The Little Scout
Chapter Six
Tessa's POV
"Matt, why do you hate me?" Tessa asked him.
"I don't hate you."
"You act like you do."
"You remind me of my Mom. She died, and I don't want to..."
"Get attached." Tessa finished his sentence. "I understand."
"Where's your Mom?"
"She died too. Before they came."
"How did she die?" Tessa shook her head.
"It's not important."
"How did she die?" Matt repeated.
"She had an illness." Matt nodded.
"Where's your Dad?"
"He's gone too."
"I bet he knows my Mom, I bet their all best friends."
"I'm sure they are." Tessa smiled. "Are we friends now?" Matt nodded.
"Can you read to me?"
"Sure, kid. What?" He shoved a book into her hand. "Are you sure?" He nodded.
Tessa read the book to him. "Thanks, Tessa." He smiled.
"No problem." She told him.
"Hi, Tessa, what are you doing here?" Dr. Glass asked her.
"I was reading to Matt."
"That's nice." She smiled.
"Dr. Glass? What's the date?" Tessa asked Dr. Glass.
"October 3rd." She told her. Tessa's heart sunk. Today was her brother's birthday. He would've been twenty to the day.
"Thanks." Tessa smiled. She stood up and walked away. Tessa found a little quiet spot where none was and just sunk onto the ground. Her head fell into her hands and tears clouded her vision. They fell down her cheeks and she tasted them on her lips. The silence was bliss and it washed over her body. The boring grey walls were full to the brim of green graffiti. It read stupid messages like 'Skitterz Suk!' and 'Mech Mefz'. Clearly chavs with no sense of grammar.
It was dark before someone found Tessa. "Tessa?" She looked up to see Maggie. "You okay?"
"Yeah..." She wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "I'm fine."
"What are you doing out here?" She asked her.
"I just needed time alone."
"Okay, kid, wanna talk?" Tessa nodded, she trusted Maggie. Maggie sunk down beside her. "What's bothering you?"
"It's my brother's birthday today."
"Oh, Kid."
"He'd be twenty today."
"What happened to him?"
"He died in war just a month before all of this..." Tessa couldn't stop the tears, they rolled down her cheeks.
"Kid, it's okay."
"He was a good brother, I mean we fought a lot, but he was a good brother. I'd give anything to have him back."
"What was his name?"
"Jack."
"He went into war?"
"Yeah, my Dad did too, but he came back. Just in time for them to come. And they killed him." Tessa sobbed.
"Kid, just sitting here won't fix anything. You've got to get up and kill what took your family." Maggie urged. "Go and get some sleep, now."
"But..."
"That's an order." She half-smiled and Tessa wiped her eyes again. She returned to camp and wandered into her tent.
Lourdes was asleep in her cot; medical duty must've worn her out. Tessa sunk onto the cot nearest to the door. She wasn't tired at all, just upset. She just sat there, staring at the floor. "Hey, Tessa." Ben said. He stood at the mouth of the tent. "Are you alright? I've been looking everywhere for you."
"Did you check here?"
"Three times. Wait, have you been crying?"
"Me? No." She told him.
"What's wrong? Did Matt say something?"
"Nothing's wrong, Matt didn't say anything, he likes me now."
"Fine, nothing's wrong, we're leaving soon." She just nodded. "You wanna wake Lourdes up?"
"Fine, you go and do what you do." Ben hugged her.
"I'll see you on the other side of the bridge." He promised her. She smiled and nodded.