An Ember Bright

Chapter 2d

Official trigger warning for this chapter. It's not a scene of rape, but it insinuates it. I'm not saying everyone reacts this way or deals with it in the same way. I am in no way glorifying rape or anything like that.

Lia closes the door behind them. She slides to the ground, resting on the small step preceding the entrance. I lower myself next to her. "How are you, Lia? Really."

She shakes her head solemnly, her sight set on the late sky. "I don't know if I'm fit for them," she says quietly. The sunset's colors reflect in her eyes, identical to her sons'.

"Don't say that." I place a hand on her arm. "You just need more time to cope, to heal."

"Time?" Lia gives a harsh laugh that turns into a choked sob. "I've had time, Lynn, and I'm running out. It's been nearly six years. Six years, and I'm still trying. I'm still struggling." She drops her head into her hands and says, so soft I have to lean in to hear, "I'm still afraid."

"It will get better, Lia, I promise. I can't say when, but it won't always be like this." I pause, hesitant to bring him up. "You haven't seen him lately, have you?"

Another shake of her head. "No, a friend working with me at the tavern overheard from a table of guards that he'd been relocated to another city. He's still in Rioda, but at least he's farther from here. She told me I was being silly. That it was a one-night mistake and I shouldn't be scared or embarrassed to see him again just because the feeling wasn't mutual. She's not the only one who says that, though. But I guess that's what happens when you tell everyone you became pregnant because of a foolish, drunken night where you weren't thinking straight." She lowers her voice. "That's what happens when you don't tell the truth."

Lia raises her head and studied the neighboring run-down shacks identical to her own. After a moment of silence, she says, "I didn't always live in a place like this, you know. My old home was on the other side of the city, with my siblings and parents. They were merchants, and successful ones, too. I remember as a child I would wander the back of their shop, running my hands along silks and playing with beads. Mother would always find me draped in colorful fabrics and chains of pearls looped around my neck, pretending I was a princess. Instead of punishing me or becoming angry for risking the expensive materials, she would play along."

I stay silent. It's not the first time Lia speaks about her past, but it always brings some life into her eyes as she recalls her happier days.

"Father would always find time for each and every one of my siblings and I, which was pretty impressive since there were quite a few of us," she says with a small laugh. "He would fashion kites out of spare fabric and run faster than us as he tried to get them into the air. He was always smiling, even when he came home from a hard day. Him and Mother, they never failed to remind us of how much they loved us and how they would do anything to make us happy. I never doubted them, never doubted how far they would go to support us and keep us safe. Until that day."

I watch Lia carefully. She's never gone into depth about what exactly happened the night she left home; only saying that once she found out she was pregnant a few weeks later, she left and never went back.

A beat passes. Two. Then, "I came home that night. I didn't tell anyone what had happened. I returned well after curfew, soaking wet and my clothes were torn. I barely have any memories from the rest of the night. All I remember is walking home from the shops after Mother asked me to stay behind and lock up since she wasn't feeling well. It was a half-hour to curfew, and I wasn't old enough to have a pass to be out after dark, so I wasn't paying attention to those around me as I hurried home. I was maybe ten minutes away when a guard stopped me and asked what I was doing out so close to sunset, and I quickly told him why. I said I was still a bit far and needed to be on my way. He just nodded and smiled and stepped aside."