Cassia nodded and put on her uniform over her clothes. A nurse who introduced herself as Athina rushed into the tent. ‘Are you free? We need an extra pair of hands.’
The two women broke into a run and entered another tent, where a man clutched his head and had blood streaming down his face.
‘Wash your hands there,’ Athina told Cassia, pointing at an enamel bowl of warm water on a table in the corner of the tent. ‘Then press this on the wound to stem the bleeding.’ The cold pad was wet and, from the smell, had been soaked in some form of antiseptic, judging by the yell the man made when she held the pad on the wound.
‘Sorry.’
‘It will stop an infection,’ said Athina, taking over from Cassia and checking that the wound was clean. ‘It looks worse than it is. I don’t think it will need stitching. Watch me do this first one and then it can be your job as the casualties arrive. There’s a queue already. Press a clean pad on and then bandagefirmly round his head. You’ll need to secure the ends by tucking them in like this.’ She turned to the man, asking what had caused his injury. ‘All done. Try to keep the dressing clean. Impossible, I know, in this mess. And you should try to rest. You’ve had a nasty bang to the head.’ She walked away to bring in the next patient.
‘Efcharistó,’ called the man after her. He turned to Cassia. ‘I have to get back to my street. They’re still pulling people out alive.’ Tears formed in his eyes. ‘My mother is still missing. I can’t rest while I could be helping the rescuers. I should go.’
A spot of blood had appeared on the man’s bandage.
‘You must take care.’ Cassia was concerned for him. ‘You want to be there when your mother is pulled out alive, don’t you? Don’t resume the digging yet. Wait for your wound to stop—’ The man got up and left. ‘Bleeding.’ She wondered how soon it would be before he had to return to the centre for more treatment.
Cassia spent the next few hours cleaning and bandaging wounds, passing on any that were too serious for her to deal with. The queue seemed never-ending. Her back and legs ached from standing, but the feeling of doing something to help outweighed the tiredness and any discomfort. Through the doors of the tent that were tied back, she’d seen the sky change through a whole spectrum of oranges and corals as the sun had set. It was now pitch-black out there and the tent was lit by oil lamps.
Athina came to her. ‘You can take a break now. You’ve done a great job. I should’ve asked you your name?’
‘Cassia. I’m glad I could help.Efcharistó,I just need to check on my neighbour who’s under one of the shelters. And I’ll be back here at first light if you can use me.’
‘That’s good to hear, Cassia. I’ll show you where to leave your uniform.’
She didn’t mention there was someone else she wanted to check in on, too.
Chapter Four
Not knowing if she would be allowed in, Cassia made her way to the tent where she’d left Eléni. Her heart thumped as she wondered what condition the little girl would be in.
‘I’ve come to check on a little girl who was brought in earlier. Eléni.’
After agreeing to let her see Eléni, they directed her to a bed at the far end of the ward. A flimsy screen separated it from the rest. Cassia took a deep breath and pulled back the screen.
‘Tom! What are you doing here?’
‘I could ask you the same thing. I wanted to see how our little girl was doing.’
Without warning, tears formed in Cassia’s eyes. She’d only just met this kind man, but every time she was with him, she warmed to him more. She wanted to take him in her arms and give him a hug.
‘That is kind of you. You must be — how do you say? — exhausted.’
‘She’s been sleeping the whole time I’ve been here. The nurses are checking her every half hour and they say sleep will help her heal.’
Cassia looked at Eléni. She appeared even more tiny in the bed than Cassia remembered. Helpless, vulnerable and alone in the world. She had a little more colour in her cheeks than when she’d been brought in, and she had a drip of clear liquid being pumped into her right arm. Her eyes were closed, but when Cassia sat beside her, she could hear her soft, regular breathing. Perhaps she was going to pull through. As Cassia leaned across and kissed Eléni on the forehead, the little girl opened her eyes and they widened. It was the same panic Cassia had seen in her eyes when she’d been rescued from the house. The little girl stilldidn’t make a sound, but she moved her head from side to side in distress.
Tom got up from his seat and whispered to her. ‘Do not worry,cariad. We look after you.’
Eléni screwed up her eyes so she didn’t have to see either of them.
‘I think we should go, don’t you?’ said Cassia. ‘Let’s see if we can ask a nurse or a doctor about her progress. You called hercarisomething. What is that?’
Tom smiled. ‘Cariad. It is a Welsh word. It means “love” or “darling”. A bit likeagápi mouthat you Greeks say. Yes, let us find someone. She does not know either of us. Do you think it would help her if Sophia came and sat by her in the morning? She seems to be the only person left who she knows.’
It was true. With all her family dead, Sophia might be a welcome face for the little girl. Sophia had known Eléni’s mother, and if it wasn’t for her, the digging may have stopped, and the little girl would have perished alongside her parents. ‘That’s a good idea. Sophia will feel useful and I won’t feel guilty when I leave her to do my shifts at the centre.’
The two of them managed to find a nurse sitting at a table, checking the details of the patients on her ward.
Cassia spoke to her in Greek. ‘I wonder if you can tell us how Eléni is doing.’ She realised she didn’t even know the little girl’s surname. She gave her own to save explaining who she and Tom were. ‘We’re worried that she gets upset and does not utter a word.’
