Lucy and Tom
***
'They can't find us here,' she told him smiling. She slipped some bread and cold meat into his pocket.
'This was all I could sneak out. I would have brought an apple too but they saw me.'
The little girl pushed back some red locks and waited for him to say something.
Tom looked down at her tiny hands and grasped them.
'You're hurt,' he observed, touching her fingers.
'Oh, that's nothing. Some boy picked on me because I wouldn't let him hurt the butterflies in the garden.'
Tom frowned.
'What's his name?'
'I don't know, but don't be upset Tom. You know people here aren't very nice.'
'Tell me what he looks like.'
Lucy looked at him scared.
'You won't hurt him, will you? Please don't hurt him.'
He looked into her green eyes and didn't say anything. After a while, he let her hands go and touched his pockets.
'Thanks for the food. I'm sure that after some attempts I'll be able to make some food and then you won't need to steal for me.'
'I'd like to watch you do more magic,' she said excited.
'But,' she said, her eyes growing sad, 'I'd like to see you do nice things with magic. I don't like it when you hurt people.'
'They hurt me, Lucy. I can't just sit and do nothing. I don't harm people who don't harm me. I just can't stand those children who think they are better than me.'
She saw a glint of pride in his eyes.
'They will amount to nothing in life. But I'll rule and do justice with my powers some day, Lucy. I don't think many people have my gifts.'
'Promise me you'll use your powers to do good. There are so many people out there who suffer.'
Tom smiled. 'I'll try to help them. But first, I must be able to help them. That is why I have to work my way up.'
'If only you could get out of this orphanage,' she said sadly. 'You have more chances out there, than in here.'
Tom's eyes darkened in pain. He hadn't told her yet, but he couldn't find the power to do so. He hadn't told her about the man who had visited him that morning. It had been a very secret meeting. Only some people in the orphanage knew.
That man had talked to him about a school of wizards, that man was a wizard himself. He had seen hope with his eyes. The opportunity to rise had come. He was to be taken away soon.
The only painful thought that kept him back was that of losing Lucy's friendship.
How would he tell her he must go and never return?
He would miss her very much. She was his only friend.
'Tom? Are you alright?' she asked concerned.
'I was just thinking how it would be if I didn't have to live here,' he said.
'Well, if you weren't here I would be very lonely. But that's selfish of me, I know. I would never want you to stay here for my sake. I would be sad if your gift weren't noticed by anyone and you wasted your life here.'
Tom looked at her intensely in order to memorize her face better. He was sure the man would return very soon and these might be the last times he saw her.
'I won't waste my life here, that I promise you,' he told her.
'Tom, if you do succeed and I hope you do, you won't forget about me, will you?'
He paused for a moment.
'I won't,' he said firmly.
'You'll write to me and visit me, won't you?'
He didn't say anything. He felt his heart was shrinking with every word she said. He wanted to assure her, but he wasn't sure if he would indeed keep his promises.
They heard steps on the corridor and they remained still for some moments.
'I'd better go to bed now,' she told him. 'I'll see you in the morning.'
He heard her tiny feet walking further away from him.
He remained in the cupboard until well into the night. He wondered what would happen to poor Lucy. Who would protect her without him there? What would she become?
He eventually fell asleep.
The following morning the wizard came to see him again and this time he told him he must leave with him. Tom felt a painful emptiness in his stomach. He packed his few belongings in a tiny trunk and waited for the moment when he could ask the man if he could say goodbye to a friend. But he never found enough courage to ask.
He thought Lucy would cry and then it would be harder for him to go. And he didn't want this man to know that he had a friend.
In the end, he had no choice but to leave with him early in the morning, when most of the children were sleeping. He passed by Lucy's room and felt her presence there but kept walking.
Later that day, Lucy found out he had left the orphanage. Though she was happy for him, she couldn't stop her tears. Her sorrow could not be measured. She chided herself that she should be glad, but she did not have the heart to smile. She just stayed in bed and wept.