Clara and Courfeyrac

On the day of his arrival in District 12, Enjorlas celebrated his 6th birthday. For 2 more years Enjorlas and Courfeyrac played and worked together in the streets of District 12. Courfeyrac learnt to read, something he could otherwise have only imagine in his wildest dreams, and Enjorlas had developed into quite an articulate speaker, with a lot of practice by the electric fence to the animals beyond it.

Together Enjorlas and his mother had worked together to spend as much time in District 12 as possible. Enjorlas had never seen his mother so happy, she was free from her husband's rage and was well respected by the people, even with the occasional, 'primo' remark.

However eventually Enjorlas Sr insisted they return on his determination to turn Enjorlas into his apprentice and a gentleman, so soon after Enjorlas had turned 8, he returned to District 2.

Courfeyrac painfully felt the absence of his friend. As well as having great fun together, Enjorlas was extremely helpful in sharing the responsibilities Courfeyrac had for his family. Courfeyrac was the oldest of 4 children, and was solely responsible for all of them.

Their father had left them soon after his sister had been born. He was a traveller, one of the few people who managed to transfer from District to District, for what Courfeyrac never understood, and neither did his mother. He was a kind man who fell in love with the gentleness and caring nature of Courfeyrac's mother. However he left after deciding family life wasn't for him. To where no one knew. He had been kind enough to his children, but they always knew they were second best, he wanted to do something with his life, and that something just wasn't being a father.

Their mother was an affectionate woman, older than most but was dedicated to her role in the family. She had no other family, as her parents had died several years before Courfeyrac was born. All she could rely on were her children, and although she hated doing so, she did. She had been delighted when Courfeyrac was born and the succession of his brothers, Harry and Freddie. She loved watching her little boys running around the house, but her life was really complete with the birth of her baby girl, Posie, she had always wanted a daughter.

Family life was not easy, especially after their father left them. Money was always scarce and Courfeyrac often had to rely on his wits and intelligence to find them enough food, especially now they had a baby to look after. They were one of the poorer families in District 12, but Courfeyrac refused to let this dampen his spirit, and was immensely proud of his house and family.

Then the unthinkable happened. Posie had only been 4 months old when their mother was killed by an explosion in the mines. She had been a patrolwoman at the entrance to the mines, supervising from above ground. It didn't pay very well but there wasn't much else women could do in District 12, going down into the mines was not an option.

Their mother had been knocked unconscious by the explosion, and breathed in too much of the debris. Unable to escape from the clogged air, she suffocated.

Being on the poorer side of District 12, her body was never identified, and was buried in an unmarked grave, as were so many others whose bodies were not found or were unrecognisable after the explosion.

From that day on, Courfeyrac had been the parent of the family. He was only 6 years old, but he took on the role without complaint and had raised the family as best he could.

Posie was now 3, Freddie was 5 and Harry was 6, and Courfeyrac was parenting them at 9. They had no way of earning money so they had to be inventive. Freddie and Harry would beg on the streets or go round the houses and Courfeyrac would try to make deals promising help in exchange for money.

No one knew they were alone. If the government knew they could be separated, and Courfeyrac, his brothers and as far as Posie could understand, did not want that to happen.

He couldn't remember the last time they ate meat, Courfeyrac was often tempted to pass the electric fence, there HAD to be some food in woodlands beyond it. But, not that he would admit this to anyone he was too scared to go alone, and he would NOT put his younger brothers in danger.

Courfeyrac was saddened at his new friend's return to his old world. He was forced to fend for his family alone again, with no loyal friend by his side.

A while after Enjorlas' departure, the family was in a particularly bad state. Freddie and Harry had come down with an illness Courfeyrac desperately tried to decipher and he was really struggling trying to work out how to bring up Posie.

One day he walked nervously to the edge of District 12 and stood a distance away from the fence. He noticed some bent wires creating a gap in the fence, just big enough for him to squeeze through. He walked towards it when he caught sight of a sign, and with his new reading ability he deciphered

Electric Fence

340 Volts

Fatal

KEEP OUT

Courfeyrac wasn't sure what 340 Volts meant, but he decided nothing good. He also didn't like the look of the word fatal. Keep Out he understood all to well, but he still didn't like it.

He turned back and saw a stick lying on the ground. He picked it up, and in a moment of madness hurled it at the fence. It hit the wires and fell to the ground unharmed. For some reason this gave Courfeyrac courage.

He made his way back towards the gap and slowly, lowered his hands to the wire. He made contact. Nothing. He put one leg over. Nothing. He clambered his whole body through. Nothing. He was on the other side. Nothing.

'That electric fence is useless!' thought Courfeyrac, not that he was complaining.

He slowly made his way over the small grassland to the woods. He walked carefully trying not to make any noise.

