P.O.V: Elizabeth Harmon.
The week passed fast after that first day of training. I kept training with all of them, except Donny- who would only watch the training and never really get involved. And, though it was hard, I felt it would be worth it in the long run. It had to be at least a week before anything really changed. I was training with Renae in hand- to- hand combat while Thomas, Jake, Donny and Logan- who I’d met a couple days before- were all standing around watching as Renae pretty much kicked my ass. But I was starting to get better at blocking her attacks, even knocking her down once or twice. Renae and I were taking a break from training when Kaylee rushed through the Training Center doors, not looking very pleased at all. Her orange hair was tied back into a low ponytail and she had on a simple grey t-shirt and blue jeans.
“Sorry to interrupt,” she apologized half-halfheartedly, obviously not really caring about formalities. “but I need to talk to you two. Now.” she ordered, nodding at Jacob and Donny.
“Ut- oh. What’d we do?” Donny joked and pushed himself off the wall that he’d been leaning on and headed for the door. Jacob said nothing, looking like he knew he was about to get bad news, but headed for the door as well. The door clicked softly on their way out, leaving the rest of us to wonder what they’re talking about. Though the others didn’t seem as interested as I was. It was a few minutes before they came back in, Jacob looking like somebody had just killed his puppy and Donny looking like he’d just been punched in the stomach. Kaylee looked directly at me.
“Elizabeth Harmon, right?” Kaylee asks and reaches out to shake my hand.
“Yes, nice to meet you.” I smile at her and she returns the smile, though she seemed to be hiding something underneath it.
“Can I talk to you for a moment? Outside, please?” though it didn’t seem like it was much of a question with the tone that she was using. I nodded, a pit of dread in my stomach. Nothing good was going to come out of her mouth. I didn’t have to be a genius to know that. We both headed for the door, Renae, Thomas, and Logan now looking as suspicious as I felt. I followed Kaylee until she stopped behind the Commander’s Building. There was nothing behind the building but soft grass, but, as I looked to my right, I noticed that there was multiple structures behind the middle building that I couldn’t quite make out because we were too far away to see them.
“Elizabeth, there’s really no easy way to say this,“Kaylee murmered, looking like she was about to give me the death sentence, and the dread in my stomach grew. “so I’m going to be honest with you. About a week ago, a base in North Carolina went down- and I’m sorry to say that nobody was found alive.”
She paused, waiting for me to say something, but I had nothing to say. Why would this have anything to do with me? Was that the one my father was in? My heart started pounding in my chest and I felt so dizzy I had to lean on the back wall of the Commander’s Building- which didn’t help at all. My whole body felt like gravity was pushing down on it.
“Why are you telling me this?” my voice came out a whisper, I couldn’t realize it any higher if I tried.
Kaylee looked me right in the eye as she told me the worst thing a sister would ever want to hear. “That was your brother’s base, Elizabeth.”
I felt numb, like my mind wasn’t hearing what my ears had. I didn’t realize that my body had slumped to the ground, or that I was crying, until Kaylee kneeled down in front of me. I could see her talking to me, trying to sooth me, but I couldn’t hear what it was that she was saying. My eyes focused on a piece of grass and didn’t move from that spot. I felt like I’d been told that my mother had died all over again- only this felt worse. Much, much worse. Kaylee telling me that Brannon was gone, it felt like someone had just ripped out a piece of myself, stomped on it, ran it over with a truck, and threw it in a volcano. It could’ve been seconds, minutes, hours- I honestly didn’t know- before I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped, surprised. I looked away from the grass to see Thomas kneeling beside me, his hand resting on my shoulder. Logan, Renae, Jake, and Don were standing behind him, looking at me sympathetically. He slid into a sitting position beside me and wrapped an arm over my shoulder. I couldn’t help crying harder. I nuzzled my head into Tommy’s neck, sobbing. He rubbed my back soothingly as Renae and Logan sat beside us and Donny and Jacob sat down across from us. After a few more minutes of crying, I was able to sit up, though Thomas still kept a hand on my back. The others managed to talk to me until I stopped crying and we all stayed there for hours, the others told stories off random things until I was calm. The sun had set hours before we were all forced by Kaylee to go to bed. Thomas stood up and offered me a hand. I took it, not trusting my feet to keep me up. I was still in shock from the news, but not nearly as much as before. I wobbled a bit, but managed keep myself upright. We all walked back to the middle building to go to bed, as Kaylee instructed. Thomas had an arm around my waist, just in case I lost my balance- which, I’ll admit, I still felt numb enough to. After Renae, Thomas, Logan, and I climbed the stairs to the last floor- Donny and Jacob’s room had been on the second floor- we walked down the hall to our rooms. Thomas and Logan’s room is apparently right across from ours. Tommy let go of my waist and took a step back.
“You going to be okay, do you think?” he asks, studying me.
I nodded and took a breath. “Y- yeah. I’ll be okay, I think I just need a little time.” I murmured, opening my door.
“Alright then, night Elizabeth.” he said and opened his own door.
Renae was sitting on her bed, apparently waiting for me. Mia was fast asleep in her own bed, snoring lightly. Renae gave me a small smile as I sat down on my bed.
“I know what it’s like to lose a sibling, Liz.” Renae sighed, leaning against her pillow. “I lost my older sister, Cayla, a month ago during a battle.”
I nodded, a tear slipping out of my eye. “Thomas told me, I’m sorry.”
“It’s hard, every day Liz. But you can’t keep thinking about him, you’ll end up going insane- trust me, I know that for a fact.” she chucked.
“Do you ever forget what she was like?” though I knew that what Renae said was probably true, but I was scared of not remembering my brother was like.
Renae shook her head. “No, you’ll never really forget them. You can’t, I tried that too. They’re always going to be on your mind, but you can’t let them be all you think about.” I took off my shoes and socks and laid down on the bed, ready for this awfull day to be over.
“This is one of our hardest jobs, Liz. Dealing with the worst news, and then going out on another mission, ready to do what you have to do. That’s why not many will do this job, because they know that they can die, and they’re still willing to do it.”
She turned off the light and layed down in her own bed, needing sleep herself. We both fell asleep, while Renae fell asleep to calmness, I fell asleep to nightmares.
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