Narrative: First to Fight Who: Rylee What: Rylee receives a letter from his commanding officer. Where: Rylee’s apartment When: Friday, November 4th.
It started in October.
Rylee had received one letter from the Corps and brushed it off. Rylee had somewhat forgotten that he was still technically enlisted in the military. He had gone inactive three years before in favor of getting his Master’s degree because in the end, he loved history, and he was much happier in a classroom environment than sitting behind a desk discussing computer programs. Rylee’s desire to further his education had been the trigger for Charlie’s freak out. When he had told Charlie that he was leaving the Marines she had freaked and stormed out, that had been when their friendship suddenly came to a close and so much had changed since then. When Rylee said goodbye to his cammies and began classes for his Masters without so much as a good luck from Charlie, he never imagined that he would be where he was now. Living in California, Charlie back in his life and his girlfriend, plus a job that he actually enjoyed. The oddities of the apartment building aside, Rylee felt that his life was rather perfect...
Until the first letter reminded Rylee that despite his being inactive, he was still very much the governments property. The first letter was a warning of sorts, although the military wouldn’t put it in such words, just a friendly reminder that despite being inactive Rylee could still be deployed- especially when having a shortage of Captains in his particular field. How the Marines overlooked that, Rylee wasn’t sure, but his superior officer hinted that Rylee was just that good that they may request his aid in a specific mission.
Rylee ignored that letter, continuing on with his life and not thinking much more of it. October was particularly intense with the sudden arrival of Phobos into his life but he was handling it all. The first month he and Charlie were dating certainly had its share of stressful moments but they had made it because they were together. It had always seemed to work that way, bad things were better handled when they had one another to lean on. But now it was November, only a month later, and the Marines were being persistent to say the least.
Persistent and serious.
Charlie had an evening shift that left Rylee to an empty apartment when he returned home. His original intentions were to eat a healthy dinner, work out, then read until Charlie slipped into his apartment and came to bed. But first, Rylee picked up the mail as he headed up to his apartment, flipping through bills and junk mail until he came upon a letter from the Marines.
Dropping the other mail on his kitchen counter, Rylee ripped at the envelope from the Marines and paused to kick off his dress shoes. He was expecting something like a gentle reminder again, he was inactive but he could be made active, blah, blah, blah. But the words Rylee read were his worst fears placed into print.
Deployment. The date, of course, being unclear, somewhere between Christmas and the second week of January, but they were just that in need to force Rylee back into active service before his eight year contract was finished.
Rylee felt his heart sink down to his stomach and for a brief moment, the words on the paper swam before his eyes, he and Charlie had never even discussed the what-if’s. It had been so rare that the military called in men who were inactive but it wasn’t unheard of. Many of Rylee’s fellow Marines had been asked to deploy as their inactive period drew near but they had never been forced to go back to the suck. Now...
Rylee sunk down to one of the kitchen stools and stared at the letter. It gave him just over a month to set everything up. A couple of weeks to tell those he knew; specifically his mother and Charlie. Then he would have to get everything in order. Figure out how to keep a hold of his apartment while he was gone, go over his will and update it, take leave from work and adding in the hours of PT prior to his leaving.
But it was the first thing he had to do that bothered him the most: telling Charlie. Telling the people at Pax whom he had grown close to and become friends with. But most of all, telling Charlie.
He had told her with every ounce of truth that he could muster that he would not leave her. He wouldn’t abandon her. Never. But now an unseen force was stepping in. However, the force wasn’t necessarily unseen, it had always been there. They had been silly enough to ignore it, so swept up with one another, and now it was rearing its head while they were unprepared.
Rylee folded the letter and went to his closet; opening the door he stared at his cammies that hung at the end. He’d be wearing them on a daily basis in the near future. With a sigh, Rylee reached for the safe he kept tucked into the back. Pulling it forward he punched in the code and opened it. The fire safe held some of Rylee’s most prized possessions: photos of his father, expensive heirlooms, his birth certificate and the likes. Now this dreadful letter was placed in the pile. It was the one place that Charlie couldn’t reach, she didn’t know the combination and she had never asked, once Rylee told Charlie that he was leaving he might give her the code. Just in case.
The weight from the possibility of his deployment twisted at his stomach again and all anxiety, all nervousness, wasn’t present in Rylee’s being. He only felt dread and guilt. He had broken the one promise he thought he could keep. He was leaving her despite swearing he never would. He wouldn’t be there for her, he was going and almost gone.
Rylee had never really been one for positivity. He always was a worst-case-scenario type of guy. But with desperation he considered the possibilities that could keep him in California. He needed to go for a medical examination, maybe they would find something wrong. He would have to go for a physical examination as well, maybe he had something wrong with his body. He knew that he was in perfect health but still he hoped. He’d wait until he knew for sure that he was deploying, that’s what he’d do, wait until he got the for sure word before he told Charlie.
Closing the door to the safe, Rylee rolled his shoulders as he got to his feet and turned to the rest of his room. Charlie had left a sweat shirt on his bed, a little thing that made her presence known and twisted Rylee’s heart. With a frustrated sigh, he began to undress, he’d take a shower and go to bed. When Charlie would return home he’d hold her close but keep the news to himself. He wouldn’t worry her needlessly just in case this was all a really horrible mistake. He hoped desperately that it was just a horrible mistake.