The Reunion

By Karen Smith

A fictional account in which Karen draws you back in to Mia's world after her first year in Iraq. She continues the drama with the sequel from her first book 'Desert Rose' about losing love, then finding love again in a war torn country. It also shows the mentality of a minority of people who still work in Iraq, who have devious, evil, vindictive minds and will stop at nothing just to make money; most importantly the book highlights the heros who would risk their own lives to love or protect you. The book also highlights areas that still are apparent to life in Iraq that people become complacent about and should always be aware of expecting the unexpected.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Apr 15, 2011
• ISBN: 9781467891387

Karen Smith

Karen Smith is Reader in Higher Education in the School of Education at the University of Hertfordshire. Her research focuses on how higher education policies and practices impact on those who work and study within universities. Karen has worked within educational development and on lecturer development programmes. She holds a Principal Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy and is currently the Director of the University of Hertfordshire’s Professional Doctorate in Education. Karen also leads collaborative research and development in her School, where she engages in externally funded research and evaluation and supports the development of scholarly educational practice through practitioner research.

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© 2011. Karen Smith. All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 03/13/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4567-7056-3

ISBN: 978-1-4678-9138-7 (ebook)

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Contents

Preface

The Dream

The Hangover

The Beast Inside Awakes

Present Torment

Returning To the Snake Pit

Perfect Revenge

Losing Control

Outside Helplessness

A Vengeful Torture

The Sandstorm

Mission Mia

Revengeful Force

The Twisted

Military Assistance

Going Home

The Hero’s

Saying Goodbye

About the author

The Reunion

My heart hurts from the loss of you

My mind never rests from the thought of you

My body aches for a touch from you

My body is a shell with a painful soul

Karen Smith

For Mickey, you always look out for me, you let me make mistakes without judgement; every girl should have a surrogate father like you, all my love.

For Christoph, you brought me back to life, you helped me feel again. You witnessed the nightmares and saw the pain, but most importantly you watched me heal, as Desert Rose grew, I can never thank you enough, all my love.

For Tim, you gave me the inspiration to fictionalize and continue the drama. I never did you Justice in Desert Rose. I hope I brought you to life here,

You were always a mutual friend.

For Clint, many thanks, bringing Clay back to life gave me hope and understanding, I hope one day you find the right woman who will see the real hero in you, like I see the fictional hero in Clay, Thank you for the closure, our saga has ended, I wish you all the happiness.

We walk and feel, we live and sleep, we love and lose, we laugh and cry. Life without sadness can never give us the one thing we need, to get through the days of our very existence

Fantasy

As human as we are, we yearn for the fantasy of a happy ending.

Karen Smith

Preface

Since leaving Germany, Mia found herself back on British soil starting over again. She had spent the past six months hiding away from the rest of the world, trying to heal the wounds left behind from Baghdad and at the same time trying hard to put everything she had left in to her relationship with Christophe, but it soon became apparent they were not meant to be anything more than friends, in the end everything finally took its toll on her. For him the reality of the life she had lived before she met him, was too much for him to bear and living a simple life he does, he just couldn’t handle her pace of life nor her mind, she didn’t blame him, after all Mia spent almost every day thinking about Clay, and the damage he and everyone else had done to her, if that wasn’t bad enough she started to compare them both, so trying to be fair to Christophe, she slowly sabotaged the relationship they built. Even now she still thought about Clay, but had decided enough was enough. There were times she still received information from friends that channelled through from Baghdad about Clay that he had moved on and now had a new girlfriend. She was also told by people that he still went around Baghdad saying awful things about her to people in the sand pit. It was incredible really, after all this time, all Mia really wanted was an apology from him, for the way he had treated her after losing the baby, she didn’t receive any such thing, instead she had to continue hearing his venomous mouth insult and disgrace her. This was allowing her heart to heal over him much more quickly. It was also around this time she had been staying in contact with Adam a good friend of Clay’s. Mia always knew they both had a soft spot for each other, sometimes she wished he had given her more signals back then in Baghdad, but he always gave her the impression he was just not that interested in her, only now it was becoming more and more apparent that he did, and that they both still liked one another. They started opening up a lot more with each other, without Clay been in the way or anyone else for that matter. Adam was just getting over a broken heart himself, so this gave them both similar grounds for mutual affection. Neither of them where looking for a new relationship, just more of a fling really to heal open wounds. Adam was ready to go back home on leave having spent over six months in Iraq, he was desperate to meet up with Mia who was also returning back to Iraq, the plan was to meet up and spend some time with each other in Dubai, while hanging around in transit for a few days, before he headed back to the Philippines to deal with a lot of problems he had left behind, whether or not this short rendezvous they had planned was going to fix or achieve anything, remained to be seen. Mia was also unaware of the new nightmare on the horizon that awaited her, and the decision she would have to make once she got there, she had no idea what she was leaving behind back home or what she was prepared to give up forever.

