Page 5 of The Silent Sister

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 still didn’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 her cari something. What is that?’

Tom smiled. ‘ Cariad . It is a Welsh word. It means “love” or “darling”. A bit like agápi mou that 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.’

‘Ah, you are her parents, eh?’

Just as Tom was about to correct the nurse, Cassia nodded.

It would help if they could see Eléni whenever they wanted.

Who else would be there by her bedside? Could she persuade Sophia to take on the role of yiayiá?

It was just until Eléni was out of danger , Cassia told herself.

It didn’t seem right for the child to be fighting to survive without a soul there to support her.

‘Physically, she’s making progress. It’s very early days.

But she is traumatised. That recovery is going to take much longer.

The more you can visit the better. Just talk to her, sing her favourite songs.

I expect she had a favourite toy, but I presume it was destroyed in the earthquake.

I have to go. There is another casualty coming in and I need to be ready for her. ’

‘Efcharistó .’

Once outside, Cassia turned to Tom. ‘Thank you for not correcting her. If they know we are not her parents, Eléni will have no one. Are you willing to be Kyrios Makris for a short while? Just until she’s better.’

Tom took her hand. ‘You’re very persuasive, Kyria Makris. You’re starting to fall in love with that little girl, aren’t you?’

Was her feeling for Eléni love, pity or concern for her future as an orphan? Whatever it was, it triggered such painful memories of another little girl who would be the same age as Eléni now.

* * *

‘All I want is for her to get better and she needs someone to be there for her. I cannot get those terrified eyes out of my mind,’ said Cassia, as the two of them walked to the shelter. ‘I think your idea of asking Sophia to sit with her is a good one.’

The sky was an inky indigo dotted with stars and a full moon to light their way.

Cassia thought back to the murky atmosphere of the previous day.

The dust had now settled and the air had cleared.

She took in a deep breath as if to prove she could do so without spluttering.

There was no acrid taste at the back of her mouth.

The familiar sound of cicadas was back. For the first time since the earthquake had struck, she allowed herself to feel a glimmer of hope.

‘Our shelter is the one on the right. Thank you for walking me home.’ She looked at Tom and laughed a hollow laugh. ‘Home. Why did I say that? My home is a heap of stones. I have no home. Thank you for walking with me to the shelter.’

Tom grasped her hand and kissed it. Cassia knew his gesture was one of a new friend, a friend who she needed more than ever before at this awful time, but it didn’t stop the warm feeling she felt as his lips touched her skin.

‘It will get better. More ships are in the bay now, and aid is coming through. Perhaps our reporter friend was right. The more the rest of the world knows, the more help will get to the island.’

Cassia thought of the handsome man who spoke perfect Greek. Rhodri Jones. She remembered how she had yelled at him. If it wasn’t for him insisting the sailors should carry on digging, her lovely Eléni would never have been found.

Sophia was wide awake when they arrived. Since Cassia had left that morning, there were now two chairs and some wooden boxes used as a table, on which there was food and water.

‘How is Eléni? Did you manage to see her? What did the doctors say?’

Cassia turned to Tom. ‘Did you understand all that?’

He smiled at the urgency of the old woman’s questions. ‘Yes, we both have. She is very ill. The doctors, they say she gets better. Long time.’

Cassia continued, speaking slowly so Tom could understand.

‘Eléni looks better now. The doctors and nurses say her injuries will heal, but when she’s awake she seems frightened.

When Tom or I try to talk to her, she gets agitated and scared.

She doesn’t know us, of course. Would you be willing to sit by her and talk to her? She knows you, doesn’t she?’

Cassia and Tom knew Sophia’s answer before she uttered any words.

‘Oh, Cassia, I would love to. I have been thinking about her all day. She must be about the same age as the little girl sleeping over there. She has a mother to look after her, and now her yiayiá has been found and has joined the family. I’ll be Eléni’s yiayiá. ’

Tom winked at Cassia. ‘And we didn’t even have to ask.’

