The Ghost of You

They had won. The air filled with a haunting silence. No-one remained but the ten or so of their company. With a last check around Gerard threw his gun to the ground and scrambled to find his lost brother, searching amongst the dead faces for one so like his own. He found him, lying alone, glasses squint, dirt and dust smeared on his blood speckled face. He crumpled down beside him, taking a cold lifeless hand into his own, his other cupping Mikey’s face.

“We got them Mikey,” he sobbed, tears falling from his face onto Mikey’s, cleaning away some of the grime that rest there. “We got them all. Why did you leave me Mikey? You said you’d never leave me, that you’d always love me. Why did you leave me?!” he shouted, hitting his brothers arm. “Why did you do this to me?” He whispered before he collapsed across his broken body, crying freely.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to meet Frank’s warm eyes. “Come on,” he said softly. “We’ve got to move on.”

“I just want to go home,” Gerard whispered.

Frank turned to Bob and Brian. “What do you reckon?”

“We can’t go home. We’ve not got enough crew to get all the way and we haven’t enough fuel in the boat anyway,” Bob informed.

“We could take the boat across to France though. Re-group there and get back in touch with command back home,” Brian reasoned. Bob hesitantly nodded and turned to the rest of the company, the only ones that remained.

“I’m not going anywhere without Mikey,” Gerard said quietly with child-like stubbornness.

“It’s ok. We’ll take him with us,” Frank soothed.

Gerard nodded halfway to himself and lowered his head; his softly brushed Mikey’s cold lips with his own. “I love you,” he whispered. “Always.”

Gerard stood up and stepped away. Bob and Brain carried Mikey’s body down the beach to the boats and there they lay him across one of the benches. Gerard knelt next to him, once again taking his hand in his own. The waited for the rest of the remaining to company to climb on board before firing up the engines and starting their journey over to France.

Gerard looked down at his and Mikey’s entwined fingers and laid his head on the uninjured side of Mikey’s chest. “I’ll be with you soon, dear brother,” he murmured quietly to himself, closing his eyes. “So very soon.”