17. How She Got Her Scars
17
How She Got Her Scars
W hen he walked into the kitchen, Eira's grandparents were quietly finishing up their teas.
Upon meeting her grandmother, Ryu had become fond of the old bat. He couldn’t help but think he was growing soft, as it was the second old lady he had grown a soft spot for. The love she held in her eyes for her granddaughter told him she would do anything possible for Eira. As for the grandfather, he didn’t talk much, so as far as in-laws could go, there wasn’t much not to like about them.
“Would you like a cup?” her grandmother asked, already getting up to do so.
Knowing he wouldn’t want to offend the offer, as the lady obviously loved doting over people, he welcomed the hot drink. “That would be nice, thank you.”
She took a small teacup from the shabby cabinet before pouring the still piping-hot tea into the cup then handed it to him.
Practically sensing he hadn’t come in just for tea, she sat back down in front of him and got right to it. “Is there something you need, Ryu?”
“Yes, actually.” He cleared his throat, unbelieving he himself could get nervous. He never thought it possible, and when the second clearing of his throat didn’t help much, he quickly took a sip before getting to the topic. “I would like to take Eira to my village to meet my father and …” He drawled out his next words. “I know it’s soon, but if she likes it there and is happy, I’d like to ask her to marry me.”
“Finally!” Her grandfather practically jumped up from where he sat; it was the quickest Ryu had seen the old man move since he’d met him. His withered hands had went up in the air in thanks. “You have my blessing, son. Whelp, good night.”
Ryu almost couldn’t believe what he had witnessed while watching the man, apparently riddled with arthritis, shimmy toward the kitchen door. It seemed like his job as a grandfather was finally done. It reminded him of his own father trying to mate him off; they acted as if it was the hardest job in the world.
The grandmother simply shook her head at her excited husband.
While it was great that he had Eira’s grandfather’s blessing, he wanted her grandmother’s all the same, if not more after that show.
“I hope to have your blessing, too…”
Sitting back in her chair, she stared him down for a few moments, and then she finally smiled. “You do, and not just because I want to get rid of her .” She huffed toward where her husband left before she softened. “But the truth is, I’m going to miss her ’cause I’ll only have … well, that , when she’s gone.”
He wanted to tell her sorry, because he couldn’t stand the thought of his only company being the grandfather either, but he refrained himself.
Her grandmother drummed her fingers as she studied him suspiciously. She clearly sensed something else before voicing it. “Is there something else?”
“There is.” He cleared his throat again, wondering why clairvoyance only came in the form of old witches. “I was actually hoping you could tell me what happened to Eira.”
“You mean, how she got her scars,” she clarified, being more specific.
Ryu nodded, taking another sip. “Yes.”
Her drumming suddenly stopped. “And she didn’t want to tell you?”
“Truthfully, I didn’t ask,” he answered, setting the cup back down on the table. “I was afraid she’d either omit or glaze over important details, and I want to hear … everything .”
“You’re right; Eira would have,” she simply agreed, confirming his fears. Taking one last drink, she finished her cup. “Give me a moment.”
He watched her grandmother leave, and it took several minutes before she returned, and when she did, it was with a somber tone and a small box that she seemed to have kept for a few years.
As he stared down at the box now placed before him, his stomach dropped, feeling the impending doom of knowing the contents inside couldn’t hold anything good.
It wasn’t until her grandmother gave him the go-ahead, saying, “Go on,” that he had the strength to do so.
When he removed the top, the first thing he saw was a framed photo. He recognized the little girl in the middle being Eira, but much younger. It was almost strange to see her without her scars from her burn; he had grown used to them, as it was one of the first things he had loved about her. But it was the smile she had not only on her lips but in her eyes that had him choking back emotion. He had yet to see her smile like that, and he made a vow right then and there to see it again. She looked so happy and content flanked between both parents, and it was clear that he was talking to Eira’s grandmother on her paternal side.
“My son, Sato, got my wits and not so much his father’s fishing abilities, so he left as soon as he could. He went to school on the other side of the world, and that’s where he met Lysandra,” she said with a reminiscing smile.
It was clear she didn’t think their son had taken after his father, but looking down at the photo, Ryu thought he was the spitting image of him. When his eyes moved to Lysandra, he understood where Eira had gotten her beauty. With matching porcelain skin and ruby hair, she mostly took after her mother with few attributes from her father, but it was enough to know she also belonged on this side of the earth. It was what made Eira more alluring than her own mother, and that was saying something.
Setting the framed photo to the side, the next thing he saw was a black and white newspaper clipping. He had never actually seen one in real life, but he had seen enough of them in his world studies to know what it was.
The same photo he had held in his hands was plastered on the front page of the thin newspaper, and what was once a colorful photo of a beautiful family now seemed ominous in a grainy black and white version. The words that followed were just as haunting …
FAMILY ATTACKED BY FIRE
A family enjoying a Sunday stroll through the city that turned horrific when they were attacked by one lone man with a tank of gasoline and a lighter. Their attacker quickly doused the father, Sato Sho, from head to toe before setting him ablaze. The mother, Lysandra Sho, and daughter, Eira Sho, were taken to the hospital for their own injuries due to the proximity of the backsplash. The mother later died, and the daughter remains in critical condition. Attacker, Arthur Abrahms, remains in county jail and awaits sentencing.
The horrendous image Ryu held in his mind would only grow more detailed as he read through the following police reports and accounts from witnesses. Tears that would dare to spill, he kept in with an iron strength, letting them only fuel the fire inside with each word he read as he finally went through Eira’s own heart-wrenching account.
When he set the last page down in disgust, the grandmother showed her own.
“We were all she had left after that.” Her voice then changed to a whisper. “That’s how Eira ended up all the way here.”
Trying to wet his throat, Ryu gripped the teacup, only to send the cooled contents to boil again before it quickly burst.
“I’m sorry,” he exasperated after her small shrill, knocking some sense into him to calm himself.
“I-It’s quite all right,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief.
He could see she wanted to question what she had just seen but didn’t dare to ask in fear he would think she was crazy to think his tea had boiled over, which had caused it to burst.
Picking up the broken pieces, he tried to play it off. “Sometimes, I don’t know my own strength.”
“I see that.” She laughed, going to help clean up the mess, but he wouldn’t let her.
“I got it,” Ryu assured her, not wanting her to get burned by the liquid and to feel how hot it had gotten. It was already a small miracle none had splashed on her, and another one that she had let him do it himself.
As he wiped off the liquid that had splashed on the papers before placing everything back in the box, her grandmother continued, “I only got the reports because I told them it might be useful to a therapist over here when she was ready to talk, and they agreed. I could never get her to go talk to one, but I knew she’d need someone to understand what she went through, so I made that box in hopes one day it would.”
Ryu closed the box, solemnly nodding understanding, but there was still one thing he didn’t understand. “Why is she so afraid to be touched?”
Grandmother’s eyes turned fearsome, clearly remembering something horrid. “May you never have to walk through a burn victim unit and hear their screams, Ryu. I wouldn’t wish it upon a single soul. Even if I didn’t still hear her screams from her nightmares, I could never forget the sound of her screams every time they changed her bandages for a year in the hospital. All the poking and prodding along with it, to such a young girl after what she had horrifically gone through and lost, is something I’ll never understand how she survived mentally. I know I couldn’t.”
With his anger rising again, he understood everything clearly now. Whether Eira ever decided to tell him none of it, some of it, or all of it one day, he knew all he needed to know.
Well, almost.
Seeing a shard he had missed, he picked up the sharp piece, needing to know one last thing. “And where is Arthur now?”