The Dream

‘’Why are you here? Speak to me please, you don’t have to ignore me’’

(Silence)

‘’Clay please, say something, anything’’

‘’You shouldn’t be here’’

‘’Why not? Where am I’’

‘’You should leave now, and never come back’’

‘’I don’t understand’’

‘’You will’’

Watching Clay turn his back to me, he started to walk away, I looked down at my hands watching the rain drops starting to fall down from the sky, as I lifted my head up to see the dark clouds hovering over us as the rain suddenly increased, with each heavy drop of rain falling down on to my tearful face, I felt the whole world weigh down on to me, looking up back towards Clay, I was startled to see him suddenly stood in front of me with an expression of sorrow, he slowly lifted his right hand holding my cheek and gently moved his face in to mine, then he kissed my lips, as he pulled away I was stunned by the intimate moment I had longed from him for so long,

‘’Mia there is something you need to know before I leave’’

‘’What’’

‘’I lied’’

‘’What about’’

‘’When I told you I never loved you’’

‘’Oh’’

‘’I’m sorry’’

‘’Okay, I guess’’

‘’No It’s not, I am sorry for all the bad things I ever said to you’’

‘’Why are you telling me now’’

‘’I need you to know before it is too late’’

‘’Too late for what’’

‘’I may never get another chance’’

‘’I don’t understand’’

‘’You will. Can I ask you something’’

‘’Yes’’

‘’Do you still love me’’

‘’What’’

‘’Please I need to know’’

‘’I never stopped’’

There was silence between us, as the look of sorrow fell from his face, I could see a smile now appearing, there was a great build up of fog drawing in around us as the sky grew darker, I was starting to feel a little terrified by my surroundings, nothing was familiar to me at all. In the distance behind Clay was a lake so dark and misty, the air was cold and crisp as my body temperature started to drop, I was becoming cold and wet, but I could not move, I didn’t want to move, I knew if I did I would never see him again, Clay stood there saying nothing, just looking at me smiling, as he took another deep breathe, the rain dropped on to his face as he struggled to say something,

‘’How do you know you love me’’

‘’I just do, I feel it’’

‘’But how do you know the feeling is real’’

‘’I err, the first time I you, I saw me for the first time’’

‘’Explain it to me’’

‘’Clay It’s cold’’

‘’Please you have to tell me’’

‘’I err, I felt like I was just beginning, like I never really knew myself until I saw you, I think of you everyday Clay even when I try not to, my heart hurts so much, inside I am dying because I can’t see you’’

‘’Even now after all this time’’

‘’Yes, each day that passes, a part of me dies, and no man, or anything I do, makes the pain go away’’

‘’I’m sorry I never told you, Mia there’s something you should know’’

‘’What’’

‘’It came back’’

‘’What’’

‘’Shush, there here’’

‘’What came back, who is here?’’

‘’I have to go now’’

‘’What, no please don’t go’’

‘’I have too’’

‘’No Clay please stay with me I’m scared’’

I could feel a presence around us of being watched, I knew someone was here yet I couldn’t see anyone, as I reached my hand out to grab hold of Clay, he was suddenly pulled away,

‘’CLAY, come back please’’

Dropping to my knees on the wet grass I watched him disappear in to the foggy mist, as quickly as he was taken, the fog suddenly lifted exposing the large beautiful lake surrounded by pine trees and now a clear blue sky with the warm sun beating down, a small pier hanging over the edge in to the water. He was gone but I continued to shout for him to return, all I could hear through my shouting was the sound of a continuous beeping and as I sat there hearing the noise get louder until I finally realised where I was.

