Chapter 425: Words You Can’t Take Back
- 20 Years Ago...
"Bunk checks, cadets! On the line!"
Joanne woke up out of her sleep to disturbingly bright lights and the yelling of a woman who haunted her every nightmare.
In most American media, drill sergeants have a cartoonishly evil connotation associated with their position that is, frankly, sometimes warranted.
Their job is effectively to make other cadets miserable and break them of their civilian ways to make effective soldiers.
By and enlarge, drill sergeants are doing a job like anyone else. They’re putting on a character.
However, there are always going to be some who aren’t acting. And their goal in life wasn’t to make soldiers so much as it was to hold power over young adults.
Young Joanne jolted at the sound of a large metallic clang coming from behind her.
"Well, what do we have here? An unopened footlocker, that’s no good. Gotta make sure nothing’s missing..."
Joanne knew that was bullshit. She had lived the kind of life where she was already quite familiar with the sound of a lock breaking.
But she couldn’t do anything about it for now. The last time she tried, she got smoked from sunup to sundown.
It wasn’t worth it. And as she watched her drill sergeant dump all of her things on the floor, her expression didn’t change.
She was just mad that she actually let that white-haired old man talk her into joining this shitshow.
"You’ve got thirty seconds! Pick it all up!"
Joanne bit her lip so hard that she left an indent. She lowered herself to the ground and started picking up her belongings while swallowing her rage.
"Here."
Joanne found her bunkmate and only real friend holding one of her items in her hand.
"What are you doing, Brit!? Put Cadet Grey’s stuff down!"
Awena ignored their screaming drill sergeant and helped Joanne get up the rest of her stuff.
She held it out to her, but for a moment, Jo was too stunned to take it.
A look passed between Jo and Awena. The girls spent enough time together by now that they were able to have an entire conversation with just their eyes.
You’re insane. You know she’ll just start targeting you now.
I’ve heard that suffering together eases the burden.
That sounds like a load of horse shit.
Better hope it’s not. Otherwise we’re fucked, innit?
Joanne couldn’t decide if her friend was too compassionate for her own good or if she had some kind of intellectual disability.
"I said- Let her pick it up!!"
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. When Joanne finally started to take her things back, a hard boot crashed into Awena’s back and wrenched a yelp from her gut.
Shock, horror, and dismay flooded Joanne’s synapses.
When time finally started moving normally again, Awena’s head cracked against the ground.
And Joanne, rather than check on her, turned against the woman who may have killed her in the first place.
- The United States...
A lone tent was erected in the green forests of a state park in beautiful California.
The front flap zipped open, and one Peter Grey, affectionately known as PG, emerged from the tent while stretching his middle-aged bones.
Camping had always been something of a hobby for Pete, even if everyone around him seemed to abhor the idea.
He quite enjoyed the feeling of connecting with nature on a more intimate level than a walk in the park could ever provide.
Though he did sometimes miss the indoor plumbing of back home, but he was thinking of ditching his one-bedroom apartment and going all in on the van life experience.
Pete wandered towards a set of bushes he had already ’marked’ and fumbled around with the drawstrings on his pants.
He had nearly gotten them undone when the strangest occurrence took him by surprise.
His feet suddenly left the ground abruptly, but his mind had difficulty processing what was going on.
All at once, his body rocketed into the sky like a spaceship leaving orbit.
He didn’t handle it gracefully at all.
"GOD, I’M NOT READY YET! DON’T TAKE ME! AHHH! AHHH! AHH! AHH!"
Pete hyperventilated a dark spot appeared on his pants and ran down his legs.
He came to a halt 400 meters in the air and stared at a face he knew all too well.
"Gods, gross, Peter... How old are you?"
"JO!? GET ME OUT OF THE SKY, I CAN’T FLY!!"
"It’s fine, I’m holding you with my powers, you won’t fall."
"PUT ME DOWN!!"
"I can’t, I need to talk to you, and I’m trying to make sure my family can’t get to us right now."
"HOLD ME!"
"Are you out of your mind? No! You’re covered in piss!"
"JOOOOO!!!!"
"..."
-
A couple of minutes later, Joanne was holding her brother in new pants, new underwear, and a new shirt for good measure.
He lay in his sister’s arms like a baby with a blunt in one hand and a facemask covering his eyes.
But at least now he was calm.
"...You should be ashamed of yourself. You’re a grown ass man, Peter."
Peter ignored his sister almost totally as he took another puff of some medical-grade marijuana.
"You want me up here doing this shady shit, then you don’t get to complain about how I do it." He coughed. "Now, tell me what the fuck is going on with you before the weed stops working and I drop a load on some unlucky brown bear."
Joanne bit her lip hard. Everything she had to say just seemed to get caught in her throat.
"...Marriage troubles?" PG guessed.
Joanne started to nod, but faltered. "That and... mom troubles."
If Peter could have sat up without compromising his safety, then those words certainly would have done the trick.
"Is something going on with AG? What’d you do to her??"
"N-Nothing! I just..."
Joanne’s eyes began to sting.
"I’m... remembering why I decided to leave her with you in the first place.."
Even though he was terrified, Pete didn’t hesitate to rip off his mask and stare at his sister. "...What did you just say?"
"I’m too much like Mom, Peter! I can’t swallow my own shit, even for two innocent little girls who depend on me. I feel like I’m just spiraling and I’m filled with so much fucking spite and-"
"Jo... I really don’t want to hear it." Pete held up his hand.
Joanne looked crestfallen. "...What?"
Peter had rarely ever seemed as frustrated with his sister as he did now.
"You always do this shit. You see something in your personality that you don’t like, and you start comparing yourself to mom or dad, then you go on this fucking self-destructive tangent without caring about the people who stand next to you.
I was mad when you stole the savings from under my mattress when we were in high school, but I let it go.
I didn’t ask any questions when you told me you were pregnant and didn’t know who the father was.
And I let you leave Anna with me because I was hoping that one day you’d come through the door with your shit together.
I’m your brother. I’ll always be your brother. You can hurt me all you want, and I’ll get over it.
But I won’t forgive you if you hurt those kids. And I’m not just talking about the little ones.
Anna and Serana need to see you as someone dependable, too. I don’t know what you’ve got going through your mind right now, but let it go.
You decided to be a mom. You decided to get married. Be something we didn’t get to see much of when we were growing up. An adult."
Peter used his facemask to wipe Joanne’s face which had begun spilling tears.
"Dry your eyes, calm yourself down, and own your shit. Don’t go running away again, and don’t say something you can’t take back."