Lisa stood still, looking directly at the child. The girl stood barefoot in ankle-deep snow. Her shaking hands clung to the pistol in her hand tighter than her skin clung to her bones. Her cheeks were a reddish violet color. Her bony, bare shoulders were no thicker than Lisa's wrists. Poor baby, was she? She could be an adult. It was hard to tell. She was just so tiny. The shadows towered over her small figure, making her look eerily skinny.
"Who are you?" demanded the girl, taking a few steps forward. Her eyes were as fearful as they were beautiful, Lisa thought. She had huge amber-brown eyes that glowed like lanterns in the dim warm light. They seemed to take up half of her small round face. "Who are you? Answer, or I swear I'll shoot!" shouted the girl. She was doing a wonderful job keeping her voice calm and steady, despite the terror on her face.
"You must be Riley. It's amazing to finally meet you. I'm Lisa."
"Oh." The girl's eyes grew even wider. Slowly she lowered the pistol. "You're...you're the lady, the doctor who... Oh, I'm sorry, Miss. Y-you can't be too careful out here, you know." The girl gave Lisa a nervous smile.
"I understand. May I come inside?" said Lisa.
"Yes. I-I'm Riley. Right, you knew that already." Riley lowered her eyes and turned towards the house. "Right this way, Miss Lisa." Lisa followed Riley. "I really don't have much to offer you, I'm sorry," she said once they were inside.
"Not a problem. All I need is a roof over my head," Lisa said. Riley wasn't quite as tiny as she had first thought. Here, in the firelight where the shadows were smaller, she didn't look nearly as childlike. But she still appeared much younger than Lisa had expected her to be. The light here was warm and friendly. It gave the empty, peeling room a kind of comfort that it really needed.
"Y-you said that you were a doctor, right?"
"I do have a fair amount of medical understanding," Lisa said. "I take it that it will be needed. If I may ask, how old are you, Riley?"
"W-why do you want to know?"
"Just wondering. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. Should I sleep down here?"
"Yeah. Would you like to meet... I-I mean you should probably-"
"I would love to meet your roommate, Riley."
"Yeah, right this way, Miss Lisa. S-she's in here." The next room was much darker and less welcoming, lit only by a dying, flickering candle. Well, ideally, she'd have a bit more light to work with. But Lisa was not in the kind of situation where she could afford to be picky. Riley paused at the entrance to the room.
"I-I'm going to stay here, if that's alright," Riley whispered. Goodness, she was fighting back tears. It must really be bad.
"I'll do all that I can. You told me it's been a few days since the injury, right?" Riley nodded. "Good. If they lasted that long without proper help, I'm sure I'll be able to help. It's going to work out, Riley."
"How... how do you know things will work out?" Riley demanded. Lisa couldn't help but grin at the girl.
"How are you so sure that thing will not work out, Riley? I think we should both just wait and see." Lisa crept into the room quietly and knelt next to the bed. She hadn't been sure of what to bring with her, or what parts to prepare. Riley's letters had been very vague when it came to the descriptions of the wounds. But Lisa had brought a lot of stuff with her so hopefully she would be able to figure something out. A sharp moan rose up from the bed.
“Don’t be afraid. Riley asked me to come here. I’m just going to look at your wounds and see if there’s anything that I can do to help you.” Lisa lifted the candle gently, raising it to the face. Now Lisa had been alive and well during the end of the 9th war. She had seen some sights. She had not only cared for the soldiers injured in battles, but also the homecoming prisoners who had been tortured beyond recognition. But there was nothing in all her life that could have prepared Lisa for the sight that greeted her as the light flooded the bed.
"I-I can't do this," Riley's voice was a hoarse horror-stricken whisper. She turned and headed back to the main room; her face was now as white as the snow outside. The figure on the bed shrank back as Lisa leaned closer. This was without a doubt a child. A little girl lay there, eyes looking up into Lisa’s face with fear and dread. Her face was twisted in a scream of silent agony. It was silent because the child’s tongue had been burned to a crisp.
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It was now nothing more than a blackened line on her face. Tears squeezed out of her eyes and ran down her cheeks, but she made no sound. But it was the arm that made Lisa’s heart twist itself into a knot, or rather what was left of her arm. Charred, oozing flesh hung limply in shreds by her shoulder. It was the sheer cruelty that hurt. You would have to try, really, really hard to shred someone’s flesh in such a way. Who? Who could do such a thing to a little girl? Who could hurt something so helpless and innocent? Lisa swallowed her horror and prayed that it hadn’t shown on her face.
