Promise: The Scarred Girl (3 page)

There is no trace of the dog further into the distance. Apparently it knew what was best for it and went away. Nea's chance of a hot meal has dissolved into thin air. Again she tries to see the good in the situation and says that she would not have had time to cook the dog and eat it. After another long sip of water, she starts walking with hasty steps. She puts one foot in front of the other and begins to run. The riverbank is changing. To her right, steadily and wild, the river flows. To her left is the forest. It is also getting darker.

She continues to run, even though her feet hurt and long for a break. Her steps become slow and cumbersome as the sky above slowly continues to darken until Nea feels the first cold drops on her cheek. She stops her slow walk and lifts her head to the sky. It's snowing. A flake falls onto her cheek. Small, scattered flakes fall from the sky, but she knows these are only the harbingers of many more. Quickly she enters a bit deeper into the forest to have at least some protection from the snow. It is unlikely that the river leads directly to Dementia, but she has little choice but to move on.

She continues through the forest near the river. Snow falls in masses from the sky. It has become so dark that Nea cannot even see her hand in front of her eyes. The snow smothers the whole landscape. Nea has not noticed that the loud roar of the river has become weaker. It is freezing cold and she feels that her fingers and feet will fall off from the cold. Nevertheless, she continues to put one foot in front of the other. Instead of running, she is stumbling due to exhaustion. She cannot remain still; the snow would bury her soon.

She keeps her head lowered, so that the snow or wind does not blow into her face. From the corner of her eye, she sees a glow from the other side of the river. Even turning her head to look hurts now, but it’s worth it. She can see three tents close together, and in the middle of them, a large bonfire flickers, which seems to be protected from the wind and snow by the tents. Just the sight of the fire is enough to make her feel a little bit warmer. She also notices that the river is much shallower for several meters, it might only be knee deep, she could easily wade through to the other side. Nea wants to just run and warm herself up by the fire, but despite her hunger and fatigue, she cannot forget the danger that can come from approaching a camp, she does not know what kind of people inhabit it.

Carefully, she leaves the edge of the forest and approaches the river, trying to see the camp more clearly. Through the snow and darkness, Nea can only recognize outlines. She believes she sees a male shape. The man seems to see her because he begins pointing in her direction. A second person appears, and while she cannot see much, this second person seems very large, and unusual for these times, well fed, almost fat.

Nea turns around to flee into the woods, but before she can make a run for it, she hears a voice calling, “Hey, wait up, don’t go, come back and sit with us by the fire!”

Under any other circumstance, Nea would have never accepted such an offer due to her fear of strangers. But with her strength nearly depleted, she agrees. The snow continued to fall relentlessly and her stomach growled so loud it could be mistaken for a bear’s growl. Nea stopped and anxiously turned to face the strangers across the river. The two figures approached and could be seen clearer now. The first figure turned out to be a man, while the thicker of the two turned out to be an impressively large and strong woman. They too look at her anxiously.

“Sit down with us next to the fire; you’ll catch your death out here,“ the woman said worriedly as she raised her hand, as if to reach out to Nea.

“We have some hot soup you can have,” the man yelled against the strong wind.

Nea hesitates for a moment, but then wades into the icy water without first taking off her boots and moves toward the strangers. The water comes past her knees and the flow is different than she expected, but still very strong. She soon has the feeling that she can no longer withstand the water and tries to somehow keep her balance. Soon she tips over and her entire body submerges under the water.

Cold water penetrates her throat so she can barely get air in her lungs. Suddenly, she feels strong arms pick her up from under her armpits and drag her to the surface. Nea’s feet are unable to move alone, they just hang useless. One of the strangers supports her and pulls her through the raging water. When they reach the shore together, it’s colder. The cold wind whips the wet clothes against Nea’s body. It’s enough to rob her of consciousness. Everything fades to black.

Q
uiet voices and the cozy crackle of a fire penetrate Nea’s consciousness. The smell of cooked vegetables rises into her nose, her mouth begins to water. She is warm and feels that she is wrapped in a soft, fluffy blanket. It has been years since she felt so comfortable and safe. At that time, she really had pneumonia.

