Just something for my best friend. The song is Keep Holding On by Avril Lavigne.

To Sheena, with all my love.

---

You’re not alone

Together we stand

I’ll be by your side, you know I’ll take your hand

How can this be happening? Chey wondered. She stared across her room, running her fingers unconsciously across the dog-tags around her neck. How can this really be happening?

When it gets cold

And it feels like the end

There’s no place to go

You know I won’t give in

No I won’t give in.

She picked up her cell phone and ran her fingers over the smooth edges. It was all so surreal. How could she be getting ready to call her best friend and tell her something this horrible?

Keep holding on

Cause you know we’ll make it through, we’ll make it through

Just stay strong

Cause you know I’m here for you, I’m here for you

Fighting back tears, Chey flipped her Razr open and pushed the speed dial for Sheena. Oh God, she thought. How can you let this happen?

There’s nothing you could say

Nothing you could do

There’s no other way when it comes to the truth

So keep holding on

Cause you know we’ll make it through, we’ll make it through

“Hey hun!” Sheena’s voice came cheerily across the line, making the hundreds of miles between Las Vegas and Modesto seem like inches.

“Hey Sheena,” Chey replied, fighting to keep her voice steady.

“You sound bad, what happened?” Sheena’s voice was laced with worry. Tears started to run down Chey’s cheeks.

So far away

Wish you were here

Before this too late this could all disappear

“I don’t want to talk right now,” Chey managed to say. “But I had to tell someone.”

“Tell me what happened, Chey.”

“My brother’s being sent to Iraq in February.”

Before the doors close

And it comes to the end

With you by my side I will fight and defend

“Oh my God, hun,” Sheena breathed. "Oh my God."

I’ll fight and defend

Yeah, yeah

“Like I said,” Chey continued. “I really don’t want to talk about it yet. It’s still sinking in. I’m still numb from everything else, but I had to tell someone.”

Keep holding on

Cause you know we’ll make it through, we’ll make it through

“I understand,” Sheena said. “Call me if you need to talk later.”

“I will.”

Just stay strong

Cause you know I’m here for you, I’m here for you

“I’m so sorry.”

“I know. I’ll call you later, Sheena.”

There’s nothing you could say

Nothing you could do

There’s no other way when it comes to the truth

Chey hung up the phone and sat on her bed losing her self in the pattern of her comforter. “My brother’s going to Iraq in February.” How could she have actually needed to say that?

She was gripping the dog–tags so tightly that she could feel her fingers going numb. These had been a gift from her brother. She’d gotten them only a few days ago on Christmas. They had been a sort of gag-gift, a long standing joke about a girl who had said, “If your brother dies, would you get his dog-tags, cause that would be so awesome.”

Awesome, Chey thought now. Awesome wasn’t quite the word she was looking for. Horrible, agonizing, terrifying, unforgivable . . . yeah, those made more sense.

So keep holding on

Cause you know we’ll make it through, make it through

---

How much is oil really worth when you measure it against the life of your brother?