No Rest For The Wicked

Turn of the Dice

No one can confidently say that he will still be living tomorrow. ~Euripides

"How long this time?" Laurie asked, sipping her cup of tea and carefully watching her sister for any signs of a new round of tears.

"Six months," Cathy sniffed, taking a steadying breath to try to compose herself. She hated this, going through it again and again, promising she'd be stronger next time. But how does one be strong when their husband is deployed for months at a time? How can a wife stay tear-free when she goes home to an empty house, never knowing if that had been her final goodbye?

She had kept herself together for her husband, had kept the tears at bay as she kissed him and watched him get on the plane. But when she arrived home to find Laurie waiting with a fresh pot of tea, she lost the strength to hold back the flood and cried out her pain, praying he would come home safe to her.

"Did he tell you where he's being stationed?" Laurie asked again; it was the same questions, the same tea, and the same heartache every time. Like each time before, she would be there for her sister until Cathy adjusted to the quiet house and kept her sorrow to an eager anticipation to the day the plane would bring her Daniel back to her.

Cathy shook her head, finishing the last gulp of her hot tea, Laurie always knew how to make it best. "It's classified. Ever since he was recruited to that special ops team he can't tell me anything! All he could say was that he would be 'hanging with the big boys in white sands'."

Her frustration at the secrecy was obvious, but he loved his job, and if not telling her exactly where he was saved lives, then she would deal with it.

Laurie stayed with her sister for another few hours, leaving only after the sun had dipped below the horizon and Cathy retired to bed exhausted, promising she would be back tomorrow.

She took the backroads home, preferring the extra miles to the busy streets and harried, impatient drivers. Flicking on her brights, she leisurely cruised down the empty road, fiddling with the radio until she found a country station. Singing along to Eric Church, she tapped the brakes, allowing a doe and her fawn to dart across the road before accelerating back up to speed. Laurie sighed to herself, loving how the line of trees relaxed her and brought a semblance of peace to her mind. She really did need to move out of her apartment in the city. It was a crap-hole and the landlord was a perverted jerk so there was hardly incentive to stay. Her savings was up pretty high, intended for a vacation, but living out in the woods would be a permanent stress reliever....That settled it then, once Cathy was alright again, she was house hunting. Or maybe before then. It would do her sister good to get out and get her mind off Daniel's absence. Tomorrow it is! And for lunch they could hit up that great little diner on the side of the highway, maybe a movie in the evening.

Coasting around a blind corner, Laurie slammed the brakes with a colorful swear as her car barreled towards a large lump in the middle of the road. There was no shoulder to get around. If her car didn't stop in time, there was no way she could avoid hitting it.

Tires screeching against the pavement, the car finally stopped mere feet from the obstruction, headlights shining brightly on the lump of...something. Heart beating wildly, Laurie climbed out of the car, wondering what someone would dump in the middle of the road. She paused next to her door. What if it was a body? What if the killer was still close by? Shaking her head, the woman resolved to lay off of the Criminal Minds marathons.

Stepping up to the fender, Laurie couldn't help but be wary. Her mother had been right after all, apparently, the crime shows did wear on her.

'Stop it,' she chided herself, it was nothing, a roll of carpet bound for the dump that had fallen from a truck, garbage, a road hazard that needed to be moved but no more nefarious than a discarded can in the ditch.