A loud cough came from Nea’s chest; it hurt so bad she had tears in her eyes. She was ice cold, although sweat beads stood on her forehead. Under her were two sleeping bags and under her head was Miro’s folded jacket, it smelled of him, a smell that always reminded Nea of juicy oranges. The smell was comforting. She closed her eyes and breathed it in deeply, which immediately caused a renewed coughing attack. On her cheek, she felt his hand, which was unusually soft for a boy. She opened her eyes and looked right into Miro’s bright blue eyes. Concerned, he looked down at her as he felt her temperature on her forehead with his hand. The coldness of his skin was pleasant on her glowing face.

Sleepily she blinked at him and saw that he was only wearing his black knit sweater, this was winter, it was cold. Of course, his jacket was under her head.

But when she made a move to return his jacket, he held her hands and shook his head. “Don’t worry about it; I’m not as girly as you.”

Because she was too ill to speak, she was only able to angrily wrinkle her forehead at him.

Miro understood without words. “The main thing for you to worry about is getting well.”

He bent down to her and gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead. This tiny touch caused a pleasant shiver to run down Nea’s entire body. Previously, only her parents kissed her in this way, but with Miro it was different. Although she had known him since they were young, she both hated and loved him. Her feelings for him were changing lately.

Drowsily, Nea opens her eyes and looks at the ceiling of a tent, illuminated with the light of a small fire. Her gaze wanders further and she sees that the tent is open and is wrapped in blankets and furs. On the fire a pot sizzles with some kind of food. In addition to the bed, there is a storage bin with her shoes and coat. On the opposite side of the tent is a large fully packed carriage, next to it is two well-fed brown cows plucking grass from the partially snow-covered ground. Nea remembers what happened only vaguely. She remembers the snow and feeling helpless and being forsaken by the world. She remembers coming upon a raging fire on the other side of the river. She remembers failing to be able to cross the river and losing her footing and would have drowned, if someone hadn’t helped her. A low chuckle awakens her attention and cautiously she looks around. She sees a little boy squinting at her from behind the tent door at her.

“Did you rest well?” He asks with an impish grin and enters shyly out of his hiding. He cannot be much older than ten years old. His skin is tanned by the sun and there are few freckles on his nose. When he speaks, Nea notices a revealing flash of a small tooth gap.

“If I would lie around lazing all day, my mother would tan my hide. She says we must all pitch in if we want to survive.”

The little boy approaches closer and closer. Nea does not know what to say. He looks toward her expectantly.

“Where is my backpack?” is the only thing that exits her lips. At the moment she said it, she realizes how rude it must have been.

“We laid it out to dry in the sun.” He reaches into his pants pocket and pulls out a folded paper, along with Nea’s compass and stretches his hand out to give them to her. “You had these in your coat pocket; unfortunately, hardly anything can be seen on the map.”

Nea takes the items from the child’s small warm hands.

“How nice that you’re awake!” The large well-fed woman stands in the tent entrance and smiles broadly. As she approaches, it is immediately apparent that the boy and this woman are related. They both have the same grin and freckles. The woman wears her hair down, which is a warm red color and falls loosely over her shoulders. She wears brown overalls and a colorful flannel shirt to protect her body from the elements. Although she is clearly overweight, he face radiates something beautiful and caring. She reminds Nea of one of her aunts who had a farm. When the woman places her warm calloused hand on Nea’s forehead, she says, “You do not have a fever!”

When she smiles at Nea, she looks just like the little boy, she is also missing some teeth, but to Nea, it just makes her look even friendlier. She looks at Nea and seems to be waiting for some kind of response. When none comes, she holds her hound out to Nea and says, “I’m Luica and this is my son, Zippi.”

“I’m Nea,” she replies shyly and takes Luica’s outstretched hand.

“You need to eat, would you like some stew, Nea? This will definitely help you to get your strength!”

Nea silently nods. She feels very comfortable with these two, even though she knows nothing about them except that they have saved her life. Nevertheless, even though she is friendly with them, she still fears them. She learned long ago that a return favor would be required before she would be able to go on her way, but she does not want to think about that at the moment, so she takes her boots and coat out of the storage bin and drops the washed-out map and compass into the coat pocket.

