Promise: The Scarred Girl (13 page)

“Nea.”

Then there is silence.

Nea rode her red bike through the port. The sun reflected in the shiny metal. Curled on the handlebars is a flower necklace made of plastic. In the little white wicker basket sat Mr. Squirrel, her favorite stuffed animal. It was her fifth birthday and the bike was a gift from her grandmother. Although her parents had forbidden her from going to the port alone, she still went. After all, what could happen? Even if her parents were there, nothing would happen. On the contrary, the men who worked on the ships or mended nets or painted the boats all waved friendly to her.

Straight ahead was one of the largest cruise ships in the port. The sight of such a thing was rare since the village could accommodate more fishing boats than large steamers.

Nea stopped and rose from her bicycle to see the ship better. With her hand she shielded her eyes from the sun’s rays. On the deck of the great ship passengers were already standing, gazing curiously at the small village with red roofs. Nea waved to them excitedly

The ship turned slightly to the right and continued its course. Nea quickly turned to her bike in order to go to the pier, but beside her bike were three older boys. One of them was already on her birthday gift, while another boy flicked his finger against the flower garland.

“What is this?” One of the boys asked, amused.

Nea felt fear creep in her neck. She swallowed. “This is my bike.”

The boy who was sitting on the saddle shrugged, “I want to borrow it.”

Nea’s mother always told her she should share with others. However, Nea did not want to share her bike. She quickly grabbed Mr. Squirrel to bring him to safety, but she was not fast enough. One of the boys grabbed Mr. Squirrel by his puffy tail.

“Let go!” Nea shrieked. She had Mr. Squirrel since birth.

The boy grinned naughtily at her, “Take it, if you want to have it again.”

Nea grabbed the stuffed animal and pulled it so hard that when she had it back, its puffy tail was still dangling between the fingers of the strange boy.

Instantly tears rose to Nea’s eyes. He broke her squirrel.

“Oh, now she cries,” sneered one of the boys while the other threw the remains of the stuffed animal at her feet.

“See you later then,” yelled the one sitting on the bike, who then rode off on her red bike, while the others ran along laughing after him.

Tears ran down Nea’s cheeks as she knelt down to pick up Mr. Squirrel’s tail. What should she do now? Her parents would scold her when they learn she had been alone at the port! And her grandmother would certainly be disappointed that she had her new bike stolen. Why had she not fought back?

Suddenly she heard footsteps loudly approaching. Another boy came excitedly up to Nea. She quickly pressed the remains of Mr. Squirrel to her chest protectively.

“In what direction did they go?” The boy called out of breath.

Nea pursed her lips and glared at him.

“Tell me and I will get your bike back.”

Nea did not believe him for one second and turned away scared. Maybe he left when she did not speak to him. But he had not. Instead, he went to his knees.

“I am not one of them, trust me.”

Nea looked at him with wide teary eyes as she fought back sniffles. “They have ruined Mr. Squirrel,” she sobbed accusingly and showed the boy the two parts of the squirrel.

“I can help. I am a vet,” he claimed.

Nea narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “You’re too young to be a veterinarian.”

“I’m nine years old. Besides, you do not have time to think. Mr. Squirrel is seriously injured. He needs an emergency operation.”

Hesitantly Nea looked at her stuffed animal. She believed she felt the boy’s mournful gaze and so she nodded and handed the injured squirrel to the boy. Very gently he took the two pieces and sat down cross-legged in front of Nea. From his pocket he pulled out a small bag. It included pins, stones, nails, a pocket knife, and a needle and thread. He took black thread and slid it through the needle and began to sew Mr. Squirrel’s tail back on.

“Worriedly, Nea asked, “Does it hurt him very much?”

“No, not at all. He is asleep.”

“When will he wake up again?”

“Once I am finished sewing the tail on.”

Amazed, Nea watched while the thread tighten and the tail soon became just as it was before it was torn off. The boy tied off the thread and cut the rest of it with his knife. Carefully, he handed Mr. Squirrel back to Nea.

“Watch out, he’s still very weak,” he whispered.

Nea cradled the stuffed animal in her arms like a baby. “Mr. Squirrel, everything will be fine, you have nothing to fear.”

