticed Tommy looked lost and scared.
Rourk walked over to him and handed the kid the gear he held and
then told him to get in line.

“Thanks so much Rourk. I owe you. This shit
is scary man.” The poor kid’s face was white and his hands
trembled.

Rourk laughed. “Tommy, you haven’t seen
anything yet.”

Rourk grabbed another set of gear and took
his place in line next to Tommy. He’d try to look out for him, at
least for a little while. Right now, all that was going on were
mind games. It would be interesting to see how many of the guys
broke before the week was over.

When they went to their assigned rooms,
Rourk could have laughed when he saw that Tommy had the bunk under
his. It’s funny the way life throws someone in your path. That
cemented it. He would do everything he could to try to help Tommy
make it through this nonsense.

“Hey, Tommy. Looks like were stuck together
for a while.”

“Rourk, I have never been so happy to see
someone in my life,” Tommy answered, clapping Rourk on the
shoulder. “Thanks again for your help earlier.”

“Listen, Tommy, everything they are going to
do for the next few weeks is nothing but mind games. They want to
break people so they can sort out the weak from the rest. Every
time you are scared or don’t think you can make it, remind yourself
it’s all mind games. Countless others have made it and so can I.
Repeat that to me.”

Tommy repeated, “It’s all mind games.
Countless others have made it and so can I.”

“That is your mantra for the next few weeks.
I want you to say it to yourself before you go to bed, when you
wake up, while you eat, and whenever you doubt yourself during the
day. When you are being screamed at just look straight ahead and
repeat your mantra. Do you understand?”