Hitting the alarm clock to stop the beeping I laid back down looking up at the ceiling as I wiped away the sweat from my face and chest, it was the same dream I had previously had six times now, my heart was pounding as I breathed deeply, composing myself I sat up agonising as to why I had to dream of him, why is he coming to me in my dreams? Why can I not be rid of him or his memory? What was the dream trying to tell me? and why do I have to continue feeling as though I am been punished by him, then I remembered something my friend Diane used to tell me back when we were in high school together. We used to try and analyze dreams whilst trying to figure out the meaning of life, Diane always said, ‘’whatever you dream about, the opposite will happen’’ so that always stuck with me. Getting up out of the bed, that thought alone made me feel like shit, most people say if you dream and believe, it will come true, sometimes this seemed like such bullshit to me because not one of my dreams had ever come true, in fact it was the opposite always came true, so I guess this is why I still continue to think Diane was right, and if Clay was been this nice to me in my dreams, it meant I would at some point feel the wrath of his tongue yet again.

After I had finished taking shower I fixed my hair, it was a very chilly Saturday morning, looking outside the bedroom window I could see ice had settled on the ground, but slowly thawing out, day break was peering through my curtains, as I decided on what to wear as I finished getting dressed. I was especially nervous because today I was flying out to Dubai to spend a three days with Adam, this had been planned now for weeks and I was feeling apprehensive especially after waking up the way I did, me and Adam had spent the past few months talking, helping each other over our recent heart breaks, he had found out his ex girlfriend had betrayed him with another man leaving him distraught and angry about it all, but somehow I had been able to talk to him and help him understand that he lost nothing when he lost her, which was a hard task at times, I just wanted to make him feel worthy again, we always had a soft spot for one another back in Baghdad but nothing ever became of it, although now we both seemed to gain a mutual understanding, because he finally understood how badly Clay had broken my heart and he was able to appreciate that fact, having felt the same pain inflicted on him, so we spent months talking. Over the past few weeks he told me he was desperate to spend some time with me before heading back to the Philippines to fix the mess left behind, I on the other hand was heading back to Iraq to help my friend Justin build up the success of his Security Company, I was going to help him get the Administration Department on track which was going to be a challenge and one I was going to relish in, knowing I would be in Iraq for a long time meant I wouldn’t get any holidays or leave, so this three day break with Adam would give me that and I had ever intention of enjoying myself, we were heading out of the friendship zone and in to new territory, neither of us were looking for love, I even questioned my real motives behind my reasons for wanting to do this, was it to try and hurt Clay the way he hurt me? after he told me he and Hilary where friends, it just cut me in to pieces, the disloyalty of it was what hurt me more than anything, so I guess deep down this was one of my motives, I just needed him to understand, or feel the hurt he inflicted on me, as to what Adams motives for wanting to do this to his friend, was a mystery, and a mystery I didn’t want to know about, either way we would both find out soon enough, and with that thought I continued to finish packing my luggage as I waited for the taxi cab to arrive.

Finishing my last cup of coffee I checked I had everything I needed and most importantly my flight ticket and passport, I heard the taxi beeping his horn outside, so after I picked up my jacket and grabbing the handle on my suitcase, I headed out locking the door behind me, I headed towards the car, and once the taxi driver loaded the suitcase in to the trunk of his car, I got settled in to the rear seat. I sat chatting away to the taxi driver which seemed to pass the time, and after the two hour journey I had learnt that Mr Bryan Jones was not only married with three teenage kids, who were driving him crazy, his eldest son in particular was acting up in school, and he and his wife were at a loss of what to do with him, and if that wasn’t bad enough for him he was complaining that his wife no longer understood him, and he felt like the marriage was over, especially after she had found out he had cheated on her with younger women, I somehow became an agony aunt for almost two hours. When we finally arrived at the airport, the only tip he got off me was to stop been a lying cheating ass hole and maybe his wife may start to respect him again, should he ever get another chance. I assured him that his wife understood him perfectly, he just failed to understand his wife, who was probably once madly in love with him but after years or raising his children and building them a home together, he failed to appreciate her which probably resulted in her losing confidence in herself, and she started to resent him for it, instead of him trying to make her feel good or better about herself, he took the easy way out and fucked around which younger chicks, which no doubt made her feel ten times worse about herself, which was also probably the main reason his kids were playing up, having to seeing and feel this crap. I guess my reality check for him was not what he was expecting to hear, as he parked up in the departure bay, I got out of the car, the driver helped me with my suitcase and once I had paid the fee he hesitantly wished me a nice holiday, I gave him a condescending smile as I walked away and headed in to the terminal to the check in desk. Having made good time I was thirty five minutes early, so been one of the first ten people in the queue I was staying put, there was no way I was going to lose this place now especially as I saw people slowly queuing up.

