Annie in the truck

Well, that brought back memories... Annie thought as she watched her Daddy approach the crater through the windshield.

Growing up an Army Brat wasn't so bad. A lot of kids complained about moving every 3-5 years but that never bothered her. Annie figures that she was too young to really care about having to make new friends at new schools. That part was easy. She stuck to her studies and stayed out of the cliques (unless you considered the other Brats a clique).

What bothered her were the deployments. Daddy would be gone forever! And she got scared every freaking time. She knew he did dangerous work. The Rangers were something like special forces, right?

She would cry every time she heard about another fucking deployment. She knew that she would never see her Daddy again.

And Daddy would have to come to her room and hold her and kiss her and tell her that everything was going to be okay and that he loved her and that she was his special little baby girl and that Daddy had a big, important job, protecting our way of life around the world and that he loved her more than anything else and he promised that he would always make it back home and...

and

Oh my God, I miss that... Annie thought. I miss how safe and warm and loved I felt in my Daddy's arms. I wasn't lying... he was my hero.

But as much as she loved those pre-deployment cuddles. She always felt abandoned when he left. She always feared he would never come back.

And then he retired from the Army and there were parties and ceremonies and she was relieved that her Daddy was never going to war again.

But then he joined the fucking cops! Sure, it was small town but the fucking cops? Now he was at war everyday but he no longer came to her room to hold her and kiss her and tell her that everything was going to be okay.

What the fuck is he doing? She thought as she looked out the window to see Bert climb the side of the giant crater...