Wait For Me // H2OVanoss // BBS

Chapter 3: Don't You Know About the Pickle Run?

November 9, 1914

Monday

The sound of trumpets loudly echoing throughout the barracks woke me up. When I opened my eyes I saw darkness which meant the sun wasn't up yet.

I groaned and rolled over onto my stomach and covered my head with my potato-sack-i'm-calling-a-pillow. With no warning I was jabbed in the side of my leg- roughly.

"Ow! What the hell?" I sat up fast smacking my head on the ceiling. I fell back onto my bunk with a thud and heard snickering from the others in the room. I groaned again but louder this time.

"Shut up Jon and get up. Evan gets angry when we're late." I heard Brian (I think) say to me.

With my head thumping I sat up slowing and slid off the top bunk. "Fine, but who the fuck stabbed my leg?" I looked around as everybody turned and looked around the room at everything except me. I rolled my eyes and starting putting on my new clothes given to me from a recruiter back in South Carolina.

Luckily, even though it's September, Georgia isn't that cold. So I threw on my green t-shirt and military cargo pants. Once I was done I looked up just in time to see everyone staring at me then looking away.

"What?" I asked, "What are you guys staring at?"

I heard quiet responses of 'nothing' and 'I wasn't looking at you'. I scoffed and singled out one of the guys who has been the nicest to me here.

"Brock, why was everyone staring at me?" I asked him calmly.

Brock looked around for a way to get out of answering but I grabbed his shoulders and made him look at me. His eyes looked down at the ground for a few seconds before sadly staring into mine.

"You- you have um- you have whip marks on your back?" He said quietly as if it was a sin to speak.

"Stop being a faggot Jonathan with that fucking Will kid or whatever his name is!" She whipped me hard on the back. This was a weekly thing. Whenever I came home late she assumed I was out having sex with guys.

"He's so out of it right now guys. Hello? Earth to Jonathan? Anyone home?" A voice brought me out of the past.

I blinked twice and looked around to see everyone staring at me once again. I smiled sheepishly and apologized for zoning out.

"We have to get going now guys, we're probably already late." Marcel said firmly, breaking the tension.

We went to eat breakfast and I sat in silence.

Surprisingly, I was grateful that we had Physical Training, or PT, today. We all scrambled out of the cafeteria. Not surprisingly, everyone was still giving me my space. Every few seconds I could feel eyes burning holes through my shirt. How could I forget about my scars?

While we were walking I kept kicking up dirt from the trail. "You ok Jon?" Daithi asked.

I shrugged. "Yeah, I'm just a little embarrassed you guys saw my back. I forgot about them."

Daithi looked at my back as if he could see the scars. "I don't mean to sound weird on nothin', but I think scars are pretty cool and yer scars stand out. Very unique," he said smiling slightly.

This made me smile. I know the scars are ugly but having someone try and cheer me up is something I'm not used to.

"Thanks Daithi," I said back to him. He gave me one more smiling before we made it to where Evan was standing. He had a look on his face that meant we were definitely later than we should ever be and we were in trouble.