* * *

The next morning, Sophia and Cassia left the shelter for the Red Cross centre. They arrived at the ward where the nurse receiving the casualties spotted them.

‘Ah, the little girl’s yiayiá , too.’

Neither of them corrected her. They walked the length of the ward to Eléni’s bed. She was propped up on two pillows, and the drip had been removed from her uninjured arm. Cassia held back as Sophia stopped and inhaled deeply before approaching. She then bent over and kissed the child on her cheek.

‘ Agápi mou , I’m so pleased to see you looking better.’

The little girl looked up at the old lady, and a wide smile lit up her face. It was the first time Cassia had seen her look happy. Tom’s idea had been right: it was only Sophia she would recognise.

Cassia approached the bed. ‘ Kaliméra , Eléni. I can see you’re pleased I’ve brought your friend to see you.’ Cassia smiled at her. But it was as if a veil had been drawn across the little girl’s face. Eléni turned her head away and squeezed her eyes tight.

Sophia took Eléni’s hand. ‘This is Cassia. She’s a friend who has been concerned about you, too.’ The old lady looked up at Cassia. ‘Why don’t you go to your shift and come back later? I’ll try talking to her.’

Cassia agreed and made her way to the tent.

She knew she would soon be so busy helping more injured survivors that she wouldn’t have time to think about why Eléni was so afraid of her.

She found her uniform and joined Athina, who was stitching a nasty, deep head wound on a young woman.

Even though there were fewer patients needing medical attention each day, stories of people being pulled from underneath collapsed buildings were still coming through.

Many were dehydrated and had breathing problems from inhaling so much dust. Others needed reassurance they were going to be all right.

Cassia sat with them and listened to harrowing stories of loss, of children buried under rubble and taking their last breaths as they held their hands.

When it was time for a break, she visited Eléni and Sophia.

Approaching the bed, she heard giggling and saw Sophia making silly faces.

Eléni’s eyes sparkled in delight. So different from the wide-eyed terror Cassia had seen earlier.

‘Look who’s come to see you, agápi mou . It’s Cassia.’

The little girl’s expression changed, but she didn’t turn away. Instead, she looked directly at Cassia.

‘You two look as if you’re having fun.’

The little girl nodded.

Sophia grabbed Cassia’s hand and squeezed it. ‘Still no words,’ she whispered.

* * *

Eléni continued to improve over the next few weeks.

The bruises faded and the splint was taken off her arm.

But she’d still not uttered a word. All communication on Eléni’s part was carried out by miming actions, a nodding and shaking of the head, and her facial expressions.

Sophia spent the days at her bedside, making up stories about animals for her to enjoy.

Whenever she was not needed at the centre, Cassia sat with Sophia and Eléni.

They both talked to Eléni even though she couldn’t answer them.

Instead, Cassia learned to know Eléni’s emotions and needs by reading what the little girl’s eyes told her.

She realised it would only be a matter of time before the doctors said the little girl was well enough to leave, now that her physical injuries were healing and she was out of danger.

But where would she go? Where would any of them go?

Still, no family member had claimed her, and Sophia was sure no one would.

Tom visited Eléni each night and marvelled at the progress she had made with Sophia’s help. The child welcomed him with smiles now, too. But still, she didn’t speak. One night, he brought her some paper and a pencil from the ship.

‘The ship — it is where I live.’ Tom drew a simple boat shape, surrounded by wavy lines representing the sea. He handed her the pile of paper. ‘Now, you.’

Eléni smiled and began to draw four stick figures. Holding up the paper, she pointed first at each figure in turn and then at the person the drawing represented.

Tom beamed at her. ‘Good girl. That is very good. Here.’ He took the sketch from her and pointed to the first figure.

‘Sophia?’ The little girl nodded. Tom wrote the name underneath.

‘Me?’ He labelled the second figure. ‘Tom.’ The drawing was completed once he’d written Cassia and Eléni .

He handed the paper back to her. She held it up for the others to admire.

Cassia looked at Tom. ‘How do you say — genius, I think?’