Chapter Three: Injured Stranger in a Strange Land:

“Good morning, Cephalla,” Mr. Gikas greeted her. “What can I do for you today?”

“We just need these herbs here,” Cephalla told him, sliding her list forward on the counter. The elderly pharmacist picked up the piece of paper and read over it.

“No problem,” he said. He handed to his garden in the back. “How is your grandmother these days?” he asked.

“Good,” she replied.

“When’s the clinic going to be open again?”

“In about five days.”

“That long? How is your back from sleeping on that couch?”

Cephalla threw back her head and rolled her eyes. “Does everyone know I’m sleeping on the couch?” she complained.

“Sorry,” Mr. Gikas said, poking his head out. “Little things like that just slip out.” Cephalla puffed up her cheeks, annoyed.

“People talk too much here,” she grumbled.

“That’s just how it’s been,” he told her as he came out with the herbs in his hand. “Here you are.” Cephalla pulled out her money for the herbs. Mr. Gikas put up his hand just as she was handing it to him.

“No, no,” he said. “It’s on the house.”

“Okay then,” the girl replied. “Have a good day.”

“You too,” the store owner said back. Cephalla couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t take her money for her weekly trips to pick up the herbs. When she asked him, Mr. Gikas only smiled at her.

“You and your grandmother are my top customers,” he told her. The girl would just nod and head out the door. Once outside of the drug store, Cephalla froze when she heard the daily helicopter. She shrugged to herself with no thought. More patients are coming to island, the girl thought. However, curiosity took over her mind. Cephalla got on her bike and handed to the hospital. The only place that airplanes could land was the airport near the beach. Luckily, the hospital was only three miles away. Cephalla pulled up in the hospital parking lot. She spotted her friends, Elissa and Ioanna, already waited up further ahead.

“Hey!” Cephalla, flagging them down. The girls looked up and noticed her.

“Hey there!” Elissa called back. Cephalla walked her bicycle over them.

“Who’s coming in now?” she asked. Her friends shrugged their shoulders.

“We think more soldiers,” Ioanna said. She looked at Cephalla’s side and noticed her pouch at her side.

“Picking up herbs for your granny again?” she asked.

“Yep,” her friend answered.

“When’s the clinic’s opening back up?” Elissa asked.

“In five days,” Cephalla answered. “Please don’t mention anything about the couch! I’m sick of people asking me about it! So, please just stop before you begin!” Her friends closed their mouths as she took a deep breath.

“Thank you,” she said when she became calmer.

“Hey!” a man’s voice shouted at the girls. “Get out of the way! We’ve got patients to move!” The girls ran over to the right as the stretchers rushed by them. Like the airplanes in the sky, the sight of wounded patients with missing limbs and deep wounds rushing into the hospital. The residents wished that they would get better both physically and mentally. When the soldiers died, they were the ones to bury them in their graveyards.

“We don’t have space to bury our own dead,” an old lady complained behind the girls.

“We should just ship them back to their homelands,” another old lady said. Cephalla and her friends pretended not to hear a word. Nobody wanted this war, but this was the island that had proper medical training and supplies. The residents just couldn’t turn them away. It wasn’t in their nature. Cephalla and her friends watched the medics and stretchers rushing by.

“How many do you think they’ll bring in today?” Elissa asked.

“No idea,” Ioanna answered as three more passed by them. One of the patients happened to catch Cephalla’s eye as they rushed by on a stretcher. She only managed to get a glance of him, but that was all it took. In that look, she noticed the patient had eyes just as blue as the sea and sky combine. The girl couldn’t see the rest of his face or his serious injuries on his body as he was rushed by. That didn’t matter to her. Cephalla just had to see if she wasn’t imagining it. Before she knew it, she found herself racing to catch up with the patient being wheeled into the hospital.

“Cephalla!” Ioanna shouted after her. Her friend’s voice sounded so distant to her as she kept walking. The girl only came back to reality when the glass doors slid closed in front of her.

“Huh?” Cephalla asked as she froze in place.

“Excuse me!” someone shouted behind her. The girl whipped around to see two medical personnel with a patient on another stretcher waiting to get inside.

“This man needs treatment really bad!” the younger of the two shouted. “Do you want him to die?!” The message came at a slow pace to the teenage girl’s brain.

“Oh!” she said aloud. “I am so sorry!” Cephalla stepped out of the way and let them go through.

“Excuse me,” one of the waiting doctors spoke up. “But are you supposed to be here?” The girl quickly shook her head.

“Uh… no,” she answered. “I just thought I saw somebody I knew.”

“Would they be family, by any chance?” the doctor asked.

“No, it was just a stranger. Excuse me,” the girl said. Cephalla turned and raced back to her bicycle in the parking lot.

“Miss!” the doctor shouted after, but she was already gone. The girl returned to her bike and her friends.

“What was that all about?” Elissa asked when her friend returned. Cephalla picked up her fallen bicycle as if in a daze.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I just don’t really know.” The girl climbed on and rode away.