“Check,” John said as he moved a chess piece forward on the board.  “You’re move,” he added, looking up at Ferrin.

“I’ll show you check,” Ferrin grumbled quietly, making the one and only move he knew that he could.  He knew he had lost, but refused to surrender.   John would have to take him clear to the end.

“Check mate,” John said, making his final, usual move.

“Goddamit!” Ferrin growled.  This was the fifth time today that John had taken him with the same ending move.  “Must you rub my face in your brains!”  He slammed his hand down on the table, then got up and moved to the TV.

“Of course I must Ferrin.  You’re only here for another week.   How else would I make myself feel smug?”  John watched as Ferrin flipped past the news, where a picture of his wife displayed on the screen.  “Hey wait!  Go back!”

“To what?”  Ferrin was already ten channels past the one John was looking for.

“The news.”

Ferrin sighed and flipped the channel back to the news.  There it was, a picture of John’s wife.  Her face smiled back at them as if staring through his soul.   Her smile always did intimidate him.  He turned up the TV as the reporter continued the broadcast.

“- Miss Amia Fox died in a tragic shooting over in England early yesterday morning by one of the king’s men.  She will be sorely missed, and we will hope that there is a reason for this assassination, as the last one is the reason for the war we’re in now.”

Ferrin muted the TV and turned around soon enough to see John fall to his knees.  “I’m sorry.”  What else would he say?  There was no warning.  They sent her away so that she wouldn’t be caught in the middle of the war, and next thing they knew, she was dead.

“No.”  John was staring at the ground, watching his hands shake, trying to breath.  So many thoughts ran through his head.  What would he do now?  How would he fight a war AND raise his kids?  “It can’t be.”  He punched the ground as tears began to build in his eyes.  “She was my everything.”  He choked back the knot in his throat as he felt Ferrin’s hand touch his back.

“It’ll be alright John.  Things will work out.”  Ferrin tried to comfort his life long friend, but the words he wanted to say weren’t coming out the way he wanted.  He shut his mouth and rubbed John’s back, hoping that was enough help.

“Maybe,” was all that John could choke out as he stood up and walked to the couch.  The reporter was still on the TV, with john’s wife displayed next to his head.  John turned it up to hear the end of the report.

“-the president, though he says he will be doing his best to take care of these terrorist problems, has sent out a request for all American’s to be returned home immediately.  Many have been placed on the next flight home, and a few, as reports have told, have already disappeared.  It seems Miss Fox will be the second of many victims to stand in the king’s way, who, as we all know, will not be backing down.”

The TV went to commercial and John stared at it in awe.  “That’s it?  He’s bringing the American’s home?  What about my wife?  What about the man that went over there and was killed for no reason?  What the hell is he thinking?”  He stood up and put his shoes on.  “I’m going out,” he said, not even looking at Ferrin,  “watch the kids.”

Ferrin nodded and sat down on the couch.  He bowed his head down in thought and hoped John wouldn’t do anything stupid.  He looked up at the hallway the kids were sleeping in and shook his head.  Sure, he felt loss, but not as much as John.  How much would those kids suffer when they learned about it in the morning?  He saw a small shadow creeping down the hallway and next thing he knew, Daine appeared in the doorway.

“I had a bad dream,” she said,  “Where’s daddy?”

Ferrin stared at her for a moment and patted his leg.  “Daddy’s out walking around hon.  What’s the matter?”

Daine walked over and sat on his leg.  “I had a bad dream,” she said again, and looked down.

“And what was that dream about?”  Ferrin asked, trying not to let the tears in his eyes show.

“Mommy,” Daine answered.

“What about your mommy?”

“I had a dream that she… well,” Daine stopped talking and played with Ferrin’s fingers a bit, then looked back up at him.  “I had a dream she died.”  She looked up at Ferrin and tears started welling in her eyes.  “I don’t want mommy to die!”

