A little something I felt compelled to whip up in rememberence to the Fallen Heros.
Be forewarned, this is raw and unedited. Please forgive me any mistakes I've made with my grammer and sentance structure/spelling.
As any author would hope for their audience, Have a good read. ^_^
May 31 2010: Early morning hours...
The Guardian was closed when I got there. Hell, the Sun’s not even fully up just yet so I figured that Terry wouldn’t even be close to awake just yet. Pulling my lock pick set out of my back pocket, I worked the lock open on the back door. Moving quickly, I entered the security code and then turned to close the door behind me. Silently, I made my way to the bar. Hopping lightly over the counter, I grabbed one glass and poured a Guinness from the tap. I don’t work the bar as a tender all that often, only on special occasions, but I made it a point to learn how to pour one of these the right way. After putting it on the customer’s side of the bar in front of one of the stools, I pulled out two post-it notes and a pen. One went in front of the beer and the other, along with some cash to pay for the beer, went in front of the register. After I finished, I walked back to the backdoor, re-armed the system and left for the day.
A couple of hours later...
Geeze, I hope she’s not mad at me for not visiting all that often.” I thought as I walked up Suzanne’s driveway. It had been at least four years since I’d even spoken to her, which was far too long in my opinion. She had been willing to help me when I needed it. Gently, I knock on the front door.
“Oh. What a surprise. What, might I ask, brings you here after so long?” She asked, sounding a little miffed that I had disappeared on her.
“This.” I said to her as I handed her a half dozen white carnations held together with a pale yellow ribbon. “Mama San told me that you once served in the Army. Thank you.”
When she reached out for the flowers, I reached out and gave her a hug. With what she went through, I figured that she earned it.
After promising to stop being such a stranger, I went back home to spend a little time with Mama. I would have gone to bug Cindy, but I promised her that I wouldn’t on national holidays as she usually has family over and all that. It just wouldn’t do to interrupt something like that.
Later that afternoon...
“I’m going to guess that your name is Mason Locke, right?” I ask the ridiculously hot man in front of me. He’s a were, so it’s to be expected, but still... DA-YUM!
“I fail to see how that has anything to do with you, vampire.” He replies.
“Please. I’m not trying to start trouble here. I heard from somewhere that you served in the military.” I told him. “All I want is to know if that is true or not.”
“Yes, it is.” He told me after a minute or two of thinking it over.
“Then here.” I replied, taking out the bottle of beer I had picked up from the store earlier and handing it to him. “Thank you for your service.”
“Care if I ask why?”
“It’s Memorial Day. Why not?”
“Meh.” He said with a shrug as he got up from the park bench he and I were setting at and left. Yes, it was a little cold of him, but I wasn’t high on his list of priorities. As the Omega of his pack, the only thinking he was supposed to think about was how best to follow orders. That aside, it didn’t seem like he was used to someone doing something like this for him, so I let his rudeness slide.
After a few more moments, I got up and left as well. My last stop for today was going to be the hardest for me.
Closing time at the Guardian...
“Hey Dani, time to go home now.” Terry called out to me from the other side of the bar.
“I know. I’m just spending a little more time with my buddy here.” I explained. Terry, Mama, and I were the only three left in the bar, so I didn’t bother hiding the blood red tear that came down my cheek. Looking back down at the note I had written in the small hours of the morning, I read it again:
K.I.A. 11 April 1996
Liberia Withdraw
“The fallen warriors rest now in Valhalla
Where the Valkyries shall watch over them forever more”
Jimmy, you are not forgotten.
“Hope you’re doin’ okay up there. I miss the hell out of you, buddy. Tell my Mom and Dan I still love ‘em and I miss them too, would ya?” I said to the empty stool at the bar. While I wanted to say more, I just couldn’t think of anything else to say. Slowly, I picked up the note and kissed it. While it’s true that he was my best friend when I was human, and a man, I was neither of those things now so I didn’t really care.
All I knew was that his life was ended before his natural time. Small consolation that it was, he died as a hero to the daughter of the American Ambassador to Liberia. The bullet that took his life was meant for her. He died being true to his sense of honor. The Jimmy that died there that day, the Jimmy I knew so well, would have taken a bullet for an innocent girl any day of the week. That’s just how he was.
I put the note back down on the bar and turned toward Mama and Terry. With that, we left the building and left the beer sitting at the bar. I was sure that Terry would clean it up after he took us home, but I was fine with that. The last call for the night had already been made.
*Her story*
“All this food and nothing that looks good...” I muttered under my breath. What I really needed was to go to sleep. I had been up for much too long as it was already, but I had that report to finish for my class later in the morning. “Operation: Fix the Munchies is a failure, Huston. Over and out.”
I closed the door to the fridge and turned to head back up to the den where my computer was when I heard something that almost sounded like music and laughter. This was odd, in and of itself, as I wasn’t much of a partier to begin with. It was made even more so by the fact that my parents were out of town and I knew I was home alone.
As I descended the stairway to the basement, the music and laughter grew louder and louder. It was almost like someone had broken in just to throw a party in my parent’s house. I turned the corner at the bottom to find myself standing in front of a door that shouldn’t have been there. Across its face were some weird markings that glowed in a soft, almost neon-like shade of blue.
