A Flower in War

Chapter Six: My Brother, Dear Father

"Calanthe! What happened to your knees?!" Amanda questions the young girl worriedly, eying the scuffs and scrapes on her knees, and the dried blood down her shin.
"I'm fine Aunt Amanda! I just won't be winning any skateboarding competitions any time soon!" Cal laughs, grabbing a wet paper towel and wiping down her legs.
"Where did you find a skateboard?"
"Oh! I went out to ice cream with my friend and they have a skateboard so I asked for a lesson!"
"Right, right! You left a note, thank you for that!"
"Of course! Didn't want you to think something happened to me!"
"Well I appreciate it. Did you have fun?"
"Yeah! We had fun! Felt kinda bad that I wiped out but when I started laughing, all was good."
"Well I'm glad you're having fun and making friends."
"Me too."

"Are you excited for school?"
"A bit nervous honestly."
"Why's that? We got your transcripts! You're incredibly intelligent!"
"I'm not worrying about the scholarly aspect, more so the social aspect." Cal explains, playing with her fingers.
"Well you've already made one friend! I have no doubt you can make more, and Sam will be there so you'll have her."
"I don't know, Sam's friends don't really seem my type."
"What do you mean?"
"They just seem like... for lack of a better term, mean girls? I don't think Sam's a mean girl by any means! I just... from what I've been told... they kinda poke fun at the other kids. And well I've been an 'other kid' and I'd rather not partake..."
"You're a sweet kid Calanthe. I understand. Just don't write them off to quickly okay? People can change, especially teenagers!" Amanda chuckles, pushing some wayward strands of hair back behind Calanthe's ear.

"Ah! She's back! How was the ice cream?" Daniel questions.
"Delicious!"
"Good good! How do you feel about doing some sparring?"
"Just let me change!" Calanthe smiles, running up the steps.
"Go easy on her Daniel. She's got some scraped knees and she hasn't done karate in years."
"Of course, I'll just see how she does!"

~

"Wow! Okay, guess your muscle memory is incredible!" Daniel laughed, watching Cal land a jackknife kick.
"It was the last thing my dad saw me land. I kept practicing after he died so I wouldn't forget how to do the last move that made him smile."
"He was always a showman your dad, great fighter... better friend."
"He said much of the same about you."
"Yeah?"

"Yeah. He told me about when you were kids. How Mr. Miyagi saved your asses from the kids from Cobra Kai, all the chores he made you both do, how you managed to beat Johnny Lawrence injured. Even the trip to Okinawa! Oh! And the bonsais! You know he kept one in his office? Far away from Maria because she used the one at the house as an ashtray. That little tree, he took so much care in tending to it. And when he couldn't... because the cancer had metastasized... he showed me how to... they keep it in the cancer ward now. Dr. Kim tends to it. She sends me pictures every now and again to let me know it's safe and thriving." Calanthe smiles.

"Your dad was... he was my brother... he is my brother and he always will be." Daniel nods, wiping his eyes quickly. Calanthe sees his tears and hugs him tightly.
"He is. He'll always be my dad, my protector. He took the brunt of it when he was alive. He never fought back... I didn't understand why. But he told me that she wasn't in her right mind, that it wasn't her, it was the alcohol or drugs. The only time I ever saw him block anything was when it was directed at me. It was like... it was like he didn't think he was worth protecting."
"Your father, for as long as I've known him, always thought he was less than. Even when everything else said to the contrary, it was like the demon on his shoulder always won over the angel. But he was a good man. He would never hit a woman, no matter what. And he did love your mother once. Love is hard to completely let go of, to completely disregard... and you never want to hurt someone you love."

"I wish he had gone to the authorities. I wish he had gone to anyone. Maybe it wouldn't have ended how it did if he had." Cal says tearfully.
"He was a proud man. He didn't want to be seen as weak. And he likely knew that your mother would spin it in her favor like she's done before... and then you'd be alone with her."
"He apologized to me before he died... his last words... they were 'I'm sorry'. He looked so scared Uncle Dan... and I couldn't tell him it was going to be okay... that I was going to be okay... because he was just... gone."
"He's not here anymore in body but he's still here in spirit, and always in our memories. We'll hold onto those tightly, never let him go so he keeps living in some way."
"Yeah, yeah. He's still alive because we are. Just like Mr. Miyagi." Cal smiles.
"Just like Mr. Miyagi."

