Luna's Marine

Chapter V

Nightmare

4:45AM

Hartman was violently thrashing about in his sleep He kept muttering “not this again.” As he was thrashing about He hit Luna in the face. She shot up ready to yell at him for that when she saw that he was having a nightmare.

She began to shake him, “Wake up Hartman, it’s just a bad dream, wake up.” Hartman’s eyes shot open. He looked left and right. He shot up and grabbed a pistol on his nigh stand. He held it to Luna head. “T-Thomas, put the gun down.”

“WERE IS SHE!” He slammed Luna on the bed pressing the gun into her temple. “TELL ME!”

Luna began to cry, “Thomas, I don’t know who you’re talking about. Please… put the gun down.” She put a hand on his cheek. That was enough to snap him back into reality. He dropped the weapon on his king sized bed when he realized who he was going to kill.

“Luna…” he started to cry, “Oh my god Luna, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to.” He got off the bed and punched his wall leaving a good sized hole. “It’s that damn dream. Why am I having it again?” He fell to his knees. He felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head to see Luna in the moon light.

“Tell me about the dream, I can help.”

“You can’t.” Hartman sobbed

“Yes I can just let me in” Her hands started to glow.

“Ok” She placed her hands on his head.

……………

Hartman and a female marine were making out behind a building in Kabul. The woman breaks the kiss to say “I love you” The two went back in. They continued to kiss for a good minute when Hartman broke the kiss to check his watch.

“I have to go on patrol. I’ll see you when I get back.” He pecked her on the cheek and walked away.

When Hartman got back from patrol the base was on fire and it was clear there was a, explosion. He feared the worst. He jumped out of the Humvee he was in and ran towards the wrecked base. ‘Please god, don’t let her be dead.’ He thought.

He ran past his friend captain Drake Taylor. Taylor ran up and tackled Hartman to the ground, he knew what Hartman was thinking. Hartman was struggling to get out of Taylors hold. “Get off me Taylor! I need to find her, I need to know that she’s ok.” He was almost free, but other marine came up to help Taylor.

“Hartman I’m sorry, but she’s dead.” Hartman stopped fighting, he was stunned by what he just heard. Taylor let go of him and helped him to his feet. “She was near the explosion when it happened. She was buried under the rubble it caused. I’m sorry Hartman.”

Hartman looked around until he found the rubble he was talking about. He took off running towards the rubble. Taylor and the other marine went after him. When Hartman got to the rubble. He started to dig, pushing rocks out of the way as fast as he could. “Were are you? Answer me please!” He was pulling the rubble away faster than ever.

Taylor caught up and pulled Hartman away from the rubble. As he did, a rock fell off the pile reviling a Marine Corps issue boot. “She’s right there! You have to let me get her!”

“No, someone else will!” he again almost got free but the other marine restrain him.

“Let me go!” the dream ended with Hartman breaking free and running back to the rubble.

.................

Luna took her hands off Hartman’s head. They sat there for a few minutes, “what was her name?”

Hartman sat there for a minute, “Lynn.” His answer was quieter than a whisper, but Luna heard it. Luna embraced him in a soft hug. “There’s something I need to show you.” He broke the hug by standing up. He took his shirt off reviling a lot of tattoos. “The one on my back.” Luna walked around him to see in the moon light a full back tattoo of the Grim Reaper with the date 4/06/10 over the angle of death. “I got that the day that happened.”

Luna looked at the tattoo for a while. She didn’t know what the angle of death looked like here. She ask slowly, “Who is that?”

Hartman turned around, “the angle of death.” The answer wasn’t surprising to Luna because there was an angle of death in pony folklore. Luna didn’t want to press on the subject so she moved on, “now as for your dream and why you are having it.” There was a long pause. “You must find out why, and you must come to terms with it.”

“Can’t you just place some spell on me to repress it?” ‘You know why you’re having it Hartman.’ He thought.

Luna shook her head. “No, only you can stop the dreams by coming to terms with it is that you fear. Only then will the nightmare’s stop.” Luna paused. “How did you do it last time?”

Another long pause, “I didn’t”

“What do you mean?”

“I repressed it!” Hartman shouted.

Luna was shocked by his outburst, she had never seen him do that before. “That’s not healthy Hartman. Did you at least tell someone about it?”

“Only Chavez. But I made her promises to not tell anyone.” He finally turned around to face Luna. “Can you help me or not?”

