The Spoils of War

The last night

September 10th 2020.

“Are you sure soldier? You have an entire week, do you really want to squander it?” said a cliché sounding General.

“Yes sir,” said Daniel in response, “my flight leaves tomorrow at 0-600 hours.”

“Alright then soldier. I will be expecting you soon. Over and out.”

Daniel got back to Sal’s restaurant from visiting his dad (who is, as of 17-05-2012, at 15 Icegarden Terrace, the local cemetery) at 3pm. He started packing his clothes into a small black duffel bag and left it on the bed.

“I guess that you’re really leaving.” said Mr. Bernadinni in quite a subtle tone.

“Yeah, I’ll gone by tomorrow. So I might as well get a head start and leave tonight, I figure I could just spend the night at the airport.” replied Daniel.

“What happened to making things better with Sandra?”

“She is happy and frankly she is better off without Me.” said Daniel, putting his head down.

“You wont do this to her again dammit! Do you know she suffered when you left, especially when you dropped off the face of the earth? She was devastated.” exclaimed Sal.

“Sal, you just don’t understand. I cannot let her see me again; to put her through so much of emotional trauma is not good for anybody! I’m sorry Sal, but I have to go.”

“Okay, I understand kid.”

The clock read 10:15pm when Daniel went down to the kitchen to say his goodbyes to Sal when Sandra walked in with her boyfriend. Once again, Daniel found himself staring at her. He could not help it; all he could do was stop and stare. Sandra gently shifted her gaze toward the kitchen door. Her facial expression swiftly changed from a jovial laugh to a catatonic like state.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” asked her boyfriend.

“Sal, tell me the truth, how long has he been here?” frantically inquired Sandra.

“For about two days now, he came to see you but he said something about you being happy...”

Paying no attention to any further comments, she grabbed her things and went toward the kitchen door. When Daniel realized that Sandra had seen him, he ran away from her, because he was afraid to hurt her any further. She heard the back door slam shut, so she ran out into the back alleyway as if she was chasing a ghost a lost memory. By the time she reached the end of the alleyway, he was gone, again. Sandra knew that there was only one place that he would have gone to.

“Taxi!” she exclaimed to the oncoming yellow coloured car, “To the Store ‘n Go Storage Lot.”

“Danny!” exclaimed Sandra as she burst into tears. She ran to Daniel. As he turned in the direction of her voice, Sandra swung her right hand toward his face and then began screaming at him.

“How the hell could you do that to me? You just abandoned me, I didn’t know if you were dead or...”

In the middle of her lecture, the lecture that Daniel had found to be tiresome, he pulled her toward him and kissed her. It was a kiss that echoed on her lips for ages.

“I love you. I'm so sorry. Oh god, you have no idea how much I love you.” whispered Daniel after he kissed her.

The night was a calm and starry one. Daniel drove along a quiet highway. He pulled off the highway onto a gravel path that led to a cliff called Pikkon peak. The roar of the engine, the relaxed atmosphere and a general sense of relief that they are finally united. This car ride was much unlike the last one they had shared. Soon after they finally reached their destination.

“Daniel. Please don’t leave me again.” said Sandra.

“Sandra, oh my dearest Sandra. Just relax, everything will be just fine. I’ll be back before you know it. It will all be over soon.” responded Daniel.

“You said that the last time. And it’s been more than a year.”

“This time I mean it. I cross my heart and hope to die.” assured Daniel by caressing Sandra’s warm cheek.

After a moments silence, she climbed onto his lap and faced him.

“I know that you are going to have to go anyway,” she said, looking deeply into his eyes, “but is it not possible for you to stay a while longer?”

“I wish I could but my flight leaves tomorrow morning.” After gazing at the stars for a while, one does tend to lose track of time, and lose track of time they did.

In a spontaneous moment, Daniel uttered four crucial words....

“Will you marry me?”

“What did you just say?” said Sandra looking puzzled.

“I mean I know that it may seem a bit forward and I don’t really have a ring lying around this car but I think that....”

“Yes! Of course yes!” exclaimed Sandra while shedding a few tears of joy.

She laid on the passenger seat to his right. He moved her hair off her face and listened to her breath, each breath she took was ever so gentle. She slept peacefully knowing that she was loved, just like the way a baby would fall asleep in the arms of its mother. Daniel started up the engine and drove off. He arrived at her house at 5:00am and carried her to the master bedroom where he laid her on the bed to continue her slumber. Before his descent to the airport, he left a little letter on her nightstand reminding her of the first time they had met as children and the promise he made to her the night before.