hunnyfresh - Letters from War

Emma was hidden behind them all. She shouldered her rifle and lined up her shot. A wooden awning pillar was obstructing her view as Hussein gestured wildly with his gun. A part of her was nervous, his wife was too close, she was holding her son. It took a millimeter of a step in the wrong direction for her to kill the mother and son. She could miss and cause him to turn around as put a bullet in her own brain. But she had to try.

She inhaled once, squinted through the eyepiece, and the second he was centered she fired. The woman screamed from his grasp as he pushed forward away from the entrance, releasing his grip on his wife and child. His gun went off toward the sky, but the woman and the boy were safe from him. They didn't look back as they got lost in the crowd. So relieved with the rescue she didn't see another man come up behind her with a giant piece of stone in his hand. Feeling the presence at the absolute last second, Emma turned her head to stare up at the tall lanky man. Without thinking she shifted her gun lengthwise and shoved up just as the rubble came down hard against it. With his momentum and gravity working against her, Emma barely had time to think that had he connected, he would have surely knocked Emma out or worse.

Another explosion nearly had Emma ducking, but luckily for her, it was enough to make her attacker flinch. Stone and metal and fire fell from the heavens in the western part of the village as Emma took advantage of his distraction and stood halfway and used the balls of her feet to spring herself forward and tackle the man to the ground. He struggled against her as she pinned him down with a forearm across his larynx, but his right hand loosened enough for him to swing, fist and stone connecting sickly with Emma's temple.

Her vision blackened for a long moment as she stilled and fell to the side, her already bleeding head connecting with the rock hard ground. When her sight returned, hazy, blurry, watery images appeared before her. The orange and red of distorted flames. People running in all directions, merciless to those who had fallen as they trampled over them. And then a dark shadow stood over her, the tall lanky man with a bloody stone in one hand and her gun in the other as he trained it right in the middle of her forehead.

Noise drowned out as she stared down the barrel of her gun. She had always thought that near-death experiences were accompanied by freak flashes of your life, but as she saw his finger move to the trigger, all she could think in that one split paralyzed second was Regina and Henry sitting on top of that damn horse as they sang that lullaby that never failed to calm Emma down. She stared the man down nearly daring him to do it. It'd be quick, and she'd be anywhere but here. His finger twitched and a gun shot, but then blood trickled down the middle of his forehead as a bullet lodged itself there. He fell to his knees, dropping the M16 before falling limply to the ground.

Her head started to pound nimbly like a heartbeat as if the organ itself had traveled through her chest and up her lungs to shield her brain from damage. Her mind slowly returned to her enough that she was able to turn herself over onto her stomach and slide across the sand and stone toward her gun. Before her fingers could even touch it, a final bomb so close that the heat from the blast felt like it would melt Emma's flesh went off. And then another. And another.

Each explosion coming closer and closer as if they were heading straight for her like she was their only target. One by one, buildings fell around her like dominoes. She curled her body inward, tucking her head into her chest as stones buried her under the ashes and flames and bodies.

Arrorró mi niño, arrorró mi amor, arrorró pedazo de mi corazón.

October 26, 2004 – Storybrooke, Maine

Regina took a relaxed breath as she read the final lines from Emma's letter. The blonde had made it safely overseas but was uncertain when she'd be able to call Regina again. Apparently they were keeping everyone busy in the Middle East, and after following every newspaper and media coverage, Regina was certain of it as well. Like nearly the entire country, Regina had been on board with sending their military to Iraq after the horrific events of 9/11 but as the years progressed and more and more soldiers were being shipped away and more privacy was being stripped in the name of homeland security, Regina's views shifted.

Especially since she got to know Emma.

Back then, the younger woman was a faceless friend whom she had grown to care about deeply. Every letter held a degree of anxiety while she was on tour since Regina was acutely aware that it could be her last. But the blonde had been nervous enough for the both of them and Regina had remained the one to keep her grounded. Now with Emma as more than a friend – they never did quite talk about what they were to each other – with Emma as someone who made Regina feel things she hadn't felt in years, the agitation built up inside her like a tidal wave constantly crashing over her.

But for now with Emma's letter in her hand claiming a safe trip and a safer arrival, Regina could keep her head above water before the next high tide hit. She smiled fondly at the letter before placing it on her foyer table on top of a care package that would be Emma's birthday gift already filled with another jar of cocoa, some toys and school supplies to give to the children there, and a book, along with a discman and a few CDs that August chipped in for Emma's coming of age. The fact that Regina had missed this year's birthday drove her anal retentive nature crazy, but neither women were a hundred percent sure which base camp the blonde would be stationed at, and Regina didn't want to send it as a shot in the dark.

"Pa-choo, pa-choo!" Henry's playing reminded Regina that she had promised her son to paint his face in preparation for Halloween. Though the holiday was five days away, Henry had the tendency to constantly wear his Halloween costume for a week straight. Last year Regina was faced with the predicament that Henry wouldn't even take off his costume for bath time. Batman Henry got sufficiently soaked that night as the boy saved Gotham, claiming the city was flooded. In all honesty, Regina was preparing herself for months in advance for this year's costume through online searches and visits to the lone thrift store in town while steadily avoiding the pawn shop for her disdain of the owner. With Henry's love for Treasure Planet and his recent obsession with growing a rat's tail, Regina had scouted out jackets, shirts, and even a fake clip on earring for what would have been his Halloween costume all ready to go hidden in the back of her closet. But to Regina's surprise, though it really shouldn't have been when she thought about it, Henry went an entirely different route.

Private Henry Mills was in his playroom, crouched on his belly and forearms as he hid under the child-sized picnic table with Rexy Junior and Sea Turtle. For two days after returning home from pre-school, Henry had run up to his room, clothes left discarded in his wake, to change into his army uniform. It was nowhere near professional as Emma's with the thick insulated materials and the desert camouflage, but to Henry it was perfect. Jungle-style dark green and brown camo was the print of his button up shirt with Private etched onto the breast, and his cargo pants with real thigh length pockets were just like Emma's (plus he could hide small toys or cookies in there). The outfit also came equipped with a utility belt holding a walkie-talkie. A tiny plastic machine gun had been included, but before Henry had even seen the costume Regina had tossed the weapon away. She was all for her son having the best costume, but she was still a mother, and the last thing she wanted was for her son to play with guns. Ironic still from her choice in lover. However, the helmet he was sporting was entirely a Regina-creation. She had taken his old Playhouse construction worker hat and after a quick paint job to match the jungle camo, it was ready for military use. She couldn't wait to send Emma pictures of him.