The Last Hour (Thompson Sisters), Sheehan-Miles, Charles [reading an ebook .txt] 📗

and fished in my purse, looking for my mascara and eyeliner. My eyes were a mess after bawling while Alexandra spoke. As I started to work on fixing my makeup, a blonde woman in a green dress came in and started to touch up her blush, then she cocked her head and said in a thick southern accent, “You’re Carrie?”

I said, “Yes.”

“You just married Sergeant Sherman?” she asked. Her voice was ... not exactly afraid. But ... oddly tremulous.

“Yes ... who are you?”

“I’m Stephanie Hicks. My husband Jim was the other fire team leader in the platoon.”

My heart lurched, and I put down the mascara. Sergeant Hicks was also facing court-martial.

“Well,” I said, composing myself.

“It must be nice. Having all these millions of dollars and a rock star brother-in-law and stuff. At least if your husband goes to prison, you’ll still be okay.”

I swallowed and said, “I think ... I think this is a tragedy for everyone involved.”

She looked down and said, “I’m sorry. You’re right. Especially for that little boy.”

I nodded. “Him most of all.”

She looked up at me and said, “Jim’s real mad at Sherman for reporting it. But he’s mostly mad at Colton. And himself. I think he wishes…”

She trailed off, and her eyes were watering a little. “We’ve got two boys, you see.”

Oh, shit. I blinked back tears, again, and said, “I’m sorry. It doesn’t end, does it? The war and how it just keeps fucking up people’s lives.”

She nodded. “No. It don’t. Jim still has nightmares every night.”

I shivered. “Ray too. They’re ... awful.”

She looked at me and said, “It seems like, if your husband goes free, mine goes to jail. If Ray is telling the truth ... then Jim is lying. I ... I wish it wasn’t that way. It ain’t right.”

I shook my head. “No. It’s not.”

She came close and squeezed my arm gently. “You take care, Carrie.”

Then she turned and ran out of the bathroom.

Fading (Ray)

For the last hour and half, one by one, Sarah’s parents and sisters had come in to spend time with her. All of them, that is, except Carrie and Julia.

Sarah had asked of course, which I was grateful for, because I wanted to know the answer too. Where was she? The answer: she’d finally gone to get an exam to make sure she was okay from the accident. I breathed a sigh of relief at that news. Carrie was very good at taking care of everyone around her, but not so good about taking care of herself.

Not a lot was happening. A team of doctors had come through, and I saw them go into my room. I didn’t follow. At this point I just didn’t want to know.

Or rather, I think I did know. Because it wasn’t just me fading now. Every once in a while, otherwise normally solid objects took on a vague transparent haze ... walls, ceilings, floors. People. I could feel the summer sunshine coming through the roof, washing over me, and I have to admit, it was relaxing. It made me want to just stretch out, lay down, let go, go to sleep. But somehow I had the feeling that if I let go, it was going to be permanent. And I wasn’t ready for that. Not until I was sure Carrie was going to be okay.

I needed to hold on for just a little while longer. But something had changed. I was weary, the exhaustion sinking through my bones. It made it hard to stand, hard to think, hard to do anything.

I was pretty sure that I was dying.

And that, of course, was when Carrie came in, and Alexandra left. Carrie slid into the seat directly next to the bed, which was awkward, since I was sitting there. I slipped out of the seat, but it was too late, I saw Carrie shiver and almost wince. I didn’t want to make this harder on her. I tiptoed over to the other side of the room, which was stupid since they couldn’t hear me anyway.

Carrie looked different somehow. She’d gotten some rest, but it was obvious from her splotchy face that she’d been crying again this morning. And it killed me that I couldn’t go to her, and take her in a hug, and tell her how much I loved her.

“How are you doing, Sarah?” Carrie asked.

Sarah groaned a little and said, “Been better. I heard you finally went to get checked out? They said you wouldn’t go to the doctor after the accident.”

Carrie shrugged. “I was worried about you and Ray.”

Sarah just barely nodded, then asked, her voice very quiet, “How is Ray?”

Carrie shook her head. “I don’t know. The doctors want to meet at ten o’clock. I’m terrified about what they’re going to say.”

Daniel swallowed and looked at me when she said those words. He had a look of worry on his face, which had only increased through the night as he undoubtedly noticed that I was increasingly less here.

Sarah swallowed and said, “He’s a great guy. I see why you love him so much.”

Carrie gave Sarah an odd look. And it was odd ... after all Sarah barely knew me. The sum total of time we’d spent together prior to yesterday was maybe ninety minutes.

But then yesterday changed everything, didn’t it? And sitting around in here getting more and more morbid wasn’t helping. I wanted to be with Carrie. But I knew that touching her ... made it worse somehow. So I looked down at Daniel and said, “Hey. Let’s take a walk.”

I don’t either (Carrie)

The pain was starting to get to Sarah again. Her face had become whiter and whiter over the last twenty minutes, and beads of sweat on her forehead reflected the fluorescent lights on the ceiling.

“You okay?” I asked.

She blinked her eyes, several times, and said, “I think I need another shot. And maybe to go to sleep.”

“Get some rest then. It’s going to take some time to get your