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"What's wrong with Blithe?"
"Well, nothing. Except he can't see."
Winters' attention was on the young soldier who sat against the wall, his eyes wide open in confusion and fear. It was a weird sight, how the boy was resting there, how his expression showed absolute anxiety. Blithe sat as still as a statue, only his lips who were trembling was a sign of life.
Winters stopped the medic from taking care of his wounds and made his way towards Blithe, limping on his hurt leg. The officer sat himself in front of him and translated what his posture and body language meant. He was trying to take in that the boy was extremely traumatized by everything he had experienced, the battlefields he had faced without any experience of the real war.
He was just like the rest, volunteering for an adventure but instead living through gruesome times, watching people kill others or get killed. Blithe had always been afraid, scared of everything that went with the war, but he didn't expect to react to like this. Winters softly called his name and Blithe turned towards the sound, his eyes fastly fluttering, still trying to adjust but without any effect.
"What happened?" he asked worryingly, waving shortly to see if he would react, but stopped immediately when the soldier didn't.
"I don't know, sir. Things kind of went black on me." Blithe struggled with his words, stuttered some of the letters while thinking about explaining something he didn't even understand.
"You can't see?"
"Not a thing, sir."
"Blithe's still here?" Riley walked inside the house were they had stationed the hospital with a bucket of warm water, some cloths and towels in her arms. The faint smile on her face brightened when she saw how the lieutenant was caring for his soldier, happy that there were still some good officers walking around in the army.
"Yeah, over there. But, Winters is talking with him right now. Might want to wait a bit," Eugene answered and thanked her for giving him one of the cloths. She nodded with her head and leaned against the door, her hip pressed against the frame. Riley took one of the fallen locks between her slim fingers and put it between the ribbon tied around her ponytail. It had been annoying her ever since it had fallen in front of her face and she needed it to be tucked away.
"Good morning, Blithe. I'm Riley, you remember me right?" she questioned before taking a chair from the table and putting the bucket on the flat seat and the towels over the back. Winters stood up and placed his hand on her shoulder when passed, softly pinching as a sign of support.
"Is it okay if I clean your face a bit? I heard you really hated the feeling of mud on your skin."
Riley rinsed the fabric in the warm water and folded it in a smaller shape, easier to hold in her tiny hands. She sat down cross-legged and shuffled closer to him. Her index finger pushed his chin to the side, softly but effectively. Riley washed away every little speck, every droplet of blood or sweat on his cheeks.
She did it without saying a word, trying to bring him in comfort before pushing any questions on him. Her teeth chewed on the tip of her tongue while she was concentrating on the movements she made with her hand, but her eyes kept on dazing of towards Blithe's. She had no idea why he became blind so suddenly, she didn't understand the medical side of it all but Riley had hope for him. Not that he would see again, she couldn't promise him that, but that he would go home and leave the stress and panic that France brought towards him.
Eugene and Winters stayed by the table, watching how Blithe was reacting to the care and how tender Riley was. Her movements were so slow, her touch was so soft. She acted as if the soldier was made of the thinnest type of glass that would break under the least amount of pressure. Both were fascinated by her in a respectful way. They knew how much comfort she brought, but seeing her taking care of a soldier in such a way really showed that she wanted to help everyone, even if she barely knew them.
"Riley's truly someone special," Winters stated.
"She's the best help we could've asked for. We've had multiple soldiers today, all in shock and didn't want to speak to anyone. But Riley came along, simply talked to them about the craziest things and now they're ready again for battle."
"Wow," was the only thing the lieutenant could answer, his reaction made Eugene smile really faintly.
"We've been thinking about only giving her tasks like these."
"That's a great idea, Doc. But, we also need her at the front, don't forget about that."
"I won't."
"Riley?"
The young girl softly hummed while grabbing the white towel from the chair to dry Blithe's cleaned face. She turned around towards him and noticed how he was staring intensely at his hands, his bright eyes blinking multiple times.
"Thank you."
"Are you okay?"
"I can see, I can see," he repeated it over and over again, every time with more and more hope in his words.
"Blithe?" Eugene raised from his chair and slowly shortened the distance between them.
"I don't know what happened but I think I'm okay."
"Uhm, alrigh, stay a little while longer and make sure. Then you can report back to your platoon."
But Blithe kept on saying that it wasn't needed and stumbled outside, keeping his balance by walking with his side against the walls. Riley kept the door open for him, simply because she wanted to know where he was going, in case something happened. She turned herself away when he sat with some of his friends, like Malarkey and Penkala, two soldiers she trusted.
"You did a great job, Riley," Winters said, breaking her out of her daydream.
"I just talked to him, nothing more."
"Well, then your talking must be magical, because you cured him."
