Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

John watched his phone jingle and vibrate on top of the coffee table, the light illuminating his dark living room. He wouldn't pick up, he couldn't.

Not when it was your name on the screen, calling him for the fourth time this week.

Everything had started from that shitty mission two months ago. A big building, false intel, comms cut abruptly when bullets started to rain. He had barely made it to the safehouse that day, leg leaving a trail of blood behind him. He had had to wait days before the exfil found him, staying in the small cabin without any ways to contact the exterior.

And then, when he finally sat down in the truck next to Price, finally able to check his phone, the bad news started to rain.

His mother, lost her job.

Her sister, got into a car accident while driving to go see their mother.

His flat, with all his belongings inside, burnt to the ground because of a domestic incident next door.

It felt like all the planets had aligned to tell him he shouldn't have come back from that mission, that he should've died in that building.

It was hard to start anew. Part of his paycheck started to go to his mother, making it difficult to buy all the furnitures he had again. He managed to get some days off to go see his sister, who sadly they couldn't save.

And now ? He was at rock bottom.

Sitting on his dirty rug, a bottle of bourbon next to him, staring at the spider crawling up his wall. You had tried to call him many times, to at least make sure he was taking care of himself, as even Price didn't have any news from John. But the man in question never answered.

So, instead of your usual message you akways left on his voicemail, that you were pretty sure he never listened to, you sent him a voice message through one of your social media.

"It's gonna be okay. Everyone needs a bad day... Remember you told me, "you're not alone", just pick up the phone, and call me whenever you're feeling lonely. Your thoughts lie, but I know the truth, the best days are ahead of you, tomorrow isn't your yesterday..."

To your absolute surprise, the message actually got played.

But what you didn't know was the state of John after he listened to it, after he heard those words he didn't knew he needed to hear. He was a mess, sobbing alone in his small flat, curled up on himself while sitting against the couch.