Ferrin closed his eyes to hold back the tears, and one dripped out from under his eyelids.  “It’s ok sweetheart.  It was just a dream.  You’re mom’s on a plane to Australia, remember?”

“But what if she did die?”  Daine cried.  She didn’t care if the dream was real or not.  It seemed real enough for her.  “I want daddy!”

“Daddy won’t be back for a little while, dear.  Should we get you a glass of milk and talk about things until he gets back?”  Ferrin ran his hand up and down Daine’s back, trying to keep her calm.   Having four children of his own, three of them being girls, he had a pretty good idea of how to keep her content until her dad got back.

Daine sniffled and nodded.  “Mmhmm.”  She got up and waited for Ferrin, then followed behind him as he walked to the fridge.

“So do you want it warm or cold?”  Ferrin asked.

Daine responded with a shrug and sat down at the table.  She closed her hands together and waited patiently for the milk, cold or warm, and sniffled a couple times every now and then.

Ferrin sighed and put a cold glass of milk down in front of her.  Then he grabbed himself a glass of water, and sat across from Daine at the table.  “So what do you want to talk about kiddo?” he asked.  Even with his four children, he still didn’t know what to talk about with a twelve year old.

“I don’t know.”  She sipped her milk and stared at Ferrin. 

For a minute everything was quiet.   He watched Daine’s eyes well up with tears three or four times and then dry again, as if light were merely flickering off of them.  They glowed a dark red color, and Ferrin finally touched her hand to let her know she wasn’t alone.  Obviously she didn’t want to talk, but she did want company.

Daine looked up at him, and for the first time since she’d woke, she smiled.  “Is daddy coming home tonight?” she asked.

“Yes, but it may be late when he does.  Do you want to go back to bed and talk to him tomorrow?”  Ferrin replied, not wanting to break the recent news to her.

Daine nodded and waited for Ferrin’s approval to go back to bed.  She let go of his hand.  Someone always tucked her in, and since dad wasn’t there to do it, Ferrin would have to do.  “Will you come tuck me in?” she finally asked.

Ferrin smiled and stood up.  “Sure.  In fact, I’ll carry you back to your bed.  Does that sound like a plan?”

Daine nodded and waited for him to pick her up.  “What’s that sound?” she asked.  A high pitched ringing had started going off outside, and it irritated her ears.

Ferrin stopped and listened then went to the window and opened it up.  He turned in time to see Daine cover her ears and start screaming for the loud siren to stop.  I never expected this here, he thought to himself.

“What is it?” Daine cried, “Make it stop!”  She covered her ears and climbed into Ferrin’s lap.

Ferrin picked her up and carried her down the hallway.  He’d heard this siren a few times back home, but he’d never expected one here.  I hope Jack’s ok, he thought to himself.  He walked into the back left room of the house and woke up the boy that slept there.  “Come on Gabriel.  We need to go outside for a while.”  He grabbed Gabriel’s arm and walked him outside, still carrying Daine in his arms.

“Where’s my dad?”  Gabriel asked, still trying to find out what was happening.  His ears ached with the noise of the siren as they exited the house.  He pulled away from Ferrin and covered his ears.  “Where’s my dad?” he asked again, this time shouting.

Ferrin pointed to the bomb shelter in front of them, signaling for the two kids to go into it.  “He went for a walk.  He’ll be ok.”  Ferrin followed the two kids into the shelter and shut the door behind him.  He could hear jets and bombers overhead as he did.  God Jack, please be ok, he thought again.  Next thing he knew, he heard a knocking on the door.  “Oh god, what now?”

“Open up!  It’s me!”  John cried from the other side.  The door opened and there stood Ferrin, Daine in his arms and Gabriel already halfway back to sleep on the bunk.  He walked in and waited for Ferrin to close the door.  “That kid sleeps through anything,” he said as he took Daine from Ferrin.

“Yeah, I know.  You weren’t gone long.”  Ferrin replied.  His head was spinning with emotions.

