Dear Edward - Heather Parsons (smart books to read .TXT) 📗

the bottom of my heart I want to thank you for doing what you're doing. It means a lot to me.
My brother Oliver was in the military so I know what you're going through, not personally though. There are so many good points and many more mute. But I'll try and keep this happy for you, to bring a smile to your face and a shine to your eye.
Well, a little bit about me, I'm twenty-one, going for my major in journalism. My best friend Brianna talked me into that, she's majoring in the same thing. Back to me though because there's so much about her, but nothing lately has been good. Her mother died over there, three years ago. Her father crashed his car, a couple of months ago and was killed and now her boyfriend has been captured so she's not doing to well. Honestly I love her to death but I don't know what to do. How to help her through these times. She's in so much pain and just by looking at her, you can see she's dieing.
The students in my class were given a letter from soldiers, to write back and send them love and encouragement. And I'm trying, God knows I'm trying.
Here in Woodland, Texas there's been so much sadness, so much heartbreak, I don't know where the goodness is. I'm going to end it here before my pen falls out of my hand, and my writing gets worse. Please for the sake of everyone here, come home. I can't bare to hear about another soldier who's died there, it breaks my already broken heart.
We all love you and have sent our prayers for your safe return,
Lindsey Howard

The letter hadn't exactly turned out the way she wanted it to but she couldn't write another words without breaking. Lindsey had to wipe the tears away, keeping them from smearing her words and after she couldn't see the words to reread it.
Leaving the letter sitting where it was she stood up and walked away. Down the hallway of her house and straight for the outside door, needing fresh air to dry her eyes. But what she saw did the complete opposite.
Adam and John were sitting on her front porch, wiping away tears to run down their faces. Shock hit them hard when they first came, thinking Brianna would be here. But when they drove up and didn't see her car, both their heads dropped down and both couldn't fight off the tears that fell. Scared to death of where Brianna was, where her car was, where she was running too or away from.

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Listening to the news, hearing the explosions, seeing death and destruction, drove Brianna to her breaking point. Throwing off the blanket, she stood up and reached out for the first thing her fingers touched. Grabbing hold of it, she threw it against the wall, hearing the glass break, the pieces fall to the ground made her crazy.
She couldn't think straight, nothing in her life was going the way it should. Her family was dead, her boyfriend was dieing and she couldn't stop any of it from happening. The war has taken so much, she thought, it might as well take her too.
Rage built up inside her causing her to destroy anything and everything that's ever meant anything to her. Because nothing mattered when there was no one to share it with. Nothing was important enough to keep when kept to one's self.
After destroying everything insight, Brianna left. Grabbing her keys, she ran outside not bothering to lock anything up because there was nothing in her house left to keep safe. Lonely and in dire need she turned her car around and sped away from town, away from anyone who would stop her from doing what she needed to do, to leave and not come back.

ELEVEN

A flash of bright lights invaded the inside of Brianna's car, stunned her sight and caused her to swerve across the road. Her vision was already blurred from the tears and no matter how much she tried to stop them, they fell. Upset and angry with life it's self, she gained control again, slamming her foot on the gas petal and propelling forward at neck breaking speeds.
Screaming out the names of loved ones who'd left her alone, to live a life without them, terrified her. No matter what the end result, it ends tonight, she thought. Not caring about who would be left behind to cry over her when she was gone. Crazy, they'd say, would jump off a cliff if asked. She'd be glad to if it would end the pain, the heart ache. But then who would win?
The further away from home she was the more she'd cry, the faster the tears would stream and the harder it was to hold on to the steering wheel. She thought she was strong, wanted to be that person for everyone else but lets face it, she's not. Her friends would be shocked to hear that through everything she's only managed to hold on by a sliver. Her heart that once beat a steady rhythm now had a hard time beating at all. Trying as she may, she couldn't find a reason why it would continue to beat. Why death seemed so far away from her.
Pulling over to the side of the road, she stepped out, leaving the door opened, keys in the ignition and walked away. On the outskirts of town is where she found herself, sitting cross legged on the ground. She watched numerous people wondering around, going to places and smiling as they went. And even though the tears she'd cried tonight were brought on by pain, this time her tears were for her friends. For their loses, their heartbreak, their pain. Most of all the pain she's caused them.
Two days had passed and Brianna didn't leave where she was, didn't have the energy to move herself. She'd broken down many times, some ended up in her screaming out loud but never loud enough to alert anyone where she was and other times her screams were just whispers, begging for escape. She'd prayed for the lives she had no control over, the friends she loved with all her heart and for forgiveness for what she'd done.
On the third day she stood up with one thing on her mind, one thing she had to do above everything else in life. Ask for forgiveness from her parents who she was so sure she'd disappointed.