She looked up at the boy and found he had nothing in common with the three thieves who had stolen her bike. After all, he was a veterinarian and saved Mr. Squirrel’s life.

“Thank you,” she said shyly and looked down, embarrassed.

“Now, can you tell me in what direction those boys went?”

Nea pointed to the alley in which the bicycle thieves had went. “But watch out so they do not hurt you.”

“Do not worry, I have a black belt in karate,” he asserted with a wink.

“I am Nea, by the way.”

The boy bowed to her. “And I’m Miro. Will you promise me that you will wait for me here until I return with your bike?”

Nea nodded. Miro ran.

She kept her promise and waited all day, even as it became late, she sat in exactly the same place. Her parents would scold her, but she did not care, as long as Miro returned with her bike. He had promised he would retrieve it, and she believed him. He had saved Mr. Squirrel.

Just when the streetlights were coming on, Miro came around the corner on her shiny red bicycle. She raced to him. His face had a large scratch and his clothes were smeared with mud, as if he had been rolling in the dirt.

“Here you are, my lady. Always at your service,” he grinned mischievously as he rose from the bike and held it toward her. Nea was filled with joy and deep inside she knew she was more looking forward to seeing Miro again than to having her bike returned.

Nea did not have a pleasant night trying to sleep against a tree in the cold without her sleeping bag. But she somehow manages to sleep intermittently through the night. Nevertheless, she is relieved when she wakes up to see the sun slowly rising overhead. While she does not feel at all rested, she can finally move on. Hopefully Kasia will remember the way, unless she lied to Nea just so she would leave her alone. Sometime in the middle of the night, Kasia’s head fell rolled onto Nea’s uninjured shoulder.

Startled, Kasia rouses herself and looks around. When she sees Nea, she calms down. Most likely she has had so many bad experiences they now haunt her dreams. It takes the two girls some time before they are able to get up. Nea manages to pry herself off the ground using the campaign staff. Once standing, she turns and reaches down to Kasia who grabs her hand and is pulled up.

“Thanks,” Kasia pants. “I owe you one.”

After they have hardly gone a few steps, Kasia asks, “Have you anything to eat? The last time I ate was yesterday morning.”

Before Nea can answer, she remembers that Faith and Hope had all the bear meat packed into their backpack, so Nea’s would be easier to carry. She shakes her head sadly. She can only wear her backpack with one shoulder. Kasia continues to carry the sleeping bag, which makes the backpack much more pleasant for Nea to carry, but the water bottle itself is quite heavy.

“I do not have any food, but you may have a drink of water if you carry the backpack,” Nea suggests to Kasia.

“If I say no, would you let me die of thirst?” is the answer Kasia gives instead of a thank you.

“No, but if you want a drink, you can carry the backpack some. My shoulder’s hurt, I can only wear it on one shoulder,” Nea strives to explain in a patient tone.

“I have to wear enough,” Kasia said, stroking her round belly.

“Kasia, if you want me to help you, you have to meet me halfway,” Nea utters in exasperation.

“Well, then just give me the backpack. But I cannot wear it too long,” she admits defeat with a reproachful face, putting on the backpack after she has brought the water bottle out of it. “Where did you get those two injuries?”

Kasia stares at Nea with wide eyes as she relates the story of the bear.

“I’m really so lucky to have found you as a travel companion, I am again sorry for your friends.”

She says it so casually and unimpressed that Nea knows immediately to not even think her apology was serious for a second. “Don’t say you’re sorry if you don’t mean it, if you do, you’ll only be making it worse,” she replies angrily, after which, there is an icy silence between the two.

The forest appears to be endless, but the sun’s position indicates to Nea that they have only been traveling for a few hours. When the sun is at its highest point, they finally come to a road that runs through the middle of the forest. Expectantly, Nea looks to Kasia, but Kasia just looks up and down the road cluelessly.

“Do you recognize anything?”

“Hmm, I’m not sure...” she says uncertainly, which angers Nea.

“I thought you said you knew this place very well.”

“If I did, it has been months, so it would have changed a lot in that time.”

“You think?”

“Yes, I just said that. How would you know? You know even less about this area than I do, so do not play with me at times like this.”

