A good man?
"Sorry…" Grace whispered again as Jay flinched in pain.
"It's okay. Really." He reassured her and gritted his teeth as she applied more of the cool liquid to a pretty large cut he had on the nape of his neck.
Jay was sitting with his back to her, his ruined top had been abandoned on the floor as Grace cleaned the worst of his injuries – one being an inch-long deep cut on the back of his neck. Neither had mentioned Mali, Luke or the trip to the city and stayed in an agreed silence as she finished cleaning him up.
They pretended for a few moments that the past few days hadn't happened, and with all the chaos and crying their "little talk" seemed to have been postponed.
"This is pretty bad…" She warned him. "You'll have to be careful not to get it infected or anything…"
Jay smirked and just enjoyed the feel of her warm fingers on his bare skin. "Yes Nurse Owen." He joked with her.
Grace smiled too, trying to focus on this moment, but worrying about Mali, and what really had happened in the city. She bit her lip before asking him the question. "Is there anyway we could go back there…catch them by surprise and get him back?" Her voice was quieter than she meant it to be.
Jay shook his head vigorously and she felt him shake slightly. "No way Grace!" His voice was stern. "I'm not having you anywhere near that city – it's too dangerous for anyone!"
"Well okay not me then but…surely there must be some way to…" She struggled to plead with him, for Mali's sake.
Jay closed his eyes as the horrors of the fight with that tribe flashed through his mind; he never thought that a group of children could be so vicious. "If I led them all back there…" His voice shook. "I'm sorry Grace. I let you down…and I haven't got a way to make it better, not this time…" From behind him she felt his shoulders shake with little half-sobs as he tried to choke them back.
"Jay…it's alright…" Her arms crept around him and joined together at his navel as she held him close, her stomach pressed against his back, flesh to flesh.
Without even questioning it she pressed moist lips to his shoulder and kissed it lightly. "I'm here now…"
Without another word passing between them, she held him tightly as a few tears slipped over his cheeks.
He laughed slightly, at himself. "Look at me Gracey: how can I possibly hope to make things better in this world…"
"You're a good man Jay." Her eyes stung as she rested her head on his shoulder, telling him something he would be told once more – in another time, another place, something that would break his heart all over again – but this time it was sincere and just what he needed to hear. "That's how. You're a wonderful, intelligent, thoughtful guy." She added in nothing more than a whisper. And I love you…
Scott was sat outside Mali's room now it was morning, she'd asked him to leave her on her own for a while – but he wasn't going anywhere any time soon. She was strangely calm this morning, much like how she'd been after their father's death, and it worried him.
Grace ran her eyes softly over Scott and put an encouraging hand on his shoulder, he still hadn't been to bed and she was worried – she'd made sure Jay had gotten some rest and now it was time for her to give the same thing to him.
Scott looked up into her warm gaze and smiled. "Hey Gracey…"
Grace handed Scott the cup of hot chocolate she was carrying. "Take this and put yourself to bed." She demanded.
He took the drink but didn't get up from the chair. "I can't Grace, but thank you."
"Scott – you're as stubborn as your sister! If you get sick of exhaustion you'll be no use…" Her eyes flashed. "Bed: now. Get some rest."
Something in her voice pulled him to his feet with a rueful smile he shrugged and headed down the hall.
Grace tapped softly on Malaika's door and waited for a softer reply.
"What?" Came the snap from inside.
Grace was taken aback by this and waited for a moment before answering. "Mali it's me." She pushed the door open, surprised to see a flustered Malaika throwing things into a bag. "What's going on?"
"Nothing." She didn't even look up but continued to pile up the bag with all of her possessions.
"Mali…" Grace softly touched her arm and she jumped, eyes catching Grace's.
Eyes filled with sorrow.
"I'm going to the city." Her voice was strong and full of meaning. "You can't tell anyone…Not Jay and especially not my brothers."
Grace's eyes were wide and horrified. "You can't Mali…I won't let you…!"
"Don't tell me that Grace. You're supposed to be my friend." She reached for her hand and held it. "Be a friend Gracey…"
Grace looked at Malaika and decided what she had to say, was being a good friend. "It's too dangerous…"
"Don't you think I know that?" She dropped her hand. "But I have to go – I need him…"
Grace's voice was feeble in comparison as she spoke. "I'll tell them Mali – I won't let you do this…"
"You can't tell me that if it was Sara or Jay that you'd sit back and do nothing?" She was pleading now as the tears came again, tears that she thought she'd banished.
Grace nodded. "You're right." She locked her eyes with Malaika's. "But it'd be stupid. You're no use to anyone dead Malaika, least of all Luke!"
"But I…" The tears stopped the rest of the sentence as she stepped forward to put her arms around Grace, her whole body trembling.
"Ssshhh now…" Grace closed her eyes and held her. "Ssshhh…" She whispered as Mali collapsed in tears all over again, clinging to her friend like a frightened child…
After Mali had calmed down Grace had taken herself off to the stream to wash her clothes and collect firewood for the evening fire and meal. It was another sunny day as she walked to there, a small bucket for water in her hand, and the bucket holding her things – and Sara's. The cobbled pathway led her deep into the thicket and into a small clearing next to the brook. It babbled and gushed as she kneeled beside it to gather water in the pale, causing the sun to glow over her like a halo.
The wood that Grace had already collected was laid to one side and quickly the bucket joined it as she pulled off her not-so-white-anymore trainers and dipped her toes into the cool water.
