CHAPTER 6 - MORE THAN ENOUGH PAIN TO GO AROUND

"Yep, so Marti? What do we do now?

"About what, Bear?"
I jumped a foot again. 

I REALLY MUST INSIST to myself that I stop 
doing that.
"Uh..."
"Bear plotting again, Marti?" Mustafa grinned as he stepped over behind my chair while placing his hands on my shoulders and squeezing a bit. 

A bit pointedly too, I thought to myself. Grrrrowl.

"I do NOT plotty," I lied.
"Yes you do...least in your novels," he grinned I noted as I swung around in my chair to look up 
at him.

"Mustafa, you want some coffee?"
"Yeh, thanks," and Marti got up and got him a mug.
After she handed it to him, he swung the chair next to me around and sat down straddling it. 

Straddling it and looking rather intently at me.
"Uh oh," I thought...feeling like the proverbial Bear cub just caught with his paw in the honey pot AGAIN."

"OHHHH, nuffin."
"Bear?"
"Really. Okay, Marti and I were just talking about her sons' funeral and all."

"Uh huh."

Now see. One of my predicaments about now is I didn't know how much if anything he had overheard of the conversation Marti and I had been having. Had he heard us discussing his PTSD? NO? I didn't know...and so...

"Mustafa?"
"Yeh?"
"Will you come with me, Dusty and me, to the funeral home?"

Oh thank you JESUS, and Marti. Divert attenshun from Bear. (Remind me to give her a cookie later. LOL).

"Yeh. I'll take you."
"Thanks."

Suddenly, I felt all talked out and...
didn't know what else to say. Honest, I didn't. I know that is hard to believe, but...hanging over all of us was...IT.

I could see IT in Mustafa's eyes. I could SEE the pain he was in. It was totally tearing me up inside, almost as much as the thing with Marti...and I had NO idea what to do. How to help my friend and God knows I wanted to. So did Marti, that much I knew. Brian too I was sure. Course I had NO idea how much he knew or understood of PTSD, but I know he loves Mustafa and would do anything he could to help just as much as the rest of us.

I looked over at Marti and I knew she was thinking the same thing. She saw me look and nodded, as if 
to say...

"I'm gonna go for it, Bear...so get ready."

I shuddered. I HAVE to at least TRY to help him. 
But HOW?

"Mustafa?"
"Yep?"
He looked over at Marti as she had said his name, and something told me he KNEW what was coming.
I looked at him as closely as I dared, and suddenly felt like the biggest klutz on the planet. But...
here we go..klutz or not.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Uh, Musta..."

It was at THAT moment that we heard the scream...

We jumped up and started running pell-mell toward where the sound was coming from...the living room. What we found when we got there was an awful sight to behold.

We saw Brian sitting up on the couch, a pillow clutched in front of him and covering his face...
and he was rocking back and forth, obviously muffling his sobs. Marti and I got to him first... 
with Mustafa dead on our heels. She got on one 
side of him and I got on the other. 

Slowly, she got the pillow pulled down a bit to reveal a face contorted in pain.

Through his sobs, he managed to get out...
"Oh Joey. Omg Joey. Omg Joey," and his racking sobs made it sound like he was spitting the words out.

Marti mouthed to me that Joey was the brother who had died at the school earlier. I nodded, while looking first at her and then at Mustafa. We all had tears in our eyes. Obviously, Brian had been suppressing the fact that his brother had been murdered and it was only now hitting home.

"I miss him momma, I miss him SO much, momma," he sobbed.

Marti sat holding him in her arms while I had my arms around him from the other side, and Mustafa was down on his knees in front of us with his hands on Brian's knees.

"I know, honey. I know. I do too. I do too. OG, I do too," and then suddenly she crumpled as well...
again. This delayed reaction thing setting in and taking its toll on both of them.

Both sat sobbing, holding on to each other for dear life, and it was enough to tear my guts out. I looked at Mustafa and could see nothing but pain in his eyes. Pain, and tears. His pain for Marti and Brian, as well as his own pain mixing in. That really caused a crushing feeling in my heart to take hold. 

We sat and rocked and cried and sat and rocked and cried...as if NOTHING would EVER take away all this sadness.

Why is it that the so very young have to suffer the lunacy of adult fools?

If I live to be a thousand years old, I doubt I will ever know the answer to that one, but whether or not there's even an answer doesn't make it any less true.

God what a day. Was this EVER going to end?

TO BE CONTINUED:

CHAPTER 7-Click Here