Purple Heart

Chapter 1: Lady in Waiting

The time on the clock read 2:46 on that sunny Tuesday afternoon. A lethargic red-headed girl with enough hair to choke a room full of horses lay unsuspectingly in her queen-sized bed with her legs crossed and her iPhone carefully balanced on her forehead. Her striking red eyes were lazily focused on the patterns of light on her stomach created by the sunshine streaming into her generously-sized room through her westward-facing windows. She wasn't in the mood to work on her classwork for Yale, she had already been studying all she could handle since 4:30 AM that morning, and (even in that staggeringly vast mansion owned by Chronos the Elder of time) she just could not for the life of her find anything to do. She sighed and began to trace the outline of the light with her finger; things sure were quiet when the rest of her housemates weren't around.

Just then, the iPhone started to vibrate with it's usual urgency. The girl was startled into a sudden sitting position, sending her phone flying to the other end of the bed. She rubbed her tingling forehead and muttered an inaudible string of unsightly remarks, reaching for her phone with her other free hand. She didn't bother to check the number, she just hit the "answer call" button and held the rectangular device to her ear.

"Hello, Juliet? Juliet Winthrop?" another girl's voice questioned hesitantly on the other end of the line. The red-head named Juliet had to fight to not drop her phone upon hearing the other girl's voice. Juliet's mouth hung wide open; she knew this voice all too well, though she hadn't heard it in years. The voice belonged to Penni Ayers, a face and name that had been so very commonplace to Juliet throughout her highschool career.

"Penni? Penni; is that really you?!" Juliet asked quickly after recovering from a brief moment of shock. She had to physically fight the squeals of excitement welling up in her chest.

"Yes! Oh, I'm so relieved you remember!" Penni exclaimed, matching Juliet's excitement.

"Christ alive Penni, where have the years gone?! You've gotta be entering college by now, right?"

"Yep! And guess what? I got accepted to Yale, too! And I even got a scholarship that covers everything but room and board!!"

Juliet's hand flew up and covered her mouth. "Penni! That's amazing!!"

"Yep! Just like you!" Penni replied ecstatically. "I'm no master chemist like you are, though; I'm going into psychology."

"More like alchemist," Juliet joked in her head, smirking at the thought. "Ah geez, that's so perfect for you! I know you're gonna love that program; it was practically made for you."

"You really think so?" Penni asked happily before pausing a moment. "...Hey Juliet, I really wanna finish this conversation - maybe even in person - another time, but this call is really for my big brother," she explained sheepishly.

Juliet swallowed hard. Her heart beat mercilessly against her chest. It took her a moment, but she finally convinced her mouth to form the name "...Ray?" into a quiet, hopeful question.

"Yeah! He's coming back home in a few weeks; can you believe it?!" Penni confirmed excitedly. "We know it's been a long time since you guys last saw each other... but mom, dad and I were wondering if could be there to greet him at the airport with us! It'd make him happy, I bet."

Juliet's heart carried on furiously as she sprang to her feet; it beat frantically with the force of a speeding freight train. "He's... he's coming home?" she asked in shock. Alone in her room, where no one could see her, she had no reason to hide her emotions. "I've sent letters, but I wasn't sure if he got them all... I haven't gotten anything for quite a while, but I just figured..."

"Yeah, he says that mail hasn't been getting to and from the troops very well." Penni assured her. "But don't worry, he's whole and un-exploded! He's recovering from an injury, though, so they're sending him back to the states so that he can get well."

"He's....." Juliet's voice trailed off. Her heart completely ceased to beat and promptly plummeted into her stomach. Her voice wavered the slightest bit as she went on to ask, "...He was injured?"

"Uh-huh, although they didn't tell us much about it," Penni answered somberly. "I'm sure he's fine though; they say he's already healing in record time! He hasn't lost anything; he just got hurt." There was a short pause of silence between the girls as Penni gave Juliet some time to soak up the new information. "...I heard around campus that you got a new job and moved farther away, so I can understand if you can't make it..." she continued softly, "...but... it doesn't look like any of Ray's other buddies can make it - even the ones you two shared. Plus you were closer to him than all those other friends put together, and you were the first person me and my parents thought of when we were trying to figure out who to ask. If you can't or don't want to-"

"-Oh, don't worry. I'll be there." Juliet blurted. She was still too stunned for long sentences, it seemed.