When the check in desk opened, I checked in and then headed through the security barriers in desperate need of a coffee, so after getting through and finally in to the departure lounge I found a Starbucks and ordered a coffee and a blueberry muffin, once I was finally sat down and settled I sat alone in my thoughts waiting for my gate number to open. Been a real people watcher that I am, airports are the best places to people spot, you could always get a good idea of some ones personality or character from what clothes they wore, or the way they spoke, I always liked to look at women more than men, I liked the way women held themselves through posture and poses, to make-up and attitude, that’s when I noticed a table of six young women in their early twenties heading out to Ibiza, they all looked like blonde clones of each other, same styled hair, two were very thin, one was slim, and the other three looked like sizes 12 to 16 a much heavier build, their conversation was loud and I knew they had one thing on their holiday agenda, Sex, lots of sex, they were not shy about how they described what they wanted or what they were looking for, I found it amusing listening the loudest girl of the six, she was definitely raised in money just by the labels she was wearing, in fact they all were, together with the prim and proper English way they spoke with their upper class educations, you would have expected them to be more lady like, this however was not the case, in fact I have many female acquaintances and friends who were raised with nothing at all, yet were more lady like than these girls here, I guess having all the money in the world cannot give you one thing, which is real class and self respect.

As I sat their listening, the loud girl was getting more and more excited and very fussy, the more her friends laughed, the worse she became,

‘’Girlfriends we are going to have an amazing time this week, no holds barred, my vanity case is full of condoms and I have every intention of fucking what I can, when I can’’

‘’Sophia you are so disgusting, have you forgotten about Jeremy already?’’

‘’Jeremy who? Hahahahaha’’

‘’You are so bad’’

‘’I don’t care, I just hope we can get cocaine easily enough, I was to tempted to bring some with me, saying that I could really do with a hit right now’’

‘’Hey girlfriend we will get what we need easily enough, Michael has given me a guy’s number to call when we reach the hotel,’’

‘’Brilliant, who needs Jeremy when I have Charlie in my head’’

As I sat their listening to her and the other girls laughing, I felt somewhat sorry for the boyfriends left behind, after a while I stopped listening to them because they were obnoxious, pretentious and extremely boring. My attention was suddenly deterred away from them to a very good looking late twenty something guy who sat on the table next to mine, as I looked sheepishly over at him he caught me staring, smiling back over at me, he had piercing large brown eyes, very clean shaven complex, his hair was mousy brown, with large filled eyebrows to compliment his hair, perfectly straight teeth and a broad smile to compliment them, ‘’wow’’ I thought, He soon got caught up in the loud conversation from the girls table and once in a while he would stare over at me wondering if I could hear what he was hearing, so I just smiled at him and rolled my eyes, after ten minutes passed I was getting impatient to get airborne when I noticed the hot guy walking over to my table and stood next to me,

‘’Hello, would you mind if I joined you, there’s nothing worse than ear wigging or people spotting alone’’

‘’Sure take a seat, I agree but then again some conversations are much better when there not so loud and distasteful’’

‘’Hahahahaha yeah, so you could hear them too’’

As I watched him sit on the chair next to me he looked a little nervous’’

‘’Yes, I’m Mia’’

‘’I’m Darren, hey your heading out to Dubai right?’’

