My Soldier

To Delilah, each day seemed to pass slower and slower until the day Kyle would be home again. He had been gone for two years now, and in September he would be home for the first time. Still, that day was far enough away for the thoughts of all the things they would do together to seem like nothing but hopeless dreams.

Each day when Delilah woke up, she would write the dream she had on a little heart shaped paper, and place it into a jar. Each dream was about Kyle, and she wanted to share them with him once he was back home. It was heartbreaking for her to think that she wouldn’t be able to tell him things, so this is how she remembered all of it.

The house that Delilah and Kyle had lived in for the year they had been together before he left was fairly large. It was two stories high with a wrap-around porch and glass walls around the front patio. There was a nice sized pond with trees surrounding it. They had bought it when they just turned twenty-one and were just out of college.



Delilah sat on the tire swing that Kyle had made the summer before he was deployed. Her toes barely touched the top of the water, and she looked at her reflection in the ripples she had created.

A figured appeared next to her. Short-cut hair and blue eyes. Too bad it was only just the imaginative tricks that her heartbreak warfare caused her. The sudden ringing of the phone caused her to nearly fall in the water. With a quick swing of her legs, she was back on the bridge, and making her way back into the house.

“Hello?” She asked, her voice strained from running.

There was a short pause, and she was about to hang up when she heard another voice. “Hello, love. They said they might let me come back a few months early.”

“Really?” Delilah asked. Anyone could hear the excitement dripping in her voice, “How soon?”

There was a chuckle from the other line, as well as some shouts from some of the guys. “Probably July, although I’m not sure if I’ll be back in time for the fourth or not.”

A small tear escaped Delilah’s eye, and she sniffled, “I don’t even care. I just want you back here with me. I’ve missed you so much, Kyle.”

“And I’ve missed you Del,” he breathed, “I’ve missed you so much.” Then there was a call from the Sergeant that his company was heading out. “I’ve got to go, love. We’re heading out, but I’ll be home soon enough.”

"I love you," her words lingered in the air, for Kyle's end had gone.



“How do you do it?” Ashley questioned, taking a sip from her margarita, “I mean, isn’t it hard for you to have not seen him in so long; thinking about how much he could have changed?”

Delilah had thought about that so many times, about what could be different about Kyle, and how it could change things for them. Two years was a really long time, but Delilah knew that they would be able to get through it.

She sipped her drink and looked out at the sun, you could tell she was ready to give a long lecture. “Well, I guess things could turn out differently. He could come back a whole new person. But relationships are about compromise, and I really love him, so I think I could get used to the new him. Besides, he’s been out fighting for our country. There is sure to be some change in him. I’ll just have to accept that. I knew going into this relationship that he was going to leave, and I knew that with him leaving would come changes in the relationship. But kind of like animals adapting to a new home, I adapt to this new life.”

Ashley started laughing at the comparison between people and animals, and Delilah threw a piece of ice at her. “It isn’t funny; I’m serious. I just don’t know how to explain it to you. I guess it’s something you understand better once you experience it.”

“I suppose you are right,” Ashley said, smoothing out her dress and getting up, “Let’s go for a swim, yeah?”

Delilah nodded her head and got up to run to the pond, “Last one there buys drinks tomorrow night!”

The giggles of the girls could be heard throughout the Allen’s estate; the sound of birds chirping and wind rustling leaves completed the scene. There was a splash, and you could see Delilah’s head peek out of the water.

“That’s not fair!” Ashley yelled, “You’ve always been a faster runner than me, plus you had a head start! That’s cheating.”

Delilah laughed, splashing some water at Ashley’s ankles, “Fine, then I’ll buy the drinks.”

“Yes, you will.”



“I’m scared I’m going to fall and die!”

“You won’t fall and die, there’s nowhere to go but up, once you jump.”

“If I jump down, how am I going to get back up?”

“The rope bounces you back. Don’t chicken out now.”

The girls were bickering over bungee jumping, which a very drunk Ashley had said they should do. Now that it was the last minute. After a few minutes of looking at how high the jump would be, Ashley just turned around and ran to the car, which she jumped right into.

“I’m never going to do something like this with you again, Ashley,” Delilah said, laughing, “You just wasted a whole half hour of my time to drive you over here and then you wimp out. I wanted to see something funny.”

“How would it have been funny?” Ashley’s voice range when an octave higher, and Delilah laughed.

“When you would have went splat! On the ground.”

“You’re so mean, Del. Wake me up when we get back to the house.”

The rest of the drive home was silent except for the soft tune of the radio, and the faint snoring coming from Ashley. When she pulled up to the house, there was a black car parked in front of the willow tree.

Delilah got out of the car, and took a step towards the mad standing there. That’s when she seen that he was holding a green cap, silver dog tags sitting on top of it. She collapsed to her knees, knowing already what that meant.

The man in black uniform slowly approached her. He leaned down to place a hand on her shoulder, “I’m so sorry miss. But know, he really did love you.”

Tears flowed from Delilah’s eyes like the water in the pond, as she took Kyle’s things from the stranger. The black car pulled out of the driveway, and Delilah let out an ear splitting scream before starting to cry again.

“I had so much planned for us,” She whispered, “Why did you have to take him away?”