“I had almost made it to the hotel your family was staying in when the siren went off.  I ran back here as soon as I heard them.”  John was panting from being out of air and he put his little girl down.  “I’m just glad you guys are alright.”

“You made it to my hotel?”  Ferrin asked.  His voice begged to hear news of his son.  “Did you see Jack?  Was he with the girls?  Is he ok?”

“He’s fine.  I saw him come running out of the building with the rest of the people that were staying there.”

“Oh thank God.”  Ferrin let out a sigh of relief as he sat down on one of the four beds that were set in the corner.  “That’s one less thing I need to worry about right now.”

“Yeah, I know.”  John joined Ferrin at the bed and Daine followed behind him.  Gabriel was sleeping again on the bed across from them.  They were silent aside from Daine’s cries that pleaded for the bombing to stop.  Every time the shelter rumbled, she squeezed John’s leg tighter.  He picked her up again and saw the small fingernail prints she had left in his pant leg.

“Your eyes are swollen, honey.  What’s wrong?”  John asked, as he held Daine and lightly stroked her back.

“She had a dream,” Ferrin said, answering for her.  “She dreamed her mother…” he swallowed as he held back a knot in his throat.  “a dream that her mother died.”  Ferrin felt his heart sink as he sat there, watching John’s eyes well up, nearly as big as Daine’s who began to cry.

John closed his eyes, and felt a few tears seep out from under his eyelids.  His entire world fell silent.  He could no longer hear the bombs outside, or Daine’s wailing.  Ferrin was merely a blur as he blinked a few times, and closed his eyes again.  The news had finally sunk in.  His wife was gone, and the next victim would put him in a position of power that even he couldn’t control on his own.  He looked over to see his son tossing and turning on the bed.  A nightmare John knew was the same as Daine’s.  He, however, would know what it meant, when Daine did not.

“It’ll be ok Daine.  Why don’t you try to get some more rest, and we’ll let you know when we can go back to the house.  Does that sound like a plan?”

“So mommy didn’t die?”  Daine sniffled.

John sighed.  He couldn’t tell her that his wife hadn’t died, because she did, but he couldn’t tell her that she had.  He couldn’t talk about it without freezing up and losing focus on something much bigger.  “We’ll talk about it when you wake up, love.”  He picked Daine up and laid her down on one of the other three beds and waited for her to doze off to sleep, all the while holding her hand, and keeping her calm.  He didn’t know how long passed as he stood there, watching Gabriel toss and turn, and listening to Daine’s sniffles.

Ferrin stood up and walked over to John.  It had been an hour and half of silence, and though he understood, things had to be done, or they could have been in there for das.  “She’s asleep John.  The bombs have stopped.  Turn on the radio, and the tv, and wait for the signal.”  He pried John’s hand away from Daine and watched as he snapped back into the real world.

“Alright.”  John walked over to the tv and hit the power switch.  Then he waited.  Nothing happened.  He checked the plug in the wall, wiggled it, and tried again.  Once again he got no result.  He walked over to the radio and flipped the switch on that.  This also responded with silence.  During drill they had been trained to listen for a high pitched sound, like the siren they’d heard earlier.  “You don’t think the city lost electricity do you?”  he asked Ferrin.

“If it did the generator would be working now.  Something must have gone wrong.  What I don’t understand is that the lights to the shelter are still on.”  Ferrin looked up at the lights soon enough to watch them turn off.  “Or not…”

“Well, I guess we venture ouside.”  John grabbed  a suit that hung against the wall, and a gas mask that hung over it.  Slowly he slid into it, and walked over to the shelter door.  “If I’m not back in ten minutes…”

“I know,”  Ferrin replied with a nod, “lock it back up and stay put.”

“Precisely.”  John pulled the handle on the door and eased it open.  The light of the morning sun beamed in on them as they stood there.  John looked back once more and walked out into the yard.  The door slammed shut behind him, and he heard the bolt snap as Ferrin locked it.