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Although John had recently been released from the hospital he readmitted himself after Brianna disappeared. His heartbeat was so weak that doctors had a hard time getting the machines to register it.
Adam and Lindsey were in no better shape, both sitting by his side, watching his facial expressions and grieving themselves. They were confused and scared to think what happened to Brianna. Scared to death that she had killed herself and even more terrified that they would never know the reason behind it. The unspoken question of why?
Adam spent the last remaining time he had by John's side. Rethinking his mission and trying to see reason behind why he needed to be there when he was needed here. Why did he agree to go? Why was he so adamant on proving things? And why couldn't he just walk away without feeling guilty?
Lost in a sea of why's, he stood up and stretched his legs. Alerting John of his restlessness. Their eyes met and without saying anything, Adam knew what was being asked of him. Knew John's silent question and nodded. Leaving the room before Lindsey woke up to ask him what he was doing, where he was going and begged him not to.
Seventy-two hours were up and he knew what he needed to do now. With sadness still aching his heart, Adam waked away from the hospital room, away from the faces that broke his heart and headed to base.
On the ride there, Adam was cursing himself for not seeing her pain, noticing that look in her eyes and brushing it off as something else entirely. Because he'd seen all of this before when he himself looked in the mirror. Should have known, he thought, should have seen this coming.
“Brianna, I'm sorry,” he whispered, parking his car and getting out. He took one last look around before grabbing his duffel bag and heading towards the plane. Sighing, holding his head up high, he masked his pain and climbed inside.
Strapped in to his parachute he sat back and waited for his turn to jump. Even though he'd trained to do this type of thing, never had he jumped into a hot zone before. Eying the soldiers that were now his troops, he jumped back into leadership role, using hand signals to alert them that the drop zone was coming up and to be ready.
Taking a deep breath, he watched the rear cargo chute open, crossed himself once and jumped. Soaring threw the sky at speeds that could easily kill, Adam deployed his parachute signaling the others to do the same and coasted into the trees.
The ride down was exhilarating but no one made a sound to state that. Lieutenant Banks moved about, collecting his things, dispersing his parachute and moving with stealth through the jungle. Soldiers flanked both sides, crawling bellies down, holding weapons in sight and ready to take back what was taken from them.
Shots were fired, they'd been found out, Lieutenant Banks thought, but then after listening in closer he realized those shots weren't anywhere near them. Scared to the point of breaking out of rank, Banks crawled faster to see what was happening. But what he saw was horrific, bodies were sprawled all over, some were still moving while others had been dismembered.
It looked like a horrible horror movie and the closer he was the more he saw. Some of the ones laying dead were enemy guards. Were they to late in their rescue mission? Was there anyone left alive to save?
“Sir!” A soldier said in quiet determination. Catching his attention and leaving his eyes to wonder where the soldier was looking. Adam didn't know the names of the soldiers he had under him, never had the time to learn them but now he wished he'd had.

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Cemetery stones stood prominently in front of her. The sun was just high enough to cause her to squint her eyes to focus on the lettering. Running her hand over the top, she whispered, “mom, dad. I'm sorry for not being strong, for not being able to handle the things that have happened and for being a weakling. Everything that's happened, has happened so fast, I wasn't ready for it.” Brianna's knees went weak, falling on top of the graves,