Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Hello and Goodbye (Part 2)

“Henry!”

A man’s voice could be heard from the clinic’s door. It was Justice. He came inside and rushed to Henry’s side.

“Good to see you already better.” Said Justice, with a smile on his face.

Anne sensed there was something wrong with Justice and Henry, although Justice gave him a smile, Henry’s face never changed, and they stare at each other until Anne cleared her throat.

“Oh, girl, you’re here,” Justice said to Anne with an arrogant smirk.

“Haha... Just pretend you didn’t see me, earlier, my life would be better.”

Rolling her eyes, she excuses herself from the two of them, the two of them thought she disappeared from the clinic, while she was actually on the desk, reading the patient’s record. That’s when a conversation between Justice and Henry, begins.

.....

“Are you crazy? What are you going to tell her!?” Justice whispered at Henry, and it seems he scolded Henry over something.

“None of your business!”

“It is my business if you tell her about our intention to come into such a remote village like this one.”

Anne hear one of them let out a sigh, and said, “We need to tell her. She is a clever girl. Don’t you think she will figure it out, on her own?”

“Then you’re a fool! We are going to get out here in three days, no need to involve her with our problem!”

“Who said I’m going to get her involved? The girl was curious. At least I could ease her mind, by giving her a vague answer.”

“Henry... what happened to you? Why do you want Anne to be involved? Why do you want her to know about our witch hunt?”

Anne gasped, her eyes widening, while she navigate herself out of the clinic. Somehow, when Justice said the word, witch, her heart begin to beat faster. She look around and decide to take a break at the house, inside the house, her parents saw her with a pale face.

“Oh dear child, what happened to you?” Asked Martha, her arms already there to support her daughter.

Ed, check her temperature, and mumbled, “Hmm... you have a slight fever, better to take a rest.”

He carried his daughter to her room, and tuck her in, while Martha gave her medicine with a glass of water. She brushed her daughter’s hair, while warmly smiling at her.

“You take some rest, alright? We will handle the clinic.”

Staring at her parents, Anne realized how lucky she was, that Martha and Ed found her at the river. Imagining how harsh a world it could become if she had to survive on her own, without guidance from anyone. She owes them tremendously, and she even promised to tell them the truth someday.

Anne fell asleep after her parents left her, she couldn’t figure out, what was happened to her body, and her reaction to Justice and Henry’s conversation about the witch hunt. The mentioning of the witch hunt, makes her tremble. She decided to take a rest and empty her mind, for now.

The next day, Anne feel much better than before, her mother brought her porridge for breakfast, and after, she read medical and herbology books to kill time. All day, sleeping in the bed, makes Anne feel sore all over her body. She asked her mother to go to the bathhouse, they have a bathroom. But it doesn’t have a bathtub.

Her mother gave her permission, but, not before asking her a favor.

“You want me to what?!”

“Took Henry to the bathhouse, he complained about his body odor so much, that it becomes such a nuisance for us in the clinic. Your father and I couldn’t take him there, there was an accident at the lake.”

“Oh, my God? What happened, mother?”

“I don’t know, it was chaos all morning. Thankfully there were no fatalities.”

Anne feels sorry that she took some time alone in her room, she looks at her mother and apologizes to her.

“If only I was there to help you and father, I’m sorry, mother.”

“You’re sick, dearie, not that you don’t want to be in the clinic.” Said Martha smiling at her, she then gave Anne, another bag of spare clothing, “Here, give this to Henry, your father and I already have ringing ears because of him complaining. What a high-maintenance noble.”

Chuckles at her mother’s complaining about Henry, she took the bag, from her mother, “Alright, I’ll take him to the bathhouse, where are his friends, anyway?”

“They are at the lake, helping the others, your father was there from noon, I hope he ate something.”

“How about after I take my bath, I’ll go there and bring some food. I wanted to help, as well.”

Martha smiled at her daughter, “Of course, dearie, now, go take your bath.”

Anne walks to the clinic and asked Henry to follow her to the bathhouse. He lit up immediately and even fussed about using his boots.

“No! you need to use the sandal for now, and take those crutches, you need them for a long walk.”

Henry’s let out a sigh, “Listen here, Anne, I got injured on my stomach and chest, not on my legs, I don’t need to wear sandals and used the crutch.”

“Listen here, Henry, the wound is in the abdomen and chest area, yes, but what you don’t know, whenever you took a long walk, the wound gets affected by your movement, sandal, and crutch, helped.”

Scratching his head, Henry feels embarrassed that Anne needs to scold him, “Sorry, I get the crutch and wear sandals.”

She smiled at him, and after ten minutes, they were on the way to the bathhouse. The night is still young; the sky is filled with the stars on the symphony of a mixed reddish and purple night sky. The night bird begins to sing, filling the almost empty street.

“Guess everyone’s helping at the lake.” Mumbled Anne.

“Oh, yes, it was so hectic in the morning. There were so many injured people, thankfully there were no fatal injured.”

“Yes, I’ve heard from my mother, I’ll go there after getting a bath, I need to soak, my body felt sore, all over the place.”

Henry face shifted, suddenly he was so concerned about Anne, “What happened? Did you fall?”

Anne smiled at him, “No, silly! I wasn’t, to tell you the truth, I don’t even know, why I feel sick all of a sudden.”

“How about now?”

“I’m fine, don’t worry... Look there’s the bathhouse, I’ll go to the left, it’s for the ladies and yours on the right.”

“Can I go with you?” Teased Henry.

“Only if you want a bunch of aunties chasing you with a bucket of hot water.”

They laughed together, making people around them stare. Anne smiled and apologize to them.

Henry saw her, and asked, “What are you apologizing for?”

“What?!” Asked Anne, turning her attention to Henry.

“Why do you need to apologize? We weren’t bothering them that much?”

“But... it’s inconvenient...”

Henry took a deep breath and suddenly rustled her hair. She glared at him.

“Hey. What are you doing?”

“Relax, you’re going to take a bath, anyway,” He winked at her, and walk into his side of the bathhouse, but before he entered, Henry turned around at Anne, “Anne, sometimes, what you need to do is focusing on yourself, not everyone around you.”

He goes inside, leaving Anne, surprised by Henry’s words. She knows every word was the truth, her habitual of becoming the NPC, she feel her heartbeat getting faster again, but this time, only a good feeling that came to her. Sometimes what you need is encouragement, and that’s what Anne got from Henry today.

Smiling at the night sky, Anne walks to the bathhouse. After an hour, they go back to the clinic, and she is ready to go into the lake. Sadly, she isn’t prepared for what she is going to see at the lake, or more than that, whom she will encounter at the lake.