-

"I can't sleep." The first thing Robby hears when he picks up the phone. He doesn't even have to look at caller ID to know it's his one non-delinquent friend.
"You don't say? Well I can."
"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." He can hear the gravel in her voice and immediately jolts up from his bed, sleep now long forgotten.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, nothing. I'm sorry. Go back to bed." Cal hangs up the phone, putting it on her bedside table only for it to ring immediately.

"You're not going to call me crying and then hang up before I know you're okay Calanthe." Robby states sternly, making her let out a broken laugh.
"I'm okay. Just miss him a bit more today."
"You wanna talk about it?"
"Could you just get my mind off of it?"
"Yeah sure. My mom's back on her bullshit with another bum. He called me kiddo, like a douchebag."

"What's this one being named hmm?" Cal smiles, remembering Robby telling her about the different nicknames he would come up with for the men his mom brings home.
"Haven't gotten that fair, have to marinate with it. Any ideas?"
"Kiddo huh? 60's slob? 50's absent father? Captain Kidd?"
"Captain Kidd! Perfect!" She can practically feel his smile through the phone, causing one to venture onto her lips.

"Do you ever like any of them?"
"Nope. None of them ever try to understand me, hell half the time they don't even meet me or I see them in passing. No one is ever around long enough for me to learn to like them."
"I can't tell if that's a blessing in disguise or not?"
"Sometimes it is. Sometimes it really sucks. Reminds me I don't have anyone to look up to..."
"You have a lot of good examples of what not to be."
"That's true. You're good at spinning things around."
"Have to be at this point. If I don't... I just... I just numb myself so I don't feel anything."
"Yeah? I kinda do that..."
"How?"
"Just don't feel. Turn it off. If I need to feel something... I uh... I steal." Robby whispers.

"Robby?"
"Yeah?"
"I already knew. You don't hide it well."
"You knew?"
"Yeah, you get shaky fingers when you're close to a wallet or purse. Your eyes dart around, sometimes you move forward and then take a step back."
"Jesus Christ am I really that obvious?"
"Just to me. I don't think anyone else bothers to notice. They try to look away from us, makes it easier to steal."
"Yeah... I don't steal from poor people... and I'd never steal from you! I promise."

"I know. I also know that you definitely planned on stealing from me when we first met."
Robby gulps, "I... I wasn-"
"Don't lie to me Robby. I know you were."
"You're not mad?"
"No. You wouldn't have gotten much anyway. Most of my cash was in my car. Plus... you saw me and you decided not to. That shows me that you're better than you think."
"I stopped because I saw how hurt you were... I just didn't want to add to it."
"See, you don't give yourself enough credit. You have morals, they're just... dubious?"
Robby laughs, "If that's what you want to say."

The line drifts into a peaceful silence.
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For being there for me. For sacrificing your precious beauty sleep for me." Cal jests, hearing him chuckle.
"I mean clearly I don't really need it." Robby jokes back.
"You really don't."
"Oh Ho Ho, does Calanthe find me hot?"
"Objectively you are very attractive." Robby stops laughing hearing that.

"I'm sorry, did you just call me attractive?"
"Yes? It's an objective fact. Your face is very well ratioed, you have a strong jawline, and well set colorful eyes. All that adds up to being attractive."
"You just called me hot in the nerdiest way possible."
"You're welcome." Cal titters, hearing him laugh again.
"Thanks Cal. You're not so bad yourself."
"I will take it! Last person to call me pretty was my dad, so at this point I will take anything."

"Wait... really?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I think you're really beautiful. Your eyes are so incredibly blue it's like looking at a clear sky."
"That was very artistic... thank you, really. I don't even care if you're just saying it to make me feel better."
"No, no, I mean it! Truly. I mean, yeah I noticed the bruises first, but then you looked directly at me and it was like... it was like everything just stopped. I wasn't even looking at the bruises anymore, just looking at your eyes how the sunlight hit them and made them look almost silver. It was pretty cool."

"Well I think your eyes are pretty cool too. They reminded me of moss on an oak tree or a meadow. Basically very soothing."
"Seems like both of us have calming eyes." Robby chuckles.
"Guess so! I'd take calming eyes over disgusting eyes any day!"
"Same." Robby yawns, trying to move his phone away so Calanthe doesn't hear it.

"We should sleep. Thank you for letting me bug you."
"You're not bugging me. We're friends Calanthe."
"Still. I'll try not to call too late."
"It's fine. Really."
"Okay. Goodnight Robby."
"Goodnight Calanthe, sleep tight."