‘’Yes how did you know’’

‘’I was further down the queue and I saw you looking quite bored and getting agitated waiting for check in desk to open’’

‘’Oh Hahahahaha yes, so you’re heading out to Dubai too?’’

‘’Yeah my girlfriend works out there, she has a week’s holiday, so it’s the perfect opportunity for me to take a trip’’

‘’That’s great, I’m just going to meet up with a friend, so I’m feeling a little nervous about it’’

‘’Really why’’

‘’Oh long story’’

‘’Well we have time’’

‘’It’s complicated, he is a good friend of my ex boyfriend, Adam and I have been getting close recently and have now decided to move it up a level’’

‘’Wow how does the ex feel about that’’

‘’I have no idea, he has a new girlfriend anyway, so I guess it’s not much of a problem now’’

‘’So this Adam guy? He’s clearly not a very good friend, is he?’’

‘’Why do you say that’’

‘’Well a real friend would never mess around with a friends ex girlfriend’’

‘’Yeah I guess, but then what does that make me?’’

‘’A very bad girl, Hahahahaha’’

‘’Hmmm I guess your right, but I like Adam and he seems to like me too, I know there is a fine line here, but it has been over a year since we broke up’’

‘’Hey I am not judging trust me, I just think this Adam guy is a shit friend that’s all’’

‘’He is a good guy, he really is’’

‘’Maybe he is, but if one of my good friends started messing around with an ex girlfriend of mine, we wouldn’t be friends any more, it’s all about trust, and its pride thing with men’’

‘’I guess your right, but not all guys think like that though, I know my ex Clay wouldn’t be to bothered by it, after all his girlfriend before me fucked his brother, and he thought it was quite funny’’

‘’Wow where do you meet these people’’

‘’You don’t want to know, Hahahahaha’’

‘’Maybe he won’t care about this then, would you like another coffee? I’m going to grab another’’

‘’Ooh yes please’’

Airports where like a bars to me I always seemed to attract male company at airports, almost every time I have travelled somewhere, I have always managed to have company in male form, I don’t know if I carry a pity look on my face screaming ‘’someone talk to me please’’ or maybe it just says ‘’lonely lady’’, I couldn’t figure it out, but I had to admit Darren was the best looking guy I have met in an airport in a long time. As I sat watching him walk over to the counter I could feel a smile on my face, then I started to think about what he said about Adam and myself, was this right? Are we being selfish and bad? It wasn’t like I could turn back now. Watching Darren return with the coffees I noticed the girls jaws dropping as he passed them, you couldn’t not stare at him he was stunning, when they saw him sit next to me they gave me some really dirty looks and started to snigger away to each other, I smiled at the thought of it because he was gorgeous, and they were all stunning, yet he didn’t even seem tempted or fazed by them, and my curiosity go the better of me, jealousy always brings out the worst in most females, sometimes they can be real bitches,

‘’You have six admirers at that table’’

‘’Yeah I clocked them staring at me walking back’’

‘’Wow vain too Hahahahaha’’

‘’No not at all, they are hot but they are a bunch of whores’’

‘’What? You can’t say that, how do you know?’’

‘’Do you even need to ask me that question, you heard what they were talking about’’

‘’Yes but they are going on holiday to enjoy themselves’’

‘’Maybe they should keep their thoughts to themselves then, they don’t impress guys talking cheap like that’’

‘’So why did you come and sit with me then, just to satisfy your boredom?’’

‘’Hahahahaha no, I probably shouldn’t say this, but when I saw you waiting to check in I couldn’t take my eyes of you, I’m not trying to hit on you’’

‘’Are you sure because being hit on at airports isn’t a first for me you know’’

‘’No really, you have this really naturally beautiful innocent appeal about you’’

‘’Wow you really do people watch don’t you, I thought I was bad, I think I may have just met my match, I’m quite embarrassed now’’

‘’Take it as a compliment’’

‘’Okay, I hate compliments they make me nervous’’

‘’No way, you don’t come across as the nervous type’’

‘’Maybe not nervous, but compliments make me shy Hahahahaha’’

‘’Yes I can tell, your face is so red’’

