Authors: Bethany-Kris,Erin Ashley Tanner
Gun Moll
For
our fans, thank you.
D
eep down into the
depth of her core, Melina Morgan could feel a blaze burning hotter and hotter. Her
soul was on fire. Soon, she knew it would consume her, but there was nothing
she could do. Life had already decided her fate and fate was a real bitch.
A droplet of water
splattered her face as she readjusted the black umbrella she was holding. The
sky was open, pouring water down all around her, but it didn’t matter. Not much
did anymore.
She watched with
gritted teeth as the simple maple-oak-finished casket was lowered into the
waiting plot in the ground. Melina stood alone as the first and only witness to
the final resting place of a great man. A great man who’d been all but shunned
and forgotten by everyone except her. Hot tears slipped down her cheeks, and as
the thunder clapped overhead, she couldn’t hold them in any longer. The despair
and anger she’d been holding inside burst from her lungs like a train running at
full speed.
Bitterness filled
her mouth as she sobbed. Her knuckles cracked as she clutched the umbrella as
if it were the only lifeline to hold her up. It wasn’t fair. Those fucks had
betrayed him, stripping him of everything he’d worked so hard for; everything
he’d honored and held in high esteem, they’d taken it away. Melina shouldn’t
have been the only person at this funeral. It should have been filled with
friends and colleagues of Daniel Morgan Jr. There should have been a line of
men saluting him and placing the symbol of everything Daniel had ever stood for
in Melina’s hands.
But Melina held
nothing except a worn, black umbrella that did little to keep the rain from
chilling her bones. It was just too bad; the rain couldn’t cool the fire in her
soul. As the casket came to its final resting place, the gravedigger started to
throw the first shovel of dirt in.
“Wait.”
He threw dirt on
the top of the casket.
“Damn it, I said
wait!” Melina yelled at him.
“It’s raining cats
and dogs out here. I’m soaked.”
“Well, so am I. Do
you know who you’re burying? Do you know who it is that you’re giving less than
a damn about?”
“Look, I’m just
doing my job.”
“So did he, and he
got no respect for it. No appreciation. But today, you’re going to give me a
chance to show him the respect he didn’t get when he was alive. Got it?”
The man glared at
her, his muddy brown eyes were hard, but Melina didn’t care. He was going to
allow her this moment. Reaching inside her black trench coat, she withdrew a
small souvenir. She’d had it since she was a small girl and now she was
returning it to the one who’d given it to her. Staring at it with a measure of
love and anger, Melina threw the small replica of the American flag down on top
of the casket.
“You finished?”
the insolent gravedigger asked.
“No, I’m not. You
might want to get out of the way for what I’m about to do next.”
“Can you hurry the
hell up?”
Melina’s russet
brown eyes closed briefly before she opened them again. Reaching once more into
her coat, she pulled out a black handgun with a worn grip and aimed it at the
gravedigger.
“I suggest you
shut the fuck up before you find yourself in a hole out here, too.”
The man raised his
hands. “I don’t want any trouble. Please.”
“Then be quiet and
let me do what I came here for. You are welcome to continue your miserable
excuse for a job, after.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Melina raised her
Smith & Wesson 386 towards the sky and fired one round.
“Lance Corporal
Daniel Morgan Jr., thank you for your service. Thank you for believing that no
man deserves to be left behind. Thank you for taking a stand and sticking by it,
no matter what it cost you in the end.”
Melina blasted
another round off into the sky. The gravedigger jumped, but she ignored him.
She wasn’t finished yet. Her voice wavered as she continued talking.
“When others
would’ve simply turned a blind eye, you stuck to your values and you always did
the right thing. When life fucked you any way but right, your spirit let you
hold on and keep fighting. Few knew your pain, but I saw it, no matter how much
you tried to hide it from me. Few will ever know the real cost you paid for
serving your country as an honorable man, but I know and I remember.”
With tears
streaming down her cheeks, Melina raised the gun and fired one last time.
“This isn’t
goodbye. It’s just an ‘I’ll see you later’ and when we meet again, you’ll be
the man you once were. The man who looked at life through shining eyes with the
hope and belief that no matter what, doing the right thing would always save
you in the end. Rest now and know that the pain of this life is over, and
you’re in a far better place. See you later.”
As the rain slowed
to a light downpour, Melina put her gun away and nodded towards the gravedigger.
“He’s all yours now.”
She turned to walk
away.
“Ma’am, I don’t
mean to pry, but if he was a vet, why didn’t he have a military funeral?”
Wiping her eyes,
Melina swallowed the lump in her throat and faced the gravedigger with the
familiar coldness already settling in her heart.
“While in
Afghanistan, a small group of men under him were trapped behind enemy lines and
ordered to be left behind. He disobeyed orders and went back for them; two of
those men died. My father lost his right forearm. Instead of giving him a medal
for risking his life for his fellow man and for losing a limb, they discharged
him dishonorably. He was an example for other men, and nothing more.”
“That was mighty
shitty of them to do that.”
“Yes, it was.”
“What about the
men he saved? Why aren’t they here?”
“I was unable to
get the contact information for the ones who survived.”
Melina turned away
and started to walk.
“He was your
father, wasn’t he?” the gravedigger called from behind her.
“Yes, he was.”
Taking a deep,
cleansing breath, she started to walk through the graveyard and to her car. It
was over and she would never return here. Contrary to what many thought, there
was no sentimental value to visiting a grave. The person you loved was gone. There
was no lingering spirit, waiting around for you to come visit. Only a body
remained. A body that had already begun to deteriorate and would soon return to
the earth from which it came.
No, Melina was
done here. There was no reason to visit a headstone, especially one that did
not even begin to convey the true measure of the man buried beneath it.
The rain continued
to slacken as Melina walked back to her vehicle. A loud beep made her stop.
Opening her purse, she reached inside. Her fingers closed around a black beeper
that was outdated and behind the times, but necessary, according to her boss.
The number “711” flashed across it. Putting it back inside her purse, Melina
kept walking. She’d just received another lesson from life:
It doesn’t
matter what the fuck is going on, the world keeps moving. Deal with it.
Sad, but true.
Anyone else would have the time to grieve properly, to get affairs in order.
Hell, just a little time to sift through their father’s belongings and
reminisce. But not her.
It was time to dry
her tears and close the vault to her heart permanently. She was in this world
alone, and she had to make it the best she could. Even if she cringed every
time the numbers 711 came across her beeper. Even if her stomach turned,
imaging what kind of desperate fool she’d have to entertain tonight. It didn’t
matter. She was an escort and tonight, she belonged to the highest bidder,
whoever he might be.