I looked around to see if this was some kind of prank or something, Mom and Dad always were fond of pulling a fast one on me and at first it looked like something they would try. After inspecting the door again, I realized that it had nothing to do with them at all, it was very real, and there was no door knob anywhere to be found. So I did the only thing I could think to do: I knocked.
It surprised me when it opened as quickly as it did. I looked around and didn’t see anyone at first. Then some butler looking guy stepped out from behind the open door.
“Welcome, young master, to the Party of the Century. Might I inquire if the young master would care for a drink?”
“What would you recommend, sir?” The words came unbidden out of my mouth. I normally didn’t talk like that, but
“The house has one of its best vintages on ice tonight, young master, and it is exquisite.” He answered after giving the question some thought.
“Then I’ll take your recommendation sir, thank you. May I ask where the music is coming from?”
“You may, or I could lead you to it, young master. If you would, please.” He said as he turned on his heal and proceeded to the only other door in the room. As I followed, I took a look around and noted that while the room’s décor was rather understated, if you knew what to look for you could tell that it was all topshelf stuff.
Wait just a minute here. I thought to myself. Since when did I talk and act like that.
I pushed the thought out of my mind as I followed the butler through the door. I could do nothing to suppress my gasp of surprise when the door opened into a beautiful courtyard somewhere in a desert. It was late in the evening and it looked like the Sun was barely still on this side of the horizon. I was led across the courtyard to a bench by a gazebo where the band I had heard from my kitchen had just struck up another lively dance tune.
I took a seat and it couldn’t have been but a mere moment before the butler returned with a bottle sitting in a bucket of ice and a flute of some pinkish looking champagne.
“Your drink, young master.” He said as he handed me the flute.
“Why, thank you kind sir.” I’m surprised that the horror I felt at flirting with this man didn’t show on my face. I sat for what felt like an hour, sipping this drink and just listening to the music. As I listened, I started to feel a little strange. I looked over to the bottle only to find that I had consumed all of its contents. I felt some strange tingling sensations across my body. I also noticed that my clothes seemed to cling to me in areas that were normally loose and felt looser in other areas, but I chalked that up to the wine I had just consumed. Strange things tend to happen when you drink too much and all that.
No matter, I could just get one of the boys here to get me another. I thought to myself as I looked at the now empty bottle. I felt some small part of my mind screaming that this was all wrong, that I shouldn’t be here, that I should be trying to find a way back home, but I pushed it aside and made my way back through the courtyard to the Captain’s chambers. That I even knew there was a Captain here, let alone that he had is own chambers or where they were never once struck me as odd.
“I don’t know what you’ve done to me.” I told the man I had thought was a butler once I arrived at my destination. My voice sounded came out in a much higher pitch than it normally would have, but I paid it no mind. “But I like it. Might I ask why you chose me?”
“You answered the call.” He simple stated. “And the Captain must always have his mistress.”
I mildly wondered at what he was talking about as I looked at myself. I was surprised to find that somehow, during that hour or so I had spent drinking whatever that stuff was, I had been turned into some kind of woman.
My blonde hair, which had been kept in a buzz cut, now kissed the small of my back and my body had lost all other traces of hair on it. Even my clothes had changed. The flannel shirt and pajama pants I was wearing had become a white, sleeveless silk night gown that hugged every last one of my new curves beautifully. Once again, I heard that small voice in the back of my mind telling me that I needed to leave, that something was seriously wrong here and I just needed to get out and once more I pushed it aside as I slinked my way over to the Captain.
“Of course he must. How silly of me to forget.” I said with a look that a woman would give to a man she wants as I crawled up onto his bed to be with him. I could feel certain parts of my new anatomy moistening at the prospect of what I wanted him to do to me.
“Later, my darling.” He told me as I pressed myself into him. When he saw the pout on my face, he nodded to the lights that could be seen in the distance through the eastern window. “Look, we have a visitor coming. Why don’t you go and greet him, make sure he feels... welcome this night.”
“Very well, my master. It shall be done.” I responded as I turned and sashayed out of the chamber, adding just enough of a sway to my hips to hopefully get him to take me here and now.
*****
*His story*
On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair,
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air.
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light.
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim,
I had to stop for the night.
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself,
“This could be Heaven or this could be Hell.”
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way.
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say...
"Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place...
Such a lovely face...
Plenty of room at the Hotel California.
Any time of year, you can find it here."
Her mind is tiffany-twisted. She got the Mercedes Benz.
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that she calls friends.
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget.
So I called up the captain.
“Please bring me my wine.”
He said, “We haven’t had that spirit here since Nineteen-Sixty-Nine.”
And still those voices are calling from far away...
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say...
"Welcome to the Hotel California.
Such a lovely place...
Such a lovely face...
They livin’ it up at the Hotel California.
What a nice surprise, bring your alibis."
Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice,
And she said “We are all just prisoners here, of our own device.”
And in the master’s chambers,
They gathered for the feast.
The stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can’t kill the beast.
Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door.
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before.
“Relax.” Said the night man.
“We are programmed to receive.
You can check-out any time you like,
But you can never leave!
The Eagles- Hotel California