She follows Luica and Zippi from the tent. Outside another fire burns, an old man stands near it, chopping firewood with an ax. When he sees Nea, he grins and waves to her. Luica introduces him, “This is my father, Harold.” A little further on, Nea sees the cows graze, as well as three goats and four cages on the ground in front of the carriage, in front of which are several chickens that peck at grains on the ground.

“The three of us travel around with our animals and swap eggs and milk for food or whatever else we need to live,” Harold said.

Zippi pushes a steaming hot bowl of steaming broth containing carrots, potatoes, and leeks into Nea’s hands. It’s been ages since she last ate fresh vegetables. The soup smells simply delicious and Nea quickly consumes it. As she empties the bowl, Luica fills it again generously. “You don’t talk too much, do you?”

“I do not know what to say. You saved my life, you share your food with me... I have nothing I could repay you with.”

“We believe in karma. This means that if you do something good for someone else, something good will happen to you at another time.”

Nea admired their attitude to life, even if she could not understand it. She believes much more that you could be exploited with such a philosophy expecting that something good will happen later, but she preferred to keep this thought to herself.

Luica asked where she came from and what her goal is. Nea told the story about her trip, that she is heading to Dementia to eventually reach Promise. When she finished her story, Lucia looked at her sadly, “And you’re all alone on the road? Don’t you feel lonely?”

Nea shook her head and said that it was easier this way.

“But it’s not easier, here we are a family, everyone is there for each other.”

Nea did not know what to say to that. Luica’s words seem to make sense. The three really are a family: a grandfather, a mother, and a child. It is certainly true that they protect each other, simply because they love each other and don’t want to lose each other. But all the people Nea has ever loved are dead. Just the idea of replacing Miro with other people breaks her heart, even if it’s not the same.

Zippi, who also listened to Nea’s narrative, begins tapping on Luica’s arm excitedly.

“I have an idea,” he says conspiratorially and whispers something into Luica’s ear. Luica smiles at him lovingly and gently tells Zippi, “Why don’t you ask her yourself?”

Zippi grins and looks over at Nea shyly, “We are going to Dementia, you can come with us!”

Nea hesitates, she does not need a tour guide, but these three have a dry place she can sleep and food to spare. They also seem to know their way around. If she were to stay with them, she would certainly arrive at Dementia faster, so she agrees to Zippi’s proposal. He claps his hands in delight.

Luica and Harold decide to wait until the next day to break up camp as it is too late to do so today. To thank them, Nea shows Zippi how to catch fish with his bare hands. She sits wrapped in a blanket on the stony riverbank and instructs Zippi while he stands up to his knees in cold water. Admiringly, Nea notes that the cold does not seem to bother him. At first he is very impatient and fidgety, but after his clothing is drenched from top to bottom, he proudly holds his first fish in his hand triumphantly. He waves it with joy through the air and beckons to Harold and Luica to come see it, but the slippery fish falls out of his hands and everyone starts laughing. Zippi is angry for an instant, and then starts laughing as well. It is Nea’s first laugh in a long time. These past two years, Nea did not so much as crack a slight smile, but never so much as a laugh in which you have to hold your belly and tear up at the eyes, a full hearty laugh, in which one wants to roll around on the floor out of sheer fun.

Later, Zippi caught four fish. The four of them sit at the campfire and roast the fish while Zippi dries his wet clothes on a line. Plus there’s still more of the stew from earlier left. It is pleasant to sit by the fire while her hands, feet, and cheeks get warm, to not worry about the fire attracting anyone. As the last rays go out and only the stars, the moon, and the campfire light up the night, Harold pulls out a harmonica and starts to play. It is a sad melody and makes Nea realize how lonely she is. She looks to Luica and sees that Zippi has fallen asleep in her arms. Luica’s head leans on Harold’s shoulder and she looks dreamily into the fire. As the tune ends, she kisses her old father affectionately on the cheek and Nea feels like an intruder. Therefore, she excuses herself politely and lies down on the tent floor. After a few seconds she closes her eyes and sleeps for the first time in an eternity without fear. With the large Luica and Harold and Zippi, Nea feels safe.