As he entered the first row of trees he came to the decision maybe the electric fence wasn't his worst fear. He had no idea what was in these woods, but not knowing why, he pressed on. He had made it well into the woodland when he heard his first abnormal noise.

CRACK

Like someone stepping on some dead leaves. Courfeyrac froze, and for a while, nothing else happened. Courfeyrac relaxed, then again:

CRACK

The same distance away. It sounded like whatever was making the noise was struggling to move.

CRACK

Maybe a little closer? No he was kidding himself, being silly, GROW UP COURFEYRAC!

CRACK

He was just about to make a run for it when he heard a stumble and a small yelp. Then silence. Whatever it was had stopped moving.

Courfeyrac didn't know what to do, so he let his instincts take over. For some reason, he wanted to help. He didn't know what kind of animal it was, but it was obviously in pain, and Courfeyrac couldn't leave it like that, not if he could help. Anyway surely if it was injured, it couldn't hurt him, right?

Despite this logic, he picked up a large stick just in case. Well, you never know. As he got closer, he thought he could here singing. No, he was just imagining it! But the further he walked, he distinctly heard;

There is a place where no one's lost

There is a place where no one cries

Crying at all is not allowed

Not in my castle on a cloud

The words, as well as the singing voice, were hauntingly beautiful. Courfeyrac was dumbstruck. He was so distracted; he stepped on a large pile of dead leaves

Immediately, the singing stopped. A head turned and Courfeyrac was face to face with a young girl. She couldn't have been more than 6 or 7, but her eyes were filled with fear, pain and loneliness, as if she hadn't seen anyone for a very long time.

Her eyes dropped to Courfeyrac's side. Her eyes widened and quick as a flash she was up, running away and hiding behind a tree only slightly further away. Courfeyrac guessed that was as far as she could get before collapsing in pain. She ran with a heavy limp, and an exhaustion that suggested she hadn't slept properly in days.

She slumped behind the tree and peered out from behind it. Courfeyrac recognised that look, lost hope. The girl obviously thought she was in an unescapable trap. At first, he could not understand why she was so afraid of him. Then he realised he was still holding the stick. Alarmed, he dropped it immediately. This only seemed to frighten the girl more.

He had to fix this, he thought.

He put both his hands up, as if surrendering, and slowly crept towards the girl. She looked panicked, but stood her ground with a quizzical look on her face, as if she was trying to work him out.

'It's okay,' he said in a soothing voice. 'I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I was close to running away from you!'

The girl seemed to begin to smile, but this was quickly replaced with a guarded expression. That saddened Courfeyrac, as if she were denying herself the right to laugh.

'My name's Courfeyrac,' he said, this time clearly, he was gaining more confidence. 'May I ask what yours is, my lady?' Flattery was never a bad thing in Courfeyrac's book.

This time, the girl gave him a full on smile, but again this was replaced, however this time, with a look of sadness and longing. She looked as if she were remembering past times. Courfeyrac smiled back at her.

This girl will take a lot of working out, he thought to himself.

He gave her a nod of encouragement to answer his question. Nervously she rose, and stepped forward on her good foot. She said, in the smallest whisper Courfeyrac had ever heard,

'Clara.'

'Well, Clara,' he replied, 'are you lost? May I escort you home?'

Clara looked down, 'I don't have a home. Not..never mind.'

Clara began to turn away.

'Wait!' he cried. 'If you don't have a home, where are you going?'

'I….I…nowhere.' Clara replied in the same quiet, frightened voice. Courfeyrac suddenly wondered if maybe she had lost her voice, it looked as if it almost hurt her to speak.

'Well Clara,' Courfeyrac announced, 'Would you like to change your destination to my home? You took tired and ill, please don't take offence. I realise you have no reason to trust me but, please do. I would love to help you. Please?' That was ironic, Courfeyrac sounded like HE was begging. He didn't know why, but he had a desperate desire to help this young girl, she was younger than himself, but in the same way Enjorlas needed him, he now felt he needed her. She seemed as gentle as his mother, and needed taking care of. Courfeyrac was determined to be the one to do it.

Clara was facing him now, seemingly deciding. It was as if she was calculating her options, and determining the best one. For this reason, Courfeyrac decided to brand her as intelligent.

After an uncomfortable silence she said, 'You promise not to hurt me?'

'I promise not to let anyone hurt you.' He meant it completely sincerely.

With difficulty, Courfeyrac and his new friend made it home. He set her ankle so it would be easier for him to walk. He was an aspiring medic, not that a doctor was a career choice in District 12, it was down the mines, or down in the ground. That was the REAL District 12 motto.

Courfeyrac led Clara into his house and sat her down at the table, giving her what little food they had left. She ate gingerly and not much, although she looked starving, maybe she was scared to eat? Courfeyrac couldn't understand her, and that's one of the reasons he was so intrigued.