“You’re going to be alright,” Lisa said brightly. Whoever had done this didn’t matter. At least not now. There was no time to wonder now. Lisa didn’t need answers, at least not yet. For now, she just needed something to kill all the pain that the poor child must be in right now. After that, she would need something to help her sleep. No surgeries should be performed just yet. Hopefully, a good night’s rest would do her some good. If Lisa had learned anything, it was that there was nothing sleep couldn’t help with.
“I’m going to give you something that should make sleeping a little bit easier for you, okay then?” She lifted the shot to the girl’s arm. “It’s not going to hurt, I promise.” But as she lifted it to the girl, she twisted back. With a sudden show of strength, the girl lashed out at Lisa, kicking her right in the stomach. Lisa stumbled back, hardly managing to muffle her cry of pain. She sat up slowly and turned to face the bed again.
The girl sat there, breathing heavily through her nose as tears continued to drip from her eyes. What had Lisa been thinking? She had been in such a rush to help the child that she hadn’t stopped for a single moment to think about how she must appear. She got to her feet very slowly.
“I’m sorry. That was wrong of me. I’m sure you feel very uneasy at the moment. I’m Lisa. I’m a doctor who your friend Riley found for you. I know you’re worried. I know you’re in a lot of pain, and I know you don’t know me. I’m sorry. I should have introduced myself first. But please believe me when I say you need help. Will you let me help you?” The child stayed perfectly still, keeping her eyes on Lisa as she approached. “Let me help you.” Just two shots.
After a moment, the girl nodded. She held out her good arm to Lisa.
"Thank you," Lisa said softly.
Lisa watched as the girl’s eyes closed. Lisa smiled. She had the exact same huge, deep amber eyes that Riley did. They must be related. This was just the start. So much more had to be done tomorrow. Lisa would need to find some kind of way to open her mouth and feed the girl. It was only a matter of time before she starved to death. The arm needed to be removed. There was no question about that. But at least Lisa had a lot of experience with replacing arms.
“It’s awful,” Lisa breathed. How had this happened and why? There was no time to figure that all out just yet. Lisa returned to the main room where she found Riley sobbing by the fire. Lisa sat down next to the little shaking ball of misery. Lisa rested her hand on Riley’s shoulder as she looked up.
“Is she going to be alright, Miss? Y-you can help her, can’t you?” Lisa paused. How could she be honest and gentle at the same time?
“I think she’ll live. But she may never be able to live a normal life again. But nothing is certain yet.” Riley buried her face in her small pale hands as she burst into tears afresh. “May I know her name?” Lisa asked, trying to think of something cheerier to talk of.
“Sally,” Riley sobbed.
“Sally. You two look very alike. Are you sisters by any chance?” Riley didn’t answer. She didn’t even look up.
“May I ask if you know how she got those burns?”
“Please stop asking so many questions, Miss!” Riley said firmly.
“Okay, I’ll stop then. I’m sorry. You should get some rest, alright?” Riley nodded and got to her feet slowly.
“There’s some food on the table in the corner if you get hungry. You can sleep by the fire if you want.”
“Thank you so much, Riley.”
Riley nodded and wiped her eyes dry. “I-I’ll be upstairs if you need anything, Miss.”
“Thanks, dear.” Child, Lisa decided at last. Riley carried herself like a child and her expressions were very childlike. She was just very tall for her age. Lisa waited till Riley was upstairs and out of sight to let out her groan. Groan of weariness, groan of pain, groan of fear. She should be thankful, happy that she had found Riley. She was going to be the one to help and make everything better for these poor girls.
But it truly hurt to think that she was the one who had to do it. It meant that nobody else was willing or able. There were no parents in the picture, and no one else the girls could trust. They had needed to reach out to a complete stranger for help.
There was also the whole question of what she had gotten herself into. But right now, Lisa really didn’t care. She just wanted to help the poor children. And at the very least, Lisa was now in a place where she and her help were wanted. Yes, she thought bitterly. I’m wanted here, wanted by people whom I’ve never met.
Lisa unpacked the few belongings that she had brought with her. She set them out one by one with care. The food that Riley had spoken of was a piece of dry bread. It was not even a full mouthful. Well then, first thing tomorrow she would pick up some things for breakfast at that tiny shop she had noticed. But for now, there was nothing to do but sleep. Yes, she could use some sleep too.
Lisa lay down on the floor next to the fire. Its soothing glow helped her relax and grow less shaky. So, this was it; this was how it all started. Her life from here on out could never be the same ever again. She didn’t know how to feel about it. Fear? Excitement? Sadness? The one thing that she could be sure of was that things were about to change for her.