Kasia’s brash and cheeky answer leaves Nea speechless. Of course she does not know this area, she never claimed otherwise, quite in contrast to Kasia. She hears her cocky voice loud and clear in her mind. She would love to just leave the girl here in the forest, but that would not help, so Nea reluctantly follows her.

In addition to the whistling of the wind, the only sound in the forest is the grumbling of their stomachs. Kasia slows down her steps until she stops completely. Cold sweat beads on her forehead and she supports herself on a tree to prevent from falling over.

“I cannot go anymore,” she complains. This time, Nea believes her immediately because she herself has reached the end of her tether. Her healthy shoulder now hurts as much as her injured shoulder. Her calf burns like fire. She desperately wants to change her bandages, but she has nothing with which she could change them with. But most urgently, they need something to eat, and it is unlikely that Nea would succeed in catching an animal because she would be too slow with all of her injuries.

“Do you recognize the way now?”

“I’m not sure... we would have come across a Carris farm by now.”

“So you really don’t know where you are?”

She just shakes her head dejectedly. Now the girls sit in the woods, they have no idea where they are.

Surprisingly, after some time, Kasia stands and says, “I’ll go get us something to eat.”

Nea stares at her in disbelief, “You can hunt?”

Kasia starts to laugh. “Hunting? No, I was thinking of a few berry bushes. I am a vegetarian.” Nea looks at her face dumbstruck. She continues, “I know you think I am stupider than you, but I do not care.”

She does not wait for an answer and runs deeper into the forest. Nea does not follow. In fact, she is still mad at Kasia, but at the same time she admires the fact that the girl is still alive, if she really survives without eating meat. Without meat, Nea would have starved after the past few days. Maybe Kasia owes her survival less to her own survival skills and more to those of others.

After some time, Kasia comes back.

“Did you find anything?” Nea asks, not sneering, not trying to expect a positive response.

When she answers in the affirmative, Nea raises her eyebrows quizzically. Kasia holds her dress up at the ends so that it forms a bag of sorts. When she sits down, Nea sees that on Kasia’s lap is an assortment of berries.

“But, you know that you cannot eat every berry you find in the first, right?” Nea asks incredulously, which is met with a glare from Kasia.

“Of course I know that. Do you think I’m stupid? If I didn’t know that I would have died by now.”

“Well, some people have more luck than judgment.”

Again she looks angrily at Nea, but then sighs resignedly.

“We really have to stop arguing with each other. It helps neither of us. I have nothing against you, actually, I’m totally glad you’re here with me. Without you I would be lost.”

Nea is surprised by the confession, but is not ready to give in to something so small. “It’s great that you know that, but you have a funny way of showing it.”

“It is probably a stupid excuse, but it’s probably the hormones, really. I suppose you’ve never been pregnant, but sometimes it’s really terrible. There are moments when you would laugh about something one minute, and then in the next moment feel like you’re broken. The worst thing is to be alone.”

Nea feels sorry for her. “What about the father of your child?”

Kasia’s face seems to solidify. Apparently she does not have good memories of the child’s father. Maybe he died. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Nea can understand only too well. She also would not want to talk to anyone about Miro. Kasia has her child as a reminder of the child’s father. Nea does not envy her.

Kasia stretches her hand out, inside are some berries.

“Here, try them, maybe you’ll become a vegetarian.”

It is not hard to see that she is trying to be nice. Nea also knows that berries are not particularly filling and Kasia is having to eat for two. Therefore, Nea only takes a few of the berries that Kasia holds out to her. She has never had berries before, but finds them deliciously sweet. Kasia is not as useless as Nea first thought. Although it still annoys her that Kasia lied about knowing the way.

Hours later they still remain at the site near the path. It is more important for them to rest than to continue following the path as Kasia is unsure it will lead to their destination. She lets her head fall exhaustedly against Nea’s healthy shoulder.

“Thank you for being you,” she whispers softly before falling asleep. Nea is sure that they are not friends despite Kasia’s words, for they are much too different. Kasia reminds Nea in some ways of the terrible girls who always clung to Miro. They were all dependent and without their own opinions. The batted their beautiful eyes at Miro in the hopes that he would protect them, but for Miro they were just a nice pastime. Nevertheless, Nea had developed a kind of sympathy for Kasia. Maybe it was her sense of duty, that the girl is alone in this world, just like Nea.