Daniel's cell phone was ringing. He could faintly hear it. He was in the shower. It went to voice mail, by the time he grabbed a towel. Wayne, one of his roommates, stood outside the bathroom, waiting to use it, looking hungover. They did not bother exchanging many words, besides, "morning."
He looked at his missed call, and listened to his voice mail. It was Christen, Adrien's sister, and she sounded like she was distressed, asking him to call back. He did.
She answered immediately, "Hello."
"Christen, you called me?"
Her voice cracked a bit. "Yeah, um, I have some terrible - Adrien got killed in the line of duty." She broke down. He could hear her crying.
He was stunned, and said nothing, at first, that moment of bewilderment, and wondering if you are dreaming.
He was trying to gather his thoughts around the news. "Oh, no," he responded, finally. "When, how?"
"Just two days ago. Some officers came to our door. My mom and Dad answered it, and I was at school - ." Pause. "They're coming to give him a funeral - the military - I mean. We've had people coming to the house a lot, to help with the cooking and all, but it is really - I just can't believe it. You should come home. I want you to sing at the funeral, and play your guitar. I want you to do, Wish You Were Here." She started to cry again.
Daniel was crying too, now. "Sure," his voice cracked now. "I'll get a bus ticket, right away. Do you want me to let Chris and Robert know?"
"Yes, I'd like them to be at the funeral. Their parents already know. It's been in the paper, and all, so they probably already heard." She sniffled and sobbed.
"Hang in there," he said, feeling lame and helpless, and mortified, himself.
He just sat on his bed staring in disbelief. Finally, he called Robert, who answered immediately. They talked about it at great length, and agreed that they all needed to go back to Vermont as soon as possible. Chris and Robert would drive together, from New Hampshire, and Daniel would get a bus home.
That night the Greyhound bus dropped Daniel at the bus station, in Burlington, the closest city, where Chris and Robert picked him up, and they drove straight to Daniel's house. Nick would be home alone, from school, and Daniel's mother would still be at work. He did not call her. He just did not have the strength. She would just have to come home to find them there, and hear the news, herself.
On the way to Vershire Center, just out of Burlington, Daniel asked, "Robert, can you stop at a liquor store, get us something strong? I'll give you the money, and I need some smokes."
"Yeah," Robert answered numbly. He pulled into the closest liquor store he came to, driving out of town. He went in to get some bourbon, a half gallon of it, and some beer.
Daniel went into the convenience gas station next door, and bought two packs of Marlboro reds, full flavor, and a lighter, since his was out. Chris stayed in the car.
They got back on the road. Robert had Metallica playing in his CD player. No one was talking, just silent. He had it on pretty loud. No one complained. No one felt like talking.
When they got to the house, both Rusty and Nick came out, Nick having heard a car drive up, as well as Rusty, who ran straight to Daniel, as he pulled his guitar and back pack from the trunk. He patted Rusty on the head, saying, "hey, boy."
"Hey, Daniel," Nick said, with more expression than usual, glad to see him, and surprised, since it was not even Thanksgiving yet, and he would have been at music college.
They all said, "hey, Nick."
As soon as they came in, they began getting tumblers of ice, from the kitchen they knew so well, and usually they would have to hide the alcohol from Lizzy, since she was not crazy about Daniel drinking, and was adamant about them not influencing Nick in a bad way. So, they took it in the downstairs guest room, where the XBOX and PlayStation were, as well as the DVD and VHS players. There was also the stereo, in there. It was sort of the den now, the hang out room.
Eventually, they settled down with their drinks, and told Nick what had happened.
"That's really horrible," Nick said.
"God, I can't believe it," Chris said, sipping his drink.
"I know," Robert retorted.
"I just can't seem to wrap my brain around it. Still in shock, I suppose," was Daniel's response.
They were getting drunk, as the hours passed, and Nick should have been upstairs sleeping, by now, because he had school tomorrow, but none of them were even thinking about it, and now Nick was the only one playing World Warrior. No one else was even slightly in the mood.
"Mute the sound, Nick, if you don't mind, I want to play a CD," Daniel requested. He did. He put on Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd. This was the first time when drinking did not solve anything, or make anyone giddy, but it did help to numb out the pain. Still, the album reminded them all so much of Adrien, that they were all crying, drinking, and talking little. Just numb, but not 'comfortably numb,' like the Pink Floyd song, but weirdly, strangely numb. It was an altered state, but not a good one, a painful one. The thought of never seeing Adrien again, was baffling, hard to grasp, and he was no longer tangible, would never be present with them again, or answer his phone, or call, or hang out. He was just plain gone. Gone. Where? Heaven? If there was a heaven, he would surely be there. He was nothing but good, a good guy, a good friend, a brother, a good son, mature, responsible, there for everyone. He had a strength about him, that no one his age had, it seemed.
Robert began to speak. "He died saving some fellow soldiers and civilians from an explosion. He went back in after them. If he had made it, they would have raised his rank."
"Yeah, they'll give his Medal of Honor to his family, but there wasn't much chance of him making it. The Medal of Honor is the highest one, but it's only if you die. Strange, how that works. I suppose if he had lived, he would have got the Purple Heart, and the Distinguished Service Cross. I guess that's how it's done," Daniel said.
"Pretty much," Chris agreed. "It's just so fucking unbelievable."
"You're right," Daniel agreed, it's fucking fucked up.
At that point they heard Lizzy's loud, loose muffler, coming up the gravelly driveway. She still had not gotten that fixed.
'Oh boy, this is not going to be easy,' thought Daniel. 'Not easy. She will be all happy to see us, and surprised, and she doesn't take bad news well, and this is the worst news, next to it being me or Nick. She loved Adrien too.'
With dread, he heard his mother coming in the front door, saying, "hey Rusty, good boy. The guys must be here. Robert?," she called, thinking Robert had come by to see Nick, having seen his car parked outside. But, why wouldn't he be at school, in Durham?
And, then she saw them, in the guest room, Daniel, Chris and Robert, Nick on the PlayStation. She could see by the liquor, beer and smoke, which should have been out doors, and the liquor not at all, the expressions on their faces, that something was terribly wrong.
Authors note: it goes from here to the other part of chapter nine, which I wrote back in 2012, in the Spring, and recently edited. This part I just added, to make chapter nine more complete, and in depth.
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