Survivors

Found

Chapter 3
Being alone with Cassandra was absolutely wonderful. Cassandra had forgiven him for the night in which they had had that 'conversation'. That is what they called it because now it was a forbidden subject. A week had passed now and Cassandra had just forgiven him. They were friends again and Cassandra wanted to keep it that way. Quintus however did not. He wanted to hold Cassandra at night and never let go but it was not to be. Cassandra just did not love him in that way. Quintus felt alone again.

Quintus decided to go back to Pompeii to explore the rubbles and hope to find someone or something that would let him remember. Remember who he was and what love was.

It was a long walk. Fields and farmland and rubble stood before him. But Quintus had to revisit Pompeii. The first person he saw was dead. It was his friend Alexander. He stopped and saw others he knew. He cried but knew had to keep going in order to get closure. He saw no life in the city he called home. He went to his house. Quintus found Caecilius...dead. His own father. He ventured through the other rooms. In the kitchen, he found...Grumio. Gone. Cassandra's one love was dead. He cried for her. He went to his room. He found the small statue of the pretty girl which he had bought with Alexander. He had kept it because he was lonely. He kept it. He went to the forum. He found Metella...his mother, dead. And next to her his only sister Lucia...also dead. And next to them a slave of his, Clemens, and he was alive. Very much alive and weeping over Lucia's dead face. "But I loved her." He cried "Why her?"

As soon as he saw Quintus, he ran up and hugged him, grateful that someone he knew was alive. VThey wept together sorry that everyone they knew was dead. But Quintus was found. And he was happy.