Courfeyrac also gave her a bowl of clean water and one of his mothers old hairbrushes. She began to clean her face and hands when she whispered,

'Do you have any cloth?'

Courfeyrac was confused but ran to his room and received a few pieces of cloth from his bedroom. He watched her in amazement as she worked. She wrapped her ankle methodically and carefully, until it was bandaged to perfection.

'Where did you….' He began, but Clara looked down again. The way she always did if Courfeyrac made a reference to where she came from. After she bandaged her ankle, she continued to wash herself and fix her hair.

Courfeyrac hadn't really had looked at her before, but now he stared. Her hair was a beautiful dark brown and contrasting green eyes, with a dark grey rim around the edges. As far as Courfeyrac could comprehend she was, beautiful.

Suddenly Courfeyrac was snapped back into reality.

'I hope you'll excuse me, but my brothers aren't well and I better go check on them,' he told Clara as politely as he could.

Clara looked at him quizzically, nodded her head but got up to follow him. Courfeyrac was confused, but allowed it.

Harry and Freddie were lying in their mother's old bed looking as unwell as he'd left them.

'How you doing guys?' he asked gently.

'Had better days,' replied Harry.

'Much better,' agreed Freddie

There was a silence as Courfeyrac regarded them. Then suddenly Clara spoke,

'I know this illness.' Everyone looked at her.

'It's the disease of the miserable,' she said with certainty. 'Do you feel like your throats on fire? Like your stomach would reject any substance? Like your brain is being squashed inside your skull?'

Harry and Freddie slowly nodded.

'Do you know how to cure it?' Courfeyrac asked.

Clara nodded, 'They need to drink plenty of water, and put this special powder into their food to fight the microbes.'

Courfeyrac had read about those in one of his books.

'Do you know where we can get this powder?'

Clara reached inside the belt of her dress, and brought out a small packet.

'Here it is. I always carried it with me. The people of my district were hit hard by this disease. I always carried it with me just in case, especially when my…' Clara tailed off. Courfeyrac decided it was better not to press her.

He quickly made some carrot soup and Clara instructed him on how to add the powder. He poured the soup into two bowls and gave them to his brothers. Clara sat on the edge of their bed, assuring them it was safe.

Harry and Freddie were sceptical at first, but they were soon won over. Clara had a certain charm to her, and you almost immediately trusted her. It seemed people warmed to her, and she made you want her to like you. And she had no idea she was doing it, that was the best part.

After the boys had finished their soup, Clara took their bowls and washed them in the sink in the kitchen. Courfeyrac joined her, drying the bowls.

He watched her carefully, thinking. The way she had said 'the people of my district'. That meant she wasn't from 12, but then from where? It would have taken her days to travel from another District, and why travel to the poorest one you could get?

They worked in comfortable silence until Posie stumbled into the room. She was smiling as she always did, with a look of innocence, Courfeyrac hoped would never go away.

'Who's that?' she pointed directly at Clara. Okay, so maybe Courfeyrac hadn't quite got round to teaching her manners yet.

Clara turned and immediately her eyes lit up. She bent down to Posie's level with a gentle smile.

'My name's Clara, I'm a friend of Courfeyrac.' Courfeyrac was not inclined to disagree. She turned towards him,

'Courfeyrac, you didn't tell me you had such a beautiful sister!'

Posie's smile grew even wider

'You know who you remind me of?' Clara asked with a cheeky grin.

Posie shook her head.

'Princess Cinderella'

Posie squealed with delight. How on earth did Clara know Cinderella was Posie's absolute hero? Courfeyrac couldn't help but smile.

'Posie, don't you think it's time you went to bed?' he urged.

'Nope,' she replied resolutely.

'Posie..' he began

'Posie,' Clara interjected, 'have you heard of another princess, a certain Sleeping Beauty?'

Posie's eyes widened. 'No? Who's she? Why is she called Sleeping Beauty?' she asked enthusiastically.

Clara laughed, at that moment Courfeyrac couldn't imagine a nicer sound.

'Well, why don't you get into bed, and I'll tell you the entire story?'

'Okay!' Posie shrieked, no exaggeration! She bounded up the stairs to her room.

'You, are incredible,' said Courfeyrac, turning to Clara. She smiled back at him.

She started towards the stairs.

'Clara?' he called after her.

'Yeah?'

'Thanks.'

'For what?'

Courfeyrac paused.

'Not sure yet. I just want you to know, your welcome to stay here for as you like. I really like having you around.' His words hung in the air.

'Seriously?' Clara eventually replied.

'Seriously,' he confirmed.

Clara rushed over and enveloped him in a hug. As best she could, she was still a little girl. For a few moments they just looked at each other.

'Clara?' Posie called from upstairs.

'Coming!' She gave Courfeyrac one last smile, and then rushed upstairs.

And for the first time since Enjorlas left, Courfeyrac felt truly happy