She laughed to herself and scrunched up her nose, disliking the cold water and pulling her feet back onto the grass.
Her eyes closed against the sun as she led back on the grass finally resting in her own little world, which she hadn't been able to do for such a long time and now she counted this as a great luxury.
Grace supposed that she should write in her diary again, but something in her life told her that she didn't need it anymore – that she could do without it. Perhaps she had grown up, even in the last few weeks, grown to the point of no return…
Silver had been searching and sorting through the things she and Tammy had gotten from the city, in particular the decorations and clothes "for the party…" They'd had to get numerous things, in all sizes and styles – something for everyone – without the boys noticing and it had been a task. As they were the ones who had gotten the things, they were the ones who had first pick. Well Silver was as Tammy insisted she already had something to wear…
Nodding to herself in appreciation, she decided upon a silvery-glittery boob-tube style top…it wasn't at all her normal style, but if you couldn't let your hair down at a party where could you? She picked it up and went upstairs to try it on and make sure she was going to be brave enough to show her toned midriff.
She hummed to herself as she went, letting nothing bother her from previous days and feeling light and airy as she made her way up the stairs.
The humming stopped abruptly when her pale eyes fell upon a small silver package hanging on her door handle. Grinning she picked it up and examined it carefully, some kind of joke…?
If it was then someone had gone to a lot of trouble…
Her fingers pulled quickly and excitedly at the silver paper to reveal something cold and hard in her palm. She examined it. A tiny silver thin-banded-ring sat in her hand glinting in the light. She looked carefully and turned it over, a tiny silver rose was crafted and placed onto of the band, and in the middle of the rose sat the tiniest red ruby.
Silver let out a small gasp – it was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen – all for her? Her eyes widened still when the ring fit her left middle finger perfectly. "Wow…" She breathed to herself caught up in the moment before her eyes fell on the small card which had fallen to the floor, she picked it up and read it.
Silver…thought you might like a small gift, from the big city…
There was no signature.
She felt butterflies swarm inside her stomach as her lips broke into the widest smile she could manage as she leaned on the doorframe to stop herself fainting with happiness.
A secret admirer? She wondered…but who…?
Someone or something watched her in the clearing, bathing in the sunlight, stretched out lazily like a cat or some other beautiful creature, eyes closed and breathing softly. He was out of view as he regarded the young girl thoughtfully. He'd been wandering through the forests on his own for a long while now, a great many nights, and he'd thought up to this point that the whole place was unoccupied.
Obviously he was wrong, because here she was, a real person, occupying…
As he continued to watch her, almost mesmerised, she decided it was time to leave and began pulling her trainers back onto now warmed feet and pushing the strands of hair which refused to be knotted into braids out of her face. Carefully and with precision she balanced the firewood on one arm and the bucket in another, biting her lip in concentration.
Lance shifted his weight slightly cracking a branch with his foot as he did so and freezing to the spot.
Grace turned hearing this, which caused all the firewood to topple to the ground. Cursing silently she started the process of piling the wood all over again.
Lance sighed in apology and against his better judgement stepped out from where he was watching. "Do you need a hand there?" His voice, although soft and friendly startled her again this time not only causing the wood to drop, but also the water.
Grace spun around defensively and narrowed her eyes slightly but didn't say a word.
Lance felt uneasy as she regarded him with inky-blue eyes, her appearance was slightly tousled but not in an unattractive way and he felt himself smiling at her. "Hi."
Grace observed the boy before her carefully, he was medium height a tiny bit taller than she was, clean-shaven with a crew-cut – the only thing slightly unusual about his appearance was the dark blue zig-zag on the right side of his face…Grace felt her hand go to her own left cheek and smiled at the two white tribal-lines there…maybe it wasn't so unusual! He was dressed in a white sleeveless t-shit style top, dark blue bottoms and trainers – he looked harmless enough.
When the girl said nothing Lance spoke again. "I'm Lance." He offered.
Finally she smiled her awe-inspiring smile showing her teeth, friendlily. "I'm Gracey." She said without thinking – and the amended it realising how childish it sounded. "Grace."
"Well then Gracey-Grace." Lance smiled a little shyly. "Nice to have met you I'm sure. Can I help you at all?"
Grace looked at the things she had to carry on her own and shrugged. "I'd love some help – better than dropping this stuff every five steps huh?"
Lance nodded and picked up the firewood, leaving Grace to refill the bucket and joined him. "This way." She smiled again leading him through the trees and along the cobbled path. "The camp's just around the corner here…"
They walked in almost complete silence Grace leading and Lance's eyes firmly fixed on her as she occasionally looked back at him, nervously, and grinned. Perhaps she was worried about trusting a stranger…but her nature was to trust people immediately and it never crossed her mind that he might be dangerous. "Almost there." She whispered as the neared the clearing and the cottage was in sight.
"Grace?" His voice stopped her. "This is my stop then – I'll leave the wood here and be on my way. I'm heading towards the city."
Grace blinked. "Oh." She looked genuinely concerned. "Well okay. But are you sure you don't want to come back to the camp? We have food. You could come for a meal or something as a thanks?"
"I dunno…" He was unsure as he scuffed his toe in the dirt.
"You look half starved…and this is going to be a bit heavy for me to carry all by myself." She winked. "The others won't mind, promise!"
As usual her good nature and friendliness had taken her over, he seemed like a nice enough guy, but only time would really tell…