Open Fire

THEY were alone. It had been some time since they were this way, but now that they were she couldn’t remember them ever not being so. She stared at her own fingers on the table, waiting. Across the table sat another girl leaning back in her seat and staring at the table as well, lips a straight, thoughtful line.


‘What do you reckon?’ the other one asked without looking up.


‘Reckon I’m not as scared as I should be,’ she replied. She stared at the girl.


‘What do I do with you?’ It was more of a sigh than a question. The girl turned to face her and she realized for the first time how beat her face looked. In all the turmoil of the past few months, she hadn’t had the time to pause and listen to the emotions of anyone else. Nor had the other girl ever had time to sit still and recollect how she herself felt.


‘Stop me,’ she answered straightforwardly. No pretence.


A moment’s pause, and then –


‘I’m terrified.’


‘Me too.'


‘You sure don’t look it.’ The eyes shifted to meet hers.


‘How can I? I chose this, didn’t I? I’m the one living it. What would it make me to fear my own decisions?’ She looked down, wondering. What would it make her?


‘Not as much of a coward as you would be if you couldn’t face them.’ She waited as the other girl hesitated. Then, ‘You can face them, you know.’


‘I know. And I know I won’t lose. I can’t. Not for the sake of my family or my friends or the millions of other like people out there. I just…can’t.’ She looked up. ‘You get it?’


The girl nodded. ‘Because of him.’


She sighed. ‘I don’t want to do this.’


‘I wish I could just not let you.’


‘I wish I could let you just not let me.’


The other pair of brown eyes bored into her intently. ‘You don’t mean that.’ She breathed in for a moment and conceded. ‘No, I wouldn’t.’ She watched a tear roll down the other girl’s cheek.


‘Please don’t do this.’


She felt like a mirror now, resistance flowing liquid from her eyes, too. ‘I can’t help it.’


‘You can.’


‘Not now.’


‘Then when? You know it’s only going to get harder to stop once it gets more frequent.’


‘I know. That’s what we came up with the last time, remember? And I pulled out of that one all right.’


Another sigh came from across the table. ‘Hate to break it to you, but you can’t pull out of everything “all right” just because you think you can, kid.’


Her brows knitted into a frown as she thought deeply.


‘Just be with me, alright?’ She could here him coming back. Both of them could. The girl on the opposite side nodded a second time and said, ‘I’m always here, even when you don’t need me.’ Then she pushed herself away from the table and made to stand up. She rose, too, tucking her chair neatly below the table. Propriety wasn’t something she could ignore, even in these times. The other girl started walking away.


‘You were right, though,’ said the girl, stopping in her tracks. She looked up questioningly as the other turned around.


‘What about?’


‘The battle. You were right when you said it was far from over.’


A memory flicked through her head. ‘The war’s just begun,’ she whispered despite herself. The sound of a third person’s footsteps echoed through their scene. The other girl gave smiled ever so slightly as she turned away again.


‘So it has. Don’t forget your armour.’