"You will? Really?! You mean it?? Yes! He'll be so happy!!!" Penni exclaimed, overjoyed. In the background, Juliet could hear her get shushed by somebody. "Oh no, I gotta go... I'll be in touch, okay? -Oh! Also! I'll text you the time and place here in a second, okay? See ya!"

"I'll look forward to it..." Juliet responded breathlessly as the line went dead.

The phone slid from Juliet's hand and clattered to the floor. She stared straight ahead at the empty wall across from her. It was all happening so fast; Raynor Ayers was really coming home. He was injured, but he was alive. Suddenly, only a few short weeks stood between Juliet and the person she had spent seventh grade, eighth grade, and almost all of high school with. She lost all control; she sank to her knees and a few small sobs of relief (among other conflicting feelings) escaped her chest.

"Jules? Are you okay?" Josephine Rosenthal, Juliet's trusted confidante friend and the only other housemate who was around at the time, asked timidly as she peered through the half-open door at the emotional blob with red hair in Juliet's room. Jo was having some trouble making the connection between this Juliet and the Juliet Winthrop she had come to know since first agreeing to become a warrior of Chronos. Stumbling across Juliet like this was like walking onto an alien planet.

Juliet rubbed her eyes, but it didn't help her collect herself that much. A few tiny tears still rolled down her cheeks. She still looked incredibly conflicted, although not necessarily in a bad way. "Josie; my good friend Ray..." she started to explain, "...he's coming back - from Africa..."

Jo blinked, then smiled in understanding. "That's great, Jules!!" she exclaimed, taking the response as an invitation to open up the door and stop standing awkwardly in the hallway. She dashed over to Juliet, who reached out to Jo for once as Jo knelt beside her. "Why was he in Africa? When will he be back?"

Juliet freed one of her arms from the supportive hug she was now locked in to dry her eyes and face a bit. "He's in the Marines. He left for military school after the first semester of our Senior year ended." Juliet explained. "They deployed him to Africa, but his sister Penni told me just now that he got injured and he's being sent back to the states... He'll be here in a few weeks." Juliet seemed to be having a hard time believing the words coming out of her own mouth.

"What? Really?" Jo asked, thrown off by the new development. "That's - well that's terrible about his injury, but... how did they say he was doing?"

"Penni said that she and his family aren't completely sure about his condition yet, but they were told that he was recovering really well." Juliet was silent for a bit, but it was obvious there was more she wanted to say. "You see... they invited me to go to the airport and greet him, and boy do I want to; gosh, it's been years though. I don't even know what he thinks of me anymore, or if he'll even want to see me..." She looked at Jo with helpless eyes. "Josie, could you- uh, crap; please go with me! I just don't think I can make it alone."

Jo was startled once again. She took a moment to think; sure it was going to be kind of awkward for herself, but this was a big moment for Juliet. Jo didn't want to see her lose her nerve at a time like this; it just wouldn't be right and Juliet would never be able to live it down if it happened. "I'll go with you Jules; you know I'll support you!" Jo beamed, trying to pick her friend up off the floor with a bit of difficulty. "Hopefully we won't get called out on a mission... Are you sure his family will be okay with it?"

Juliet's eyes lit up with relief as she was brought to her feet by Jo. "Oh- yeah, of course! I'll run it by Penni next time I talk to her; I'm sure they'll be okay with it!" She thought for a moment. "I'll talk to Chronos about it right now; I'm sure he can arrange something... It might be better if you come with me as well, I guess." Juliet was wringing her hands feverously now, and she was practically speaking gibberish. The nervous aura coming from her was stifling.

"Okay, it's okay; calm down Jules..." Jo said, putting a hand on Juliet's hands in an attempt to soothe her, "We should wait on going to see Chronos until we have the specific information like the date and time, right?" Ironically, Juliet's phone buzzed twice after Jo finished her statement, as if on cue. Both Jo and Juliet looked at it for a moment, looked back at each other, and then began giggling unanimously.

"Is it a text from Penni?" Jo asked with a grin.

"Yeah," nodded Juliet, "it is."

Very good Fox. I like it a lot and I would like to see it continued to be developed.