Demon Camp: A Soldier's Exorcism by Jennifer Percy

was still asleep on the couch, wearing jeans and a T-shirt. In the days following Kip’s death, she preferred the couch to her bed—using a torn spot where some foam broke through as a pillow.
    The men raided the house. They opened drawers. They took everything that belonged to Kip. Clothes, guns, computers. Everything. They didn’t say two words to Kristina. They brought a chaplain and he walked up to Kristina and said, do you need to talk? She said, I’m fine . The men packed Kip’s things in heavy plastic bags and brought them to his parents’ house in Pompano Beach. They put the bags on the front steps. Delivered them like lunch.
    •  •  •
    Kip’s father, Steve, told Caleb he wanted an open casket at the funeral. Caleb said that wouldn’t be happening. Steve said, “I want to see my son. My son is dead.” Caleb shook his head. “There’ll be no open casket.”
    Steve wouldn’t listen. “I want an open casket.” Caleb had to drive Steve to the morgue to convince him otherwise. He unzipped the body bag and told Steve to look. Kip was just pieces—bones and skin and ash. There were parts missing. There was a large chunk of femur.
    “We’re not doing an open casket.”
    Steve said, “Okay.” He was weeping into his hands. “I get it. I get it.”
    •  •  •
    Kristina found out from Caleb that Kip’s funeral would be in Miami at a place called Forest Lawn, nine hours south. She found out the day before. Caleb and his army friend Denis drove Kristina to Florida, the whole way, with air-conditioning and bad music and stops at fast-food chains and gas stations full of inflatable sea animals and stacks of purple chewing gum.
    When they arrived at the funeral, Kristina wasn’t allowed inside. She wasn’t on the guest list. She’d never been close to Kip’s parents and they never put her on the list. Caleb tried to figure out what was going on. Steve said he lost his only son and wanted to have a private funeral. He didn’t mean any harm. Kristina waited in the car. The family didn’t want any soldiers to show up except Caleb and Denis. No military honors. Nothing. They didn’t want anyone at the funeral wearing a uniform.
    The priest said few words. Kip was in in the same box he was shipped home in. Nobody ordered a casket.
    Kip’s mother wasn’t there. Steve left in the middle of the ceremony.
    When Kristina got home to Savannah she found a letter from Kip in her mailbox. I’ll be coming home in twenty-eight days, he said.
    •  •  •
    After the funeral, Caleb drove to the Blue Star Memorial in Savannah. The ground was covered in bricks inscribed with the names of dead soldiers. Caleb bought a brick for Kip and set it in the ground. Next to Kip, Caleb put down a brick for himself. A brick means you’re dead. Caleb liked being there next to his friend.
    When the army organized a memorial service in Savannah they gave Kip the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, the Service Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the Air Medal, the Combat Action Badge.
    After Kip’s parents received a military check for his life insurance, they divorced. Caleb heard the money went to a new car and gambling in Vegas; silicone breasts for the mom.
    Kip’s ex-wife was a stripper from Florida. Caleb had this story about how Kip and the stripper bought a place together after the wedding and when he returned from his first deployment in Afghanistan, her things were in boxes. She left a note saying she went to visit her family, but she never came back. Kip and Caleb had dug through the boxes. They found homemade porn videos of her fucking. Kip forgot to change his will, so the money was still in the name of the stripper. Kristina didn’t get anything.
    Jill Blue learned that her husband was dead while she was at work at her father’s law firm in Panama City, Florida. The chaplain and the officers showed up. She told them to be quiet. She sprinted out the door. They chased her all the way home. After she let them