Page 24 of The Hero Next Door

The sectional was incredibly comfortable and within just a couple of minutes of dragging a blanket over himself, he was deep asleep.

Brian was woken by someone calling his name. He blinked awake and looked at Sage.

“I’m so sorry to wake you,” she whispered, “but I can’t get the button to lower my legs. I need to use the bathroom.”

Brian sat up and turned, reaching for his legs. His face flamed in the mostly dark room as he fitted each stump into their respective cup and stood.

“Can I tell you something?” she whispered into the dark as he walked toward her.

“Of course,” he said, voice gruff.

“I thought I was having a weird pain pill dream when I saw you without your legs. I’m glad my mind wasn’t playing tricks on me.”

Brian leaned over her, reaching for the button on the side of the couch to lower her legs. “I’m sorry you had to see that,” he said. He was surprised when she lifted her good hand and rested it on the side of his face.

“I’m not. It’s just part of you.”

Brian didn’t say anything as the foot reseated itself into the couch and he reached for her arm to help her up. They hobbled together to the bathroom, and he waited outside the door for her to finish, then he walked her back to the couch.

“I think I just want to sit for a while, not lay back,” she murmured.

“Okay,” he said, letting her arm go. Then he returned to where he’d been sleeping and sank down into the cushions. He glanced at the clock by the TV. Just after three am. “Do you want to watch TV or something?”

Sage sighed and shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. Maybe I’ll play games on my phone or something. My mind is kind of racing even though my body feels like one big bruise. You know what I mean?”

“I do,” he admitted. “After they took my legs, I was in a hospital bed for weeks. Mental stimulation is one of the hardest things to deal with when you’re recovering.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” she said softly. “Do you mind if I ask what exactly happened?”

The darkness seemed to encourage secrets and he supposed it was fair of her to ask. Actually, he figured Adam would have told her by now.

He shrugged lightly. “My Humvee got blown up. We’d been blown up before, but this time it knocked me out immediately. When I woke up two weeks later, my legs were gone and several of my buddies were dead.”

“Wow,” she breathed. “What a shock to wake up to. I can’t imagine.”

“I mean, you kind of know when you go over there that there’s a very good chance you’ll be killed or severely injured. It goes without saying when you sign up. We were in a hot spot, and we had a list of men we’d lost, so we knew our chances were higher than most.” He choked out a laugh. “I was so close to getting out, though, that I’d begun to hope that I could make it out relatively unscathed. That didn’t happen, obviously.”

She didn’t give him platitudes, which he appreciated. He’d heard them so often. His family was the worst. When he’d first moved to Columbus, he’d made a couple of trips to Michigan to see his family. His father was the same, but his mother had started treating him differently. It was like she was angry, or something. He didn’t understand it and when he’d asked his father, he’d intimated that she’d been mad at herself for suggesting he join the military.

“That’s ridiculous,” Brian had said.

Dad had shrugged, his big hands never stilling as he sanded the piece he was working on. “Makes sense to her.”

So, he found himself walking on tiptoe around her, so to speak. He didn’t talk about the vets he worked with, or any of his appointments. He just talked about Columbus and the weather and how the rest of the family was doing.

He’d been back for visits before, obviously, but the last couple of times had been different.

It made him sad, because his mom had always been one of his greatest supporters. He didn’t know how to make her let go of her guilt.

“And how long ago was that?”

Brian counted back. “It’s been nine years since I returned home. I started at Lost and Found almost as soon as I got out of the hospital.”

“From what Adam says, it’s a fantastic place for veterans.”

He nodded, though he doubted she could see him in the dimness. “It really is. It filled a spot in my life that needed filled.”

“And then you moved to Columbus…”

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