Till Sunrise ┊Luke Castellan

First Encounters⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

Aedo, Francisco Soria. 'Fruto de Amor'. 1926. [Detail]⋆.ೃ࿔*:·

Words:  1,515

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Thanks for 50k guys, hope you enjoy this little treat

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"Phoebe?"

At the sound of her name, Phoebe glanced up from her paperwork, her attention captured by one of her newer campers standing before her.

The camper was barely ten years old and only two weeks into camp, but he had already proven himself to be skilled beyond his age. From the moment he stepped onto the practice field his arrows found their mark with unerring accuracy. His form was graceful, his movement fluid and precise, as if he had been practising archery for years.

It didn't take long for Lee Fletcher to get claimed.

Lee was bathed in the warmth of the sun, his normally dark brown hair was painted in a soft amber, and his eyes, wide and doe-like, pleaded for her assistance and couldn't help but smile softly at him, "Yeah. What's up?"

"There's a guy here with a gross-looking arm," Lee stated bluntly, pointing towards one of the distant medical beds as he handed her a clipboard.

"Lead the way," she responded with a gentle smile, patting Lee's shoulder reassuringly before following his small figure towards the injured patient.

As they made their way, a faint scent of salt reached her, the wind must be pushing the scent of the ocean up the valley she thought to herself.

Glancing down at the medical sheets as she walked, Phoebe furrowed her brow in concentration, trying to decipher the hastily scrawled name of her patient. Only fragments of letters were discernible and she could just make out a 'uk' in what might have been his first name, and 'cas', and 'n' in his last name. She squinted at it. It could be one very long first name with no surname. The spacing was pretty unclear.

Mystery Boy was a fourteen-year-old 'Hcnmcs' camper. Phoebe instantly recognised it as Hermes and made a mental note of it as she continued to read. A large cross was drawn on the page, completely covering the section's allergies, and past injuries/sickness. She could barely make out that he had been at camp for a week, the rest obscured by the heavy mark.

Lee needed to work on his penmanship.

The air was now filled with the sweet scent of roses, the Demeter kids must be hard at work, she mused to herself.

By the time Phoebe had translated what she could from Lee's form, they had arrived in front of her mystery boy's bedside.

"So I've heard you've got a gnarly-looking arm," she said, still looking down at his charts. "Mind if I take a look?"

Suddenly, she heard a quiet whoosh and felt a sudden, and fleeting sensation brushed against her back, a sharp twinge that vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Blinking away the momentary distraction, she looked up and saw him - the boy in front of her. He was staring straight at her, his eyes locked in and in that instant, her heart hiccuped in her chest and the feeling retrouvaille¹ instantly flooded her.

"Yeah, take a look," the boy said, his voice carrying a hint of warmth as he smiled at her. With careful fingers, he lifted the bandage that had been pressed against his arm, revealing a shallow, bleeding slash wound. As Phoebe's eyes fell upon the injury, a surge of concern washed over her, and she instantly went into doctor mode. Forgetting all about her heart.