"What?! Garte, no you can't!"My mother whisper-yells.

I wonder why, I think it would help. He left at a pretty high rank, I believe.

"I need to, its the only way we can do anything to help with the bills." Dad sighs. He sounds sad to go back.

"Don't you remember the last time you were in the Army? You got PTSD so bad you almost killed yourself!" My mother exclaims.

He did? He tried to kill himself? No, he can't go back then! I can't let that happen because of me!

I sit up with my eyes wide open, ready to hear anything the two have to say. But I have to stop him from going. Tears form in my eyes as they both look over at me.

"Garroth?!" They both whisper. My father immediately comes over to me.

"How much did you hear?" He asks.

"All of it," with those words, he hugs me. I start to cry, I don't want him to go.

He shushes me, and I calm down. I shake, I shudder, I do everything that any other eight year old would do. Mom comes over and sits on the bed next to me.

"Don't go, dad!" I sob. He just holds me and tries to calm me.

"I have to-"

"No, you don't! Please don't!"

He separates from me and looks me straight in the eye. I can see tears in his eyes, too. He really doesn't want to go.

"I had to be in the Army when you were little and in this situation. It won't be much different," he tries to convince me.

"But I was little then! And mom said you tried to kill yourself!" I start to want to cry again.

"I was sick, then, Garroth. I'm better now, okay?"

"But you'll get sick again!"

Dad looks at me with sadness and sympathy. He wants to stay but he needs to go, as it's the easiest job to go into without having to go without a bunch of job interviews.

"Even if I did," he begins, "I promise I wouldn't go anywhere. I love you boys and I need to stay with you."

I nod slowly and rub my eyes, wet from tears. Dad kisses me on the top of the head.

"You get some sleep, okay Garroth?" Mom says.

I nod, lie back down and go to sleep. I keep thinking about how he can't go, but he has to in order to keep me alive.

To keep me alive.

~•~

"Garroth, wake up, buddy," my mother says while giving a slight shake to my shoulder.

I slowly open my eyes to the bright sunlight. My mother smiles at me and I smile back. I look around to find an empty room.

"Where's dad?" I ask while rubbing my eyes.

"He went to go see the recruiter for the Army," she says. "He should be back soon."

Something seems to be happier in mom's expression than earlier. She might be crazy or something, dad losing his job isn't something to be really happy about, in my opinion.

"Why so happy today?" I laugh, trying not to sound too serious.

"Because your dad finally has a job he loves, Garroth," she smiles.

"He hated his job before?" I ask.

"He certainly didn't like it," she replies, "You have to go to your activities soon, last ones I believe."

I smile and jump out of bed. I'm not excited to leave my friends necessarily, but I'm excited to leave this hospital once and for all. Mom hands me the mask to put on and I do so, wrapping the soft elastic behind my ears. She smiles, grabs my hand, and we head out of the room.

We get into the room where all the toys and everything are. I find Aphmau and Laurance and sit down next to them. My mom sits with who I think is Aphmau's mom. My two friends smile.

"Hey, Garroth," Laurance says, the first time he actually says hi first.

I smile and reply, "Hey!"

"What do you wanna do?" Aphmau asks. I shrug, we've done almost everything in the span of a month.

"Hey, Aphmau tells me you knows all the capitals of the states," Laurance says. I nod.

"Do you know the capitals of countries?" He asks.

I shrug, "Some, probably."

His eyes go immediately from soft to hard and intelligent almost immediately. I'm ready for whatever he gives me.

"Ireland," he begins.

"Dublin," I squint my eyes at him.

"France."

"Paris."

"Wales."

I think for a minute, "Cardiff."

He nods, "Sweden."

"Stockholm?" I guess.

"You are smart!" He laughs.

I nod and look down. My mask starts to become uncomfortable, and I want to rip it off. But I would get in trouble with almost everyone, plus I would get sick. And I don't wanna be in this hospital for longer.

Aphmau laughs, "Should we just quiz Garroth on capitals?"

"Yeah!" Laurance says. My eyes grow wide, and they laugh.

"Come on!" They both say.

I sigh, "Fine."

And so we do so, going from India to Norway, Russia. Once in a while they would give me a capital and I would name the country or state. I got them all right, not to brag.

My mom came over after a while and said it was time to go. I nodded, got up, and waved to Aphmau and Laurance. They waved back as I left the room, the room where I got away from the cold technology of the hospital.

~•~

"Hey, Garroth, look who's here," my mom says, getting my attention by taking out my earbud.

I turn to see my dad and my little brothers standing next to him. Dad has a smile on his face, Vylad and Zane are just looking around.

"Dad!" I run up to him and hug him. He hugs me back. "How did it go with the recruiter?"

"Good, I've been reenlisted and I'm gonna be deployed in just under a month," he forces a smile. I try and smile but it doesn't come the way I want it to.

I think for a minute, "So you're Sergeant Ro'Meave?"

"Yep!" We all laugh.

I know I'm gonna miss him, a lot. He's gonna be gone forever and I don't want anything bad to happen. But dad said he wasn't going anywhere, and I trust him.

A doctor comes into our room. He freezes immediately seeing what's happening.

"I-I'm sorry, am I disturbing something?" He has a really deep voice. Kinda like a giant.

"No, what is it?" My mother says.

"Well, I have good news for you guys," his eyes are bright. Both my parents faces light up. He smiles.

"The cancer's gone."

••••••••
SERGEANT RO'MEAVE EVERYONE. WOOP WOOP.
I am hype and idk why 😂😂
Thanks for reading! Bai!
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