Chapter Text
As soon as the sun disappears behind the horizon, the night takes over and with it comes the cold. In this matter, Afghanistan is no different than New Mexico. For a couple of hours the thermal inert surfaces will store the heat of the day, but with the strong winds at night, that heat will soon be gone as well.
Alex turned from his left side to his right, pulling the top of his sleeping bag up to his nose. The sun had set hours ago, he wouldn’t be surprised if would rise again in the next few minutes. There was no comfortable way to place his body on this folding cot, even though the sleeping bag upholstered the hard surface. But Alex knew the reason he couldn’t sleep wasn’t his bed, he was used to sleep on the most uncomfortable surface of the day. He was also used to the aching muscles and bruises from the weeks and months of relentless training at base camp. His body was so exhausted from the long trip over the past three days, that even yawning seemed to waste too much energy. All he could do was lie on his bed, cuddled into his sleeping bag, and wait for his mind to stop spinning. All the new impressions from his first day in the afghan desert were flickering before his inner eye, switching quickly from one picture to the next, like an impossibly fast slide show.
When he first arrived, the familiarity of the desert made him feel at ease. It even smelled similar to the New Mexico desert. Once the sun had set, though, and the busy life of the base had quieted down, the silence of the seemingly endless nothingness of the desert began to feel threatening.
His subconscious was still on high alert, hours after everyone else had long fallen into a peaceful sleep, not recognizing the new surroundings as a safe place to rest.
Alex turned over on his back, looking up now to the roof of his tent, focusing on the tiny hole in the fabric, looking like a far away star when the light from the lamp outside in the courtyard shone through. He decided to check the time, the light of his phones display illuminating the whole tent. He quickly shut it off again.
2:54AM.
It was not late enough that anyone would be awake besides night watch and it was definitely not late enough to be getting up and starting his day. The display of his phone had not only shown the current time, but also what time it would be at home.
Roswell (NM) 3:24 PM.
Maybe the jet-lag played the bigger part in his current sleeplessness.
He closed his eyes again and tried to imagine what Roswell would look like right now. He hadn’t been there in months, coming straight from base training to his first mission. There was nobody home for him in Roswell anyway.
Alex pictured the gazebo at the town square, his favourite place in town. The afternoon sun would filter through the foliage of the large tree beside it and he could almost hear the laughter of the kids running around the gazebo. There was a person on the deck, leaning against the railing with crossed arms and legs. He had a black cowboy hat covering his face, but Alex didn’t need to see a face to know who it was. A sudden warmth spread inside his chest and he pulled the cover of his sleeping bag tighter around his shoulders. Her turned back on his side and imagined the warmth of his blanket being the strong arms of someone beloved.