‘’Oh god, stop looking then you’re making me worse’’

‘’Hahahahahahaha sorry I’ll stop’’

We sat there talking for what seemed like hours, he told me how great his life back home was, but he was also tired of the London lifestyle, and that he ran a small insurance company with his father, his father was looking forward to the prospect of retiring in the near future, leaving his son to take over the business, after I told him I was heading back to Iraq for the fourth time he seemed impressed that a girl like me would work in such a place, I never really saw working over their as anything else but a job in a crazy place, but men seemed to think I was crazy yet cool. I found him to be really friendly and I felt quite comfortable around him, so after checking each other’s seat numbers we were a little disappointed that we would be sat so far away from each other, it would have been nice to have someone like him to talk to on the flight. When our gate finally opened for boarding we picked up our belongings and walked towards the queue already forming up to board the flight, I was starting to feel a little nervous because I knew within six hours I would be alone with Adam and things were going to get very heated. Once we walked on to aircraft I took my seat, Darren told me to enjoy my flight and headed towards the rear of the plane to his seat, I was sat next to the window and another man was sat on the aisle seat, after the doors where shut, and boarding was complete I noticed no one else was sitting in the middle seat next to me, so I looked over my seat to see if I could see Darren to let him know it was free, but he wasn’t in view. Watching the cabin crew perform their safety drills I started to look out of my window having seen and heard it all before, now the plane was moving and I started to think about Justin and what his company would be like to work for , I just praying I wouldn’t have to go through any more shit like the past three tours out here, I was also worried about the reception I would get for having recently had my book Desert Rose published, it kind of exposed the contracting world in the worst manner, and I had heard through the grape vine there was a lot of pissed of people who weren’t happy with me, but I didn’t care about that, I had, up until this point spent too much time running and hiding, I had finally had enough and I decided I couldn’t keep living that way. Justin was well aware of the book but he didn’t care, in fact he seemed quite proud of me, and because of that I accepted the job, as to how the reactions of many would be to my been back in country was going to go down remained to be seen. Justin knew I would be hanging out in Dubai for a few days before heading in, so now I was definitely heading back, back to the snake pit, but first to Adam, I couldn’t stop thinking about what Darren said about Adam been a bad friend, it really started to bother me, was Adam just using me to make a point to Clay, because Clay knew Adam liked me long before he got his hands on me, or was I using Adam to get back at Clay for all the bad things he ever did and said to me, if this was true how had I become so bad and bitter, to feel the need to get some kind of revenge. I knew I wasn’t totally using him because I really did like him, maybe this was just something we both needed to do, to get back something that Clay took from us both, even if it was for Adam to prove some kind of point, I stopped thinking about them when we were already on the run way ready to take off, I held on to the arm rests gripping tightly as we started to leave the ground. After we were airborne and the seatbelt light had been turned off, I got out of my seat to use the toilet. On my return I found Darren sat in the middle seat,

‘’Hi you don’t mind if I invade your space do you? I saw you looking over your seat for me, so I asked the air stewardess if there was a seat available near you and she said yes’’

‘’No that’s great, I could do with some company’’

‘’Will you be drinking some hard stuff?’’

‘’Yes I need to lighten my nerves a little’’

‘’Great’’

We spent the first few hours talking about everything and anything, I felt like I had known him for a long time and we just seemed to laugh at each other, he was telling me about his girlfriend and how he envied her for just packing up one day to fly out here and become a nightclub hostess, he didn’t elaborate too much about that, and I never commented, although I had heard many stories from guys I knew who when are in transit in Dubai, they tend to spend a lot of time in these clubs and get a little bit more than a fancy expensive drink, he became silent with his own thoughts, so I broke the silence about what we should drink when the trolley arrived.

After a while, our food was been served, once we finished eating we got lost in the in-flight Movie the Twilights saga’s New Moon which I had seen once already but it was a very bad copy, so to watch it in better quality was lifting my mood because I really loved this film, even Darren was quite excited about the film, so as we sat mesmerized watching Bella’s heart been ripped apart at the loss of losing Edward, I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, this part of the film got to me the first time I watched it, because it reminded me of how heartbroken I was when I lost Clay, of