Chapter Ten: Master and Servant:

Attraction is relentless. It doesn’t seem to take a hint that it should give up. Michael learns this really quickly. The more he comes back to the island, the more that he finds himself being drawn to Cephalla. That girl proves to be too danger for his well-being. The natives never let him forget that.

“She’s too young for you!”

“She’s a good girl.”

“You do anything to her, I’ll hurt you. I’ll hurt you good.”

Michael only smiled and waved at them. “Yeah…” Why do they look at me like I’m some sick pedophile? I haven’t done anything to her. Geez! It didn’t help that Cephalla managed to find him all the time. Today, she gave him a child-like smile.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. Michael tried not to make eye contact.

“The people on this island want my head,” he said.

“Aw, why?” she asked. “Did I scare you?”

“Stop,” he hissed. Cephalla frowned at him.

“Oh come on!” she said. “Loosen up!”

“That’s easy for you to say,” he mumbled. She tilted her head at him.

“You can’t be serious,” the girl said. Michael tried to walk ahead of her with his cheeks puffed up.

“Oh come on!” she shouted. “I was only messing with you! Wait up!” Cephalla jogged to catch up with him. Michael clenched his fists as his sides.

“Look!” he barked. “Just stay away from me!” The girl’s face dropped with a frown.

“I’m only playing with you,” she said again. “Why do you have a stick so far up your butt?”

“Because these people here want my head on a plate if I do anything to you!” Michael shouted. The spunky girl blinked at him.

“What do you mean?” she asked. Michael gritted his teeth, mumbling something under his breath. Cephalla tilted her head at him.

“What did you say?” she asked.

“Don’t make me repeat it,” he muttered under his breath.

“Why is this that?”

Michael’s face turned bright red. “Because I like you, okay?!” Cephalla’s jaw dropped when she heard his confession.

“What?!” she shouted. Michael whipped around to her. The birds singing overhead did little ease tension between them. He sighed aloud.

“Look,” the photographer began. “I really like you, but there are problems with this. I am too old for you, first of all.” Michael waited for a response. He hoped that she would back away from him in disgust. She only stared at him with a blank stare. Michael dropped his shoulders.

“What about this war?” he asked. “When it’s over, I’ll have to go back to the stations. We’ll probably never see each other again. You’ll probably fall in love with someone else. Would we even be good for each other?” Cephalla stared at him blankly. Michael tapped his foot. Come on! Say something!

The sixteen-year-old girl shook her head. “I… I don’t know what to say.” Michael buried his head in his hands.

“I knew this would happen,” he mumbled. Cephalla took a step back.

“I’m so sorry,” he said.  The photographer expected her to run away. Instead, she just stood there, staring.

“Say something!” he shouted. Cephalla dug in her mind to do as he commanded.

“Well…” she said. Michael shook his head as he crossed the street.

“Forget it,” he said. “Forget I said anything.”

“Michael?” she asked.

“Don’t follow me!” the photographer shouted. He must have walked for blocks before he stopped and buried his head in his hands. Why the hell did I do all of that? So stupid!

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Cephalla stare there with a blank stare. What was that? Did she hear that right? Michael liked her, liked her. She said down on the ground trying to weigh out everything in her head. I didn’t think that he would say that for real, she thought. It was true that she did fancy him, but it was more like a silly little crush brought on by the war. Her grandmother once had one on an English soldier who got lost on Creila during a storm. She found him cute, but nothing came of this relationship and he went back to England. Her grandmother thought that Cephalla’s attraction to Michael would be a passing fancy.

This was not like that, however.

From the moment that she saw his blue eyes, Cephalla couldn’t stop thinking about Michael. Up until now, she how been joking around with him and just talking. Some of the islanders made joking about seeing them together all of the time. The old ladies called him her little pet.

“Where’s your little dog today?” they would ask when he wasn’t on the island.

“Off taking pictures,” Cephalla answered. Lately over the past couple weeks, the islanders had been getting Michael colder looks. Today’s confession actually shed light on the reason. Cephalla lay back on the sidewalk.

“Well damn,” she muttered to herself. “Things just became awkward. Now what?” She saw two airplanes flying in the deep blue sky. Cephalla remembered a question she asked her grandmother when she was thirteen years old.

“Why is love so confusing?” she asked in the kitchen. Her grandmother chuckled as she mashed some herbs in a bowl.

“The reason that war is confusing,” she replied. The girl narrowed her eyes at her.

“What does that mean?” she asked. The old lady turned around.

“They don’t really make sense, but as they unfold, you just keep going at it until you see it through to the end.” Cephalla tilted her head at her.

“What does that mean?” she asked. Her grandmother patted her on the head with a smile on her face.

“You will understand when it hits,” she told her. In present day, Cephalla sighed. Grandma, I still don’t get what you mean. She reached up to take the sun into her hand. Her attraction for Michael made as much sense as this war currently did. Cephalla’s groans reached the clouds.

“When is this stupid war going to be over?!” she shouted.