Weeks passed, Claire was alone in her room, reading. She tried to brush off the feeling she felt of worry, she felt concerned at the fact that the last time Garrett contacted them was when he gave them the news about the war.
'What is he doing right now, I wonder...' Claire thought to herself as she felt sadness spread in her chest. 'And furthermore... is he well?... I hope so.'.
Claire flicked the page in her book and continued reading.
'I just hope he comes back...'.
Minutes later, she reached the end of the chapter. Marking the page she stopped on, she closed the book and placed it away.
Returning to her bed, she sat back down, crisscrossing her legs before looking at what was going on on the other side of the window. Nothing much, really.
She saw the birds fly, the leaves and the grass move and sway in the breeze. The clouds that sailed in the unsettled atmosphere and the sun that was hidden behind some of those clouds. It was it that was due to set very soon.
The clouds in the sky told her that rain was due too.
'Finally... some more refreshment,' Claire thought to herself, gazing up at the sky.
From there, she allowed herself to fall back onto her back, her head resting on her pillow. She let out a gentle sigh. 'Captain... Captain...' she thought to herself.
Taking in a deep breath, she began, "If you can hear me from somewhere far away. If you can feel that I am talking about you... if you can feel the words I am mentioning about you...". A pause. "Well then... I want you to know that I cannot stop thinking about you... I can't stop thinking about you, Captain...". Thinking over what she said, she laughed at her words. "What a cliche I am!!...". Another pause. "I don't know what to think about you, honestly... and I cannot believe that I forgot to thank you. You stood up for me...".
With that, and with the realisation of her words the smile on her face disappeared. "Maybe that's why I can't forget you...". Claire stopped for a second. "You were the first man who really stood up for me... excluding my brother and father. Your act of courtesy, kissing my hand, that I am immune to from guys... because most of them act nice before they show their true colours...". With a sigh, she let herself express more of her opinion about this topic. "I wish at times, love was to be as sweet and as cute as a romance book.".
She sat up before directing her gaze to the window. Once again, she looked at the sky, the ground, trees...
Then a man caught her attention. He wore a navy cap. His trousers shared the same shade of blue as his cap that sat on his head, the only thing that was a lighter blue was the light blue shirt, which was tucked under his trousers.
On his shoulder, he carried a big bag. And in his right hand, he held a letter. 'A postman?' Claire thought to herself. Such visitors from such an occupation were very rare unless the letters they were giving out were of high importance.
Claire noted the way the man stood in his place for a second or two, looking down at the letter. Glancing at Claire's house, he began his way towards the main door.
Slowly, Claire felt slight fear churn in the pit of her stomach. She tried to think of a possible reason as to why the letter had to be delivered by hand. What was this letter about so it was so important?
'It couldn't be a letter from Garrett, could it?' Claire asked herself. Then, another thought entered her head. Widening her eyes, she swallowed whatever was in her mouth. 'W-what if something happened to Garrett?
Before she could have gotten the time to estimate her own answer to her question, the sound of knocking interrupted her.
She listened silently to the door opening, with that, she heard her mother accepting the letter. Then, the door closed.
Claire's mother held the letter in her hands. "Clai-" she began to call out her name but stopped when she gave the envelop a better look.
Claire was already up on her feet, heading towards the door of her bedroom. Opening the door, she stopped right by its frame when all she heard was silence.
Getting ready to call out for her mother, she aborted her actions when she apprehended her mother's voice once more. "Oh, my... o-oh my...".
Then her father. "Honey? Is everything okay?". Silence followed his voice. "Why from the military?... don't open it, let Claire open the letter, it is addressed to her after all.".
"W-what if it's the call? What if... if..." her mother tried to add something more, but ended up saying nothing more.
"I-I mean, that'll be good, right?" her father questioned.
Slowly, Claire began her way from the door frame towards the stairs that led down to where her parents were.
Claire's mother looked at her husband, agony expressed across her face. "I-I don't know, Adrian. We... we still haven't heard from our Garrett.".
With that, Claire managed to reach a level at which she managed to catch her mother's attention. "C-Claire?".
With that, her father also turned around.
Switching her gaze between her mother and father, she took in a deep breath. "I-I want to go.".
Her mother widened her eyes to Claire's words. She felt her heart sink to Claire's words.
"I-I will go if I have to," Claire added a few moments later.
Then, after her words, the silence felt between the three.
"Sweetie... I-I think you should read the letter first before jumping to answers. You haven't even opened the envelope. You don't yet know what's in the letter, what request is in that letter. The military is a wide branch of things one can do.". Claire shook her head to her father's words.
Taking a few more steps down, her mother handed Claire her letter.
Just like the postman, she held it in her hands, examining the front. She recognized their home address and her home name. The postage stamp on the top right of the letter caught her attention. It was a soldier and though she tried, she couldn't make out his face. He held his right hand to his forehead and he stood up straight, saluting.
Below the address and her name, she came across a dark blue, inked stamp, that read 'Important post from the: MILITARY'.
Claire gulped upon reading such a statement.
Opening the pristine white envelope, pulling out the letter and unfolding it, she began reading the content of the letter.
Slow, aiming her gaze towards the ground, she lowered her hand that contained the letter she read down her body. She tried to digest all the information from the letter.
Upon managing to understand her reality now, even by a little bit, after the letter, she looked up at her parents. First, Claire looked at her mother and then at her father who held his wife. She had one hand on his chest as her brows were furrowed ever so slightly.
Even though they haven't read the letter, they had a strong feeling as to what the letter might have been. Their guess proved to be that bit more accurate when they saw Claire's reaction to the letter.
Claire noticed the way they were both silent. When they looked at her, did she only then realise that they were waiting for her to say to them what the letter told her.
"I... I've been invited... to join the military..." Claire's voice trailed off.
Silence.
Then, she took in a deep breath. "I want to go... I want to go because my country... my country needs me, I must be needed if they called me.". She swallowed down the lump that began to form in her throat. Her words reminded her of Garrett. Garrett said words that resembled something very similar to what she said to her parents.
Then, her mother looked up at Claire, her eyes filled with tears. "B-but once you leave... both... both your father and I will be left all alone.".
"We will have Meghan and our future grandson with us, honey," Claire's father tried to reassure her. But Adrian's words had an effect occur, a reaction opposite to what he was expecting.
"B-but Adrian! They are my children. Our children. They are a part of us!". His wife's words caused a small frown to appear on his lips.
With that, he inhaled a deep breath. "I-I know, Maria.". He embraced both his wife and child into his hug. He couldn't help but let out a slight, saddened sigh. "Claire," he began. "Sweetie, you do what you think is the best for you. If you want to go, I don't want to stop you...". A pause followed his words as he felt a lump form in his throat. "B-but if you do go, then please, please... make it back to us, okay?".
Claire damned the words said by her father and the heaviness and emotion they carried. Against her own will, she felt her eyes swell up with tears.
She gave her father a reply. Claire nodded against his chest.
"I will make sure to come back...". A pause. "And I'll make sure to come back with Garrett.".