Page 119 of Escaping Our Reality

Harlan takes a deep breath. “He joined the Marines.”

My jaw falls open. “Excuse me?” Am I dreaming right now? Am I still asleep in my bed?

“He joined the Marines.”

Even though I don’t believe Harlan, I can’t stop the tremble that races through my body, shaking me to my core, like a hiker trapped in a snowstorm. My vision starts to fuzz around the edges. My blood pressure is rising. Or maybe falling. Who knows? All I know is I feel like I’m gonna faint and throw up, all at the same time.

“Ella, sit down, before you pass out.” Harlan rolls my normal chair over, and I grab onto it with shaky hands.

“What? Are you lying? What are you talking about?”

He frowns in sympathy. His heart is hurting. I can see it on his face, plain as day, he’s not lying. “I wouldn’t lie about something like that.”

I stutter over my words. “But… but… he never talked about joining the military. Never. He never said he wanted to do that.”

“I don’t guess he ever really thought much about it before. He always heard me and Michael talk about our time in the service, but he never openly expressed a desire to enlist.”

“Harlan, don’t get me wrong, serving in the military is an incredibly noble and selfless act, and I admire those who are called to do it, but you don’t just walk in one day to join and then ship off. This stuff has to take time. I totally support him wanting to join the military, but we need to get everything in order. We need to figure out the process. Where he’ll be... I have to coordinate a move and transfer to whatever school may be near there. Or maybe I can just take online classes. We need to call him and tell him to come back. We’ll get everything ready, and he can join in a couple of months.”

“It doesn’t work that way, sweetie. He’s already at Parris Island, South Carolina. Boot camp. Got there last Tuesday.”

Today’s Monday. He’s already been gone nearly a whole week!

Holy shit. This can’t be happening. I rub my breastbone with my hand.

I think I’m dying.

“Boot camp? For how long?”

“Yes, they call it MCRT, Marine Corps Recruit Training. He’ll be there for thirteen weeks. Then, he’ll go to SOI, the School of Infantry. Depending on which school he is sent to, he will train for either fifty-nine days or twenty-nine days. I’m sure it will be fifty-nine days.”

Tears are rolling down my face, I can’t help it. I sniffle, “And then he’ll be home?” I know it’s a dumbass question. A girl can still hope, can’t she?

“No, he’ll receive his PDS. His permanent duty station.” Harlan stands taller, making his voice firmer. “Ella, he signed up for six years active duty. Followed by two inactive.”

Fuck me. Six years. Eight years.

I wipe the tears, spreading mascara all over my fingers. “I just don’t understand. How can you sign up one day and be gone the next? Don’t they give you time to prepare?”

“They give you time to prepare.” Harlan drags his hand across his scruffy face. “If youwanttime to prepare.”

My eyes grow wide and I cry even harder. “Ry didn’t want time to prepare? He didn’t wanna wait on me to get back?”

Harlan coughs, choking back his own tears. He hates delivering this news to me. I can’t believe Ry would be so heartless as to make Harlan do his dirty work for him. What a bastard.

“No, sweetheart, he didn’t want time to prepare. And I don’t think he could stand to see you. If he saw you, he might have regretted his decision.”

Slowly the pieces start to fall into place. The distance before I left for the graduation trip. The lack of communication. The lack of intimacy. “Harlan, when did Ry enlist?”

“The Monday after your fight. After the fake prom that Saturday night.”

There was nothing fake about it.

Or so I thought.

Sucker punch. “So, he requested to leave as soon as possible?”

“He did.”

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