Behind Enemy Lines

It had to have been at least two weeks since I sent my letter off to Lt. Caine and during those two weeks I was more than a little bit worried. This was for a grade and I’m sure if I didn’t get some kind of response back that I was going to fail Communications. I had even went so far as to go talk to Professor James.

She had told me that it would be best if I would just be patient. The odds of him not having to respond to it are pretty high. Besides the assignment the Lt. has duties of his own. In other words I needn’t not worry too much. But boy was that hard when Addison was raving every week or so when she got a new letter from her friend who’s name was everything French. I sighed as I made my way back to my dorm after grabbing a quick bite to eat.

There was a fairly large envelope tacked to my door by the magnetic clip that hovered over my dry easer board that I had gotten freshmen year. It was mostly used for people who needed to contact me when I wasn’t in my room. It had gotten used a little bit over the past couple years.

I slowly took the envelope off the board and tucked it under my arm as I unlocked my door and went in. I tossed it on my bed as I went towards my dresser to change my clothes. It was much warmer in my room than it had been outside. The weather was much cooler outside this time of year.

I took my time changing and making a list in my head of the things that I needed to finish today before walking over to the envelope that seemed to be taped over and over again. I looked at the address and let out a sigh of relief when I saw the name that was written on the top of the envelope; Lt. Cameron Caine.

I went over to my desk and pulled out the envelope opener that I hadn’t really used in awhile. Most mail that I did get was from family and was usually a postcard or birthday card. Nothing that really required me to pull out the sharp tool. I opened it up and then dumped its contents on the desk. There was paper mostly but there was a bit of sand too.

I glanced at that oddly but picked up the papers first and then went over to my bed to begin reading.

Hello,

I feel like I must begin with an apologize just incase this gets to you pretty late. It’s not my fault exactly. Our mail goes out during a certain time and the odds of it getting there when we want it to isn’t exactly in our favor. I’m sorry if that’s the case now. I hope there isn’t too many hard feelings.

I’ve been thinking about what I could really tell you about me but first I’d like it if you’d drop the formalities. I think I get enough of that around here with my fellow soldiers. You can just call me Cameron.

As far as getting to know me I figured I might as well tell you a bit of my story. It’s not exactly the most normal stories as far as a young boys should go. I grew up as an orphan actually. My mother from what I was able to know from the nice ladies who ran the orphanage that I lived in as a boy, died while she gave birth to me.

She wasn’t exactly the most healthiest person, I suppose. But I’d like to think that I would love her regardless of the fact that I never got to meet her or my father. You’re probably wondering what happened to my dad? Well, I never really found out. All I knew was that he never came forward to claim me as his son during my eighteen years at the orphanage in Alexandria.

I had a choice though once I turned eighteen. I could either enlist or get a job somewhere and live in one of the apartments that were available. There weren’t many however and I didn’t really like the idea of just living anywhere and sticking my nose in any low paying job that I could find. I wanted to do something with my life. So, as you may know I enlisted. There were no drawbacks, no health issues so within a couple months and the right training I traveled on my first tour overseas and I haven’t looked back, yet.

If you’re still with me I’d like to get you to the more happier moments of my life. Or what could be considered fun during my past couple years overseas with my brothers in arms. I’m not sure how much I should go on about. I’m not really sure if I should go into it much at all but I do want to get somewhere during this letter.

So, I’ll start with things I like to do. Maybe I might throw a story in their somewhere, who knows? When I’m not ducking for cover or shooting down our enemies from the ground I like to listen to music or catch up a few of the shows that I do watch from the net. Yes, we do have computers around here.

I also play a couple games of football or catch with the guys when we’re in the clear to do things like that. We usually get a little bit of time to do it, so that’s nice. It’s not all danger all the time, thankfully. Even if it was I think I’d be used to it by now. I’ve been here and different areas over here for awhile, so it’s not too bad I must admit.

While I was reading over your assignment requirements I noticed the whole cyber options part. Considering I can get on a computer every once in awhile I think it’d be okay for us to instant message or video chat a little bit later once we’ve got to known each other a little better, yeah?

Just a thought.

In a way to end this without completely boring you, I want to ask a couple questions. You’ve gotten to know me a tad bit better than most people get to and it’s for a assignment no less. What about you? What was your childhood like? Your family? Who’s your best friend? Do you have a boyfriend I should be weary of? What scares you? And lastly how are you?

-Cameron C.

There was a smile on my face. A definite smile on my face as I looked over the letter once more. Cameron was a pretty interesting person. I found myself laughing a little bit as I read over the last couple questions that he asked. He asked if I had a boyfriend. Not that if I did that it would matter, it just made me laugh. I didn’t expect that one at all.

I didn’t expect Cameron to be much of a down to earth type of person. I subconsciously figured he be one of those drill sergeants who took everything seriously but that’s where he surprised me. He was anything but that.

I was beginning to look forward to his next letter. But first I needed to work on mine. I was about ready to start on mine when there came a knock on my door and giggling from the other side. Addison.

I shook my head before folding the pages of Cameron’s letter away and getting up from the bed to let her in. She gave me this odd look before brushing past me into the room. I half expected her to bring Prick Rick with her but I was grateful that she hadn’t. I wasn’t up for another hour around him.

“What’s got you all glowing?” She asked before I could even say hello.

Glowing? Was I glowing?

“What are you talking about?” I asked as I picked up the pages of his letter and took them over to my desk where the sand was still clumped up in a small pile. I didn’t really know what to do with it.

“You seem a bit more upbeat, not that I’m complaining. It’s just a tad bit different. You’re usually so tired looking.” She muttered as she came beside me. “Oh, I get it now.”

She was staring at the envelope. “What? Are you okay, Addie? You’re being weird.”

“Me? No, but you are. I see the Lt. finally sent you your letter. That must have been a surprise.” I could sense the laughter in her tone. I didn’t know why she was teasing me. I had been such a nervous wreck waiting on his letter to come. Now that it had I had the right to be a bit at ease.

“It’s a good thing. I thought you were going out with the devil tonight?” I rolled my eyes as I began scooping up the sand up into the empty envelope. I figured I’d get on the response later when she was gone. I didn’t need her breathing over my shoulder while I did that.

“He had to cancel. Apparently something came up, it’s no big deal. We were just going to the movies.”

I frowned at that. When a guy cancelled it was never good. I might have been completely biased considering I wasn’t fond of Rick either. But I didn’t like that she was so nonchalant about this. “It was a date though. Are you two finally going to break up?”

“No. His brother got into an accident today so he wanted to make sure he was okay.” She was still being a bit weird about things right now. I shrugged before going back over to my bed to have a seat. “So what’s your plans for tonight then?” I asked hoping she had some other plans. I really didn’t want to go out but I would if she had something good planned.

“I was just going to hang out with you tonight. The other girls are being sorta bitchy right now. We haven’t really hung out in awhile, anyway.”

Of course, I was the last resort. I accepted it though. She was the only one that was still here for me after a couple of the things that had happened the past year. I tried to not dwell on it though.

“Oh. I don’t think I’ll be much fun. I was just gonna get dinner in a little while then come back here and start on my letter back to Cameron.”

“Change of plans then, we’re going out. So start getting ready.” I groaned as she began pushing me over to my dresser to find something to wear. This was going to be an interesting night. I just hoped partying wasn’t in the plans. I needed to be up for classes tomorrow and so did she.

I’d try to have fun though. I owed her that much after her dealing with my mopeyness for quite a few months.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be back before curfew Mother Dearest. Class is priority I know.” Addison added with a teasing smile.

I rolled my eyes at her as I begun to get ready. This would be fun.