Ash stared at the fresh red wound on her right arm. It was a thin red line, about three or four inches long. She held her left hand up to her arm and hovered over the wound: it was just small enough that she could cover it with her palm. Her hand was shaking as she held it over her arm. Both of her hands were shaking. She balled her hands into fists, forcing them down on her lap.
She couldn’t stop staring at the cut.
The violent mark on her skin looked almost delicate.
If she stared at it just long enough for her eyes to lose focus, her vision would blur and the wound would look almost like a stray red thread from her shirt had just clung to her skin. But when she blinked and her vision would focus again, the red thread would be gone, and in its place would be an angry red line---a knife cut from her best friend.
“It was an accident,” she said.
Hunter pretended not to hear. The young driver kept his eyes forward on the road and hi
Isabelle and Celia stood facing each other under the awning at a pathway inside of their mostly-empty campus. It was a Saturday afternoon and most of the students had already left campus that morning for their flights home. Celia had been screaming, but there was no one other than Isabelle who was around to hear it.“I was hearing voices in my head while I was eating a steak,and suddenly I was knifing my friend. I don’t know what happened, Isabelle,” Celia screamed.Angry tears streamed down Celia’s face. She wiped them away roughly using the back of her hands. Isabelle stood quietly, measuring her words,holding back the ones that would send Celia over the edge.“You said something about a Master. Do you remember that?” Isabelle asked.“ . . . I don’t remember,” Celia said. Her green eyes were angry slits staring in Isabelle’s direction. She wasn’t angry at Isabelle, but she was
A man in a black suit was waiting for Ash and Hunter when they got out of the airport. He was a burly man in his late 30s, with wide shoulders, dark eyes, and short, dark hair. He looked like a spy sans the earpiece or some kind of formally dressed bouncer.The man raised his hand in the air, palm out, fingers straight, as Ash and Hunter approached. Ash wondered if it were a signal of some kind and her eyes darted from side to side, quickly scanning the road to see if anyone else was approaching. [Am I in danger? Is this some kind of safety signal?] Ash felt a little anxious but she kept her cool.When Hunter was within arm’s reach from the black-suited man, he raised his own hand in the air and heartily slapped palms with the older man. They were just giving each other a high five; Ash felt relieved.The man introduced himself to Ash as “Fernan.” He was their driver. Ash glanced at his hands and saw that he had tattoos on his knuckles: hearts,
The drive up to the main house from the imposing gate took about seven minutes: the pathway wound around a hill surrounded by vast open fields of grass before it snaked up a slope onto a carved stone pathway. It felt like the longest seven minutes of Ash’s life. She felt butterflies in her stomach, and even the butterflies were feeling dizzy. When they got out of the car, Ash stood in front of the doors of the largest house she had seen in her life. The driver peeled away and Hunter ushered her inside. Hunter carried Ash’s duffel bag on his shoulder as they walked through the main house, and she followed closely behind him. Up to that point, the largest house Ash had ever been in was the State Orphanage. "The House," as the residents had called it, had belonged to a wealthy couple who had left their estate as a donation to the government. The estate had included the family home, which the couple expressly provided in their Last Will and Testament was to be turned into a childcare in
Ash and Hunter lay beside each other on the soft guestroom bed.They kissed softly, quietly. Their kisses were gentle breaths and butterfly wings, soothing and delicate. The white bed was warm and safe, and as long as they lay together they could float away, kissing cool slow kisses.Hunter traced his thumb along Ash’s lips: her eyes were closed and she breathed softly. For a moment it looked as if she had fallen asleep, tired perhaps from jet lag. But then she opened her eyes and looked up at him.He bent toward her and kissed a corner of her mouth.“I’ve never been here before,” he said.“You’ve never been in your own guesthouse before?” Ash raised an eyebrow.Hunter laughed. “No, I mean, I’ve never been in this position before.”"Oh really?" Ash's voice went up just a little, one octave of jealousy singing in the silent room. You've never laid down in bed with a girl,
"She is like us, Papa. Like you, and me, and Grandpa," Hunter said to his father.The words hung in the air, punctuated by the clatter of silverware against porcelain.Silverio blinked twice, slowly. He turned to his wife: Lavinia met his eyes for a moment and then fixed her gaze down at the fork in the middle of her plate. Then he set his eyes on his son. He smiled at Hunter obligingly, the way one smiles when a well-meaning guest tells a boring story over wine and cheese. He returned to slicing his steak, almost nonchalant, as though he had heard something only vaguely interesting."Is she now?" Silverio asked without looking up from his plate."She is," Hunter answered, his gaze never leaving his father's face. His own plate was still untouched. He continued to hold Ash's hand under the table.Silverio chewed carefully on a piece of steak. He took a sip of water. He set the glass down and placed both of his hands on the table, palms flat."And how is she the same as you, me, and yo
The dark-haired woman hovered over the young girl, lying asleep on the bed. She smoothed the girl’s hair away from her forehead, whispering soothing words as she did. She felt the girl’s pulse and patted her hand. The girl was going to be fine, but a mother’s worry knew no end, even for children who were not her own.After Ash passed out in her chair, Hunter carried her out to the guesthouse while Lavinia followed behind her son. Ten, fifteen minutes went by and when Ash still did not wake, she sent her son to go to his father and promised that she would watch his guest.Hunter left reluctantly, squeezing the sleeping girl’s hand before leaving. The girl gave no indication that she felt anything.Lavinia looked closely at his son’s guest. The one he had referred to as his “girlfriend” but had not assented to the title. This was the first girl her son had brought to meet them.Ash was a blossoming young woman. She had the healthy glow of youth, with glossy black hair and smooth skin. S
”Mama!” Ash cried out.Lavinia drew back a little, surprised. Ash was still lying flat on the bed but she had tightened her grip around Lavinia’s hands. Her eyes looked sad and relieved, she had the expression of a child who had just woken up from a nightmare, relieved to find a parent by their side.“Mama?” Ash asked, this time sounding less sure.Lavinia merely patted Ash’s hand. She wasn’t sure how to respond, so she chose to keep quiet. Saying “yes” would have been easy and assuring, but ultimately confusing, whereas an outright “no” would have seemed dismissive, perhaps even insulting. She thought it better for the girl to answer her own question.Ash focused her eyes on the dark-haired woman who was holding her hand. She had emerged from her sleep convinced that this woman was her mother, but she clearly she wasn’t. This was Hunter’s mother, not hers.As her vision focused on the woman's face, realization set. Ash felt tears start to pool in her eyes. Hunter’s mother kept pattin
Ash lay next to Hunter on the bed in the guestroom. She felt tired from her head down to her toes. She had cried for what seemed like a long time, but it was only about twenty minutes. Twenty minutes of grief for a childhood lost.Ash’s mother did not have a funeral. She had no living relatives in the country where she died, so no one had come forward to make funeral arrangements for her. Even after her death was reported on the news, no friends or coworkers came forward looking for her or her daughter. Ash's father was still missing at the time, and it seemed no one was looking for him either.Narra Flores Parker had died alone, leaving her only daughter alone. Ash did not know where her mother’s body was or what happened to it. She had never thought to ask. The matter had been taken care of and Ash had been too young to know to ask any questions.Ash was eighteen now. She was an adult. She had a right to know where her mother’s body was buried. She would demand this information f