Luna shook her head, “I can help find the reason why but only you can confront it.”

Hartman sighed, “I need a, drink.” He walked out of the room headed for the kitchen.

…………………..

Down stairs in the kitchen Chavez was sitting at the breakfast table in her dress blues, with a case of beer. Hartman sat down next to her. “You’re up early.” Chavez said tossing a beer to Hartman. He opened it and chugged it down.

Wiping his mouth he said, “I could say the same for you.” He grabbed another beer from the box. “You herded us didn’t you?” He opened his second beer and began to chug it, but Chavez stopped him.

“Trust me getting drunk early in the morning is not a good idea.” She sat Hartman’s beer down. “And to your question, yeah I did here you guys that’s why I this is here.” She patted the case of beer.

She took a sip of Hartman beer. “Just the beginning I just got back so anything you two said or did is unknown to me.” Hartman breathed a mental sigh of relief.

“Trust me nothing happened. And I don’t think anything ever will.” Chavez smack him upside the head. “Ow! What was that for?” Hartman rubbed the sore side of his head.

“She wouldn’t want you to be acting like this man!” Chavez slammed the beer can on the table.

Hartman sighed, “I know it’s just my life has been filled with death. Lynn, my father, my mother, all dead before there time!” Hartman punches the table.

Chavez gave him a funny look, “what do you mean?”

“That’s right I never told you.” Harman quivered as he was thinking of painful memories. “My father died in the gulf war. They said the cause of death was an accidental discharge of another Marines weapon.” Hartman clenched his fist together. “But at his funeral a couple of his friends in his Platoon said that wasn’t the cause of death. They said that another marine killed him in cold blood.” He slammed his fist on the table.  Chavez was freaked out by what she was seeing. Yeah, she’s seen Hartman mad before but not like this.

“And you’re mom?”

“She killed herself when I turned 18. In her suicide note she said she stayed alive to raze me and that she couldn’t live with you my father.”  A tear falls from is eye, “I’m going back to bed.” Hartman walks up stairs to region Luna.

…………………..

Hartman opens the door to his room to find Luna laying in bed shivering. He quickly got back into bed and wrapped Luna in tightly in his arms. She returned it by wrapping one of her arms around him. “Your back.” She laid her fore head on his. “I was getting worried.”

He closed his eye and yawned into his pillow, “Why would you be worried about a marine with mental issues?”

“You do not have mental issues” Luna snapped at him.

Hartman opened his eyes and stared at the woman in front of him. ‘Come on Hartman just say it, say will you be my very special somepony or do you want to go out some time.’ He was mentally beating himself over this. “Luna?”

“Yes?”

‘Come on Hartman say it! She’s obviously into you. I mean come on she’s snuggling up in bed with you.’ “Do you want to… sleep until noon?” ‘Damn it!’

She knew what Hartman was going to ask, she thought ‘you fucker! Why didn’t you ask me out?’ She kept that inside, for now. “That sounds nice.” She closed her eyes and fell asleep. Hartman on the other hand couldn’t fall asleep. For some reason he couldn’t get Arrowsmith’s I don’t wanna miss a thing out of his head.

Youtube Video

‘Why am I feeling this way? I can’t feel this way not after what happened to Lynn… damn it why can’t I get that song out of my head?!’

I could stay awake just to hear you breathing…

Watch you smile while you are sleeping while you’re far way dreaming

I could spend my life in sweet surrender

I could stay lost in this moment, forever

‘Damn it what is with that song?’ He finally fell asleep after the song was over in his head.

……………….

Down stairs

Chavez got her phone out and called the General. “Nothing to report general to night general.”

“Are you shore? Nothing out of the ordinary?”

“No sir, well if you count her ink and sleeping in the same bed as Hartman.”

“What’s her tattoo of?”

“You’re familiar with the cartoon My Little Pony Friendship is Magic?”

“Yes”

“Well there’s a character in the Show named Luna. She’s princess on the show and her cutie mark-“

“Her what?”

“Basically it a mark on the sides of their ass that shows there talent. Anyway Luna’s is a black blob with a crescent moon in the middle. Kate has the same thing on her thighs and ass cheeks. She was probly a pegasister before she lost her memory.”

“A, what?”

“A girl who likes My Little Pony”

“And Hartman is sleeping with her?”

“Not like that sir. It’s freezing in this house.”

“That will be all Chavez.”

“Sir.” She hit the end button and called a different number.