The Innocent of the War – Chapter 7 – Call to Arms
I felt the rocks shearing my palms apart as I desperately climbed to Cassie's aid: panting and tiring with each movement. Somehow, I managed to get to the small precipice that over hung the hole's floor, and landed. I could hear a conflict happening some distance inside the cave, and small thuds and scrapes echoed down the darkness. I couldn't decide whether to enter or to defend the entrance in case anyone tried to attack me.
'Callum!' screamed the dark. And then I ran, headlong into the unknown, only to collide with something soft. I wrapped my arms around it and squeezed so tight I could hear the moans come from someone. I held onto it for what seemed like eternity until the object fell limp. Only when I let go did Cassie enter my thoughts again.
'Cassie? Cassie?' I hesitantly called out.
'C-ca-Callum.' I held out my arms until I felt a hand fall against my body, before dragging down and falling away. I hugged Cassie's weak form and cautiously heaved her into the light. The sight I saw was horrific. Cassie's face was mutilated, a wide gash now graced the entire left side of her face, and three large burns had removed any healthy skin from the right. Examining further, I saw that her left arm was broken, her right arm was bleeding and one of her legs looked like a cut of meat in a butchery. She barely had a pulse and her eyes kept drooping. Luckily, I was training to be a medic at the hospital: I treated her face and right arm with some clean fabric I had found in the shop; washed her burns with water, although the salt had begun to make the pain worse; tentatively re-aligned her arm bones and bandaged them up, and gave her plenty to eat. Unfortunately, the mystery person I had stopped in the cliff hadn't decided to come forward. And eight hours later, I stood alone by the hut, guarding my only friend, thinking of my happiest memory from my child hood…
It was a late spring day at school, and I was sitting there in Physics feeling so tired that I had given up listening since English. I had leaned against my arm so much it had pins and needles riddling through it. When I had changed arms, that was when the door opened and Miss Harecroft came in followed by a petite little girl with long blonde hair. It was the first time I had payed attention all day, because if she was joining our class, she would have to sit in the only available seat left. The seat that sat empty next to me. I never made friends at school, because I hated socialising. I always sat in the corner of the playground drawing images in the soil.
'Everyone, this is Cassie.' said the aging headteacher. Swiftly she left the room and had dumped this Cassie into the hands of our teacher, Mrs Parter. Cassie was directed to the seat next to me and got her things out, and strangely, she said hello to me…
'Hello, I'm Cassie. What's your name?' she greeted with a smile.
'Ca-Cal-Callum.' I jittered. She just laughed sweetly and carried on talking. Somehow I managed to keep up the pace and for the first time since my Grandmother died, six years ago, I warped my face into a lopsided smile.
I had never forgotten that day in Spring. Because that was the day I found someone worth believing in. Someone who could shine a light though the most dark of times. Someone who over time… I had begun to fall in love with. Who I would fight for until the end, and that is what I planned to do.