Last Call by Samantha Gordon

Author:Samantha Gordon [Gordon, Samantha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-12-22T05:00:00+00:00

No! William sprang awake. He was sitting up in bed, his chest heaving so hard he had to lie down again. Light streamed through the curtains—at least it wasn’t the middle of the night.

It was just another nightmare. Since he’d been released back home, honorably discharged, he had dreamed of dozens of scenarios of his friend’s death. He collapsed back onto his pillow. His bed was empty, yet that didn’t stop him from reaching over and feeling for Crystal.

Of course she wasn’t there. Crystal had filed for a divorce, citing his long absences. He was notified in his hospital bed as he recovered from the blast that killed Jared. In a brief letter, she said that he just didn’t care about her anymore so she was moving on. She knew he was being discharged after his injuries, and she’d still left. He’d gone through recovery and physical therapy alone in a VA hospital, and then he moved into a friend’s empty apartment here in Albany, Georgia before he moved to Chicago. It was a beautiful town, but it no longer warmed his heart—even with its endless summer heat.

William rolled over, shoved his face into his pillow, and yelled out in rage. He was mad at more than just the world. He was mad at himself. In a year he had lost his wife, his best friend, and his way.

He took a shower, pulled on a dirty pair of jeans and a wrinkled T-shirt, and went for a walk. The Chicago heat was thick and stifling, hitting him like a hot wave as soon as he opened the door, even though it was so late in the summer. Within minutes his shirt was soaked in sweat. Mosquitoes landed and bit; he slapped at his skin, drawing blood, feeling as if the mosquitoes were bullets slamming into his body. He pictured his friends falling to sporadic gunfire. He would never lose those horrific memories.

Ahead, a couple walked hand in hand. William crossed the street to avoid walking next to them. It had been a long time since he’d been able to be comfortable with people he didn’t know. Even with people he knew. He found himself sheltering into a cocoon world, hiding from the simple normalcy of a life not surrounded by death and arid heat.

Thankfully, he was helping the police even though he was a rookie. He lived on a disability pension, which wasn’t the greatest feeling in the world, but it was what it was. The part that bothered him was being mentally and emotionally “disabled,” meaning that he was physically able to work, but he just couldn’t handle it.

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