It was akin to a storm breaking loose when the children came washing up like a tidal wave, loud clamour pounding against Elena’s ears all of a sudden as the huge crowd ran towards them. All kids had their arms outflung in pure glee. They seemed absolutely overjoyed to see this man again. Overjoy was not the case for Elena, however. The moment she had caught sight of the sudden waves of children heading for them, she had, as if by instinct, stiffened up, crossed her arms and stepped aside to make way for the crowds to reach Doc. Only a few seconds of glancing at those childish faces, large balls that somebody had stuck on a far too tiny body, were enough for the pesky lump in her throat to reappear anew. Nervously she began scratching her throat, as if that would make it disappear again, and drumming with the fingers against her upper arms. It made her breathing accelerate. The way how Doc suddenly turned into a deliriously happy version of himself only contributed to her feeling even more uneasy.
When he began inspecting one of the little boys, all of a sudden the pictures were back again, flicking over her inner eyelid. They came like rapid-fire and carried her off to a place and time she should have long left behind herself, if it was not for the fact she was seemingly incapable of leaving them be. Her surroundings – the school, the children - already began to pale, her ears began to turn deaf again, the clamor of child’s voices fading out more and more.
That’s when that young girl’s voice suddenly rang in her head like a loud horn, even though her voice itself was not as ear-deafening. It was a pretty weak, feeble one in fact. “Are you a doctor too?”
At a stroke Elena started from her previous bout of memories, had a look around, only to find the little girl staring up at her. “Huh,” she said, the confusion of hers still thick in her voice. Her heart needed some time to calm down from that little fright. For a second or two, Elena silently looked down at the girl. Long hair, not quite distinguishable if it was supposed to be brown or blonde. But most of all, her facial contours seemed weirdly familiar to her. It took her another moment to realize what it was. But then it struck her. As fortune (or misfortune) would have it, the girl came close to being a spitting image of somebody Elena had by now often seen in her dreams. It made her swallow hard at first glance. It was as though she was the incarnation of her worst nightmares.
After she had contained herself to a degree, she said, though still stammeringly, “No, I’m not a doctor.” Following Doc’s example, she as well kneeled down to be at eye level with the girl. She had piercingly blue eyes that were quite difficult to look into, least for Elena.
“Who are you then?” the girl asked and weighed her head to the side in a questioning manner.
“I’m a friend of Doctor Holliday. My name’s Elena.”
Brief moment of silence. They just looked at each other, Elena in a more or less unsteady way, the girl rather curiously. She immediately caught her staring at her dyed hair.
Elena licked her dry lips. “What’s your name?”
The girl put her head back into normal position and began fiddling about with the sleeves of the little jacket she was wearing. “Maria,” she said.
Elena managed a smile. It looked a little strained, but at least there was one. “That’s a very nice name.” Funnily enough, Maria happened to be her own second name. She could count the people knowing about that on one hand, though. She tended to keep that as a secret. “Did you know that your name means as much as ‘untamable one’, Maria?” Doing as Doc had told her, she would simultaneously reach out with her hand to ruffle through the little girl’s hair, though not too much. Her hand was still shaking.
“Sounds cool,” the girl said and nodded her head, which made it easier for Elena to go through her hair. It was more than obvious that the little one enjoyed it, judging from the silent giggling noises she made.
By now, Elena had relaxed, mostly that is. Her next question however would probably turn out far too blunt. “Why are you here?”
At an instant the giggling stopped and the girl looked up at Elena. Immediately she regretted having asked that question in the first place.
“My parents… they…” the little girl tried to say, but her voice cracked up soon afterwards. Not even a second ticked away when there was a pair of arms keeping the girl in a gentle hug. Call it a mother’s instinct.
“Hey… hey, come on,” Elena said, stroking over the little girl’s back with one hand and trying to comfort her. It was a weird feeling she had in her stomach at that point, as though she was in a wrong movie, but that she kept for herself. There was sorrow welling up inside her, too, as she listened to the girl sniffing on her shoulder. She couldn’t help but stiffen up again.
After a while of sniffing, the girl said, “I just want them to come back. I … I miss them.”
Elena had to press her eyelids together. It would not have helped if there were two weeping copiously right now. Thus, she got her shit together. In- and exhaling deeply and calmly a few times, she attempted to make her heart beat slower. After a moment of gathering herself, she said, “It’s alright." It felt weird to say that. And it felt even weirder how her own words didn’t sound convincing to herself at all. Yet she said them. “It’s gonna be alright. I know how you feel. I’m still missing somebody, too.”
And like that, they would remain in a hug that got tighter and tighter for a while.
