The Lost Ones

Chapter 7

Skye offered to make the fire while Kit prepared something to eat with the scallops he found along the beach. He placed the food on wide leaves they had discovered by the lake and set it by the fire.

"That looks good," Skye said. After trying one, she sighed in satisfaction. "Mm, it tastes even better. See? No one ever said boys couldn't cook."

They laughed.

"Thanks," Kit grinned. Skye was about to grab another one, but she stopped when Kit made the sign of the cross and looked at her. "Do you want to say the prayer?"

Skye paused. "Oh, uh..." she stammered.

"Your parents are Catholic, right? Do you know the prayer they say before meals?" Kit asked amiably.

"I think I remember part of it," she replied with a pensive expression. Hesitantly, she said, "Bless us, O Lord, and these, Thy gifts..."

Kit jumped in when Skye couldn't remember the rest. "...which we are about to receive from Thy bounty. Through Christ, our Lord..."

"...Amen," they ended together.

After a few seconds of silence, they began to eat. Skye glanced over at Kit before looking back at her plate.

"Trust me, I'm as surprised as you," she told him. "I guess after eighteen years of living with your parents, their habits become yours."

Kit nodded his head silently. "Yeah, they do," he replied slowly.

Skye wiped her mouth and placed her plate on the ground. "Hey, Kit. Can I ask you something?"

Nothing good ever came from that question. Kit shifted uneasily. "Look," he started, ready to plead for mercy. "If it's about the hot springs...I'm sorry that I looked at you. I shouldn't have—"

Skye shook her head. "No, it's not that," she told him, which put him at ease. She bluntly added, "And if you're going to apologize, I should apologize as well." Kit would have looked away in humiliation, but he didn't feel the need to. They both ended up laughing away the awkwardness.

Kit realized Skye's smile faded away. "What's wrong?"

She looked troubled now. "When you were bathing, I saw something..." she cautiously began. "...on your back."

Kit stopped breathing for a second. How could I have been so careless! "Oh," he responded. Change the subject. "What do you think we'll find across that lake?"

Skye's voice became cold and brittle. "Kit," she started. "Why are there whip lashes on your back?" When he wouldn't respond, she had no choice but to guess what happened. "Was it...your mom?"

Kit gave her an injured look. "How could you think that?" he snapped, defensively. "She would never hurt me!"

"Are you sure she never hit you whenever you sinned or something? Is that why you're so afraid of sin?"

Trembling with rage, Kit shot up. "No!" he tersely replied. He tried walking away, but Skye blocked him.

"People don't just get random bloody cuts on their back. If she hurt you, I understand why you wouldn't tell anyone because you would lose her and she's all you got, but—"

Kit interrupted. "She didn't do anything to me," he continued to protest. Skye became quiet when she realized he was going to explain himself. After forcing out a deep breath, he said, "A few months after my dad died, my mom remarried."

With a grimace, Skye sourly questioned, "She couldn't even wait a year?"

"We couldn't. My mom said that after my dad committed a sin by taking his own life, he left us that sin and we needed to find a way to absolve it or we'd be condemned to hell. The only way to wash away the sin was for her to marry him."

"Who's him?"

It'd been awhile since Kit said his name. "Father Roman," he struggled to say.

Skye became wide-eyed. "Father—? Your mom married a priest? But I thought priests can't get married."

"He's a former priest." It was hard to read Skye's expression. He couldn't tell if she was heartbroken or furious. Maybe both?

"Is he the one who hurt you?" she asked, forcefully. Kit didn't answer, so she repeated the question louder.

Swallowing hard, Kit yelled, "He didn't do anything I didn't deserve!" He could hear his own voice shaking. But he tried his best to control it, unable to look at Skye in the eye. He turned away, wishing he could go somewhere alone. But no matter where he went, she would always follow him.

Skye shook with rage. "How can you say that?" It sounded as if she was about to cry. "Do you hear yourself, Kit? Because if you did, you'd know how fucking ridiculous you sound!"

"It doesn't matter now! He's gone, so stop yelling at me!" Kit exclaimed, close to tears of anger. When he sobered, he went on. "About a year ago, a neighbor called the police because they suspected he was abusing us. Since then, my mom and I have been going to therapy. That's why I was on the cruise. My therapist suggested it because my shock therapy wasn't working."

"Shock therapy? But that's for...schizophrenic patients."

"What's your point?"

Skye looked unsettled. "I didn't know you hear voices."

"I don't anymore," Kit quickly stated. "But the doctors said I still had symptoms of anxiety and paranoiac schizophrenia. That's when—"

"Delusions, I know. I read a brochure about it." A thoughtful look crept on her face. Almost in a whisper, but loud enough for Kit to hear, she added, "So that's why you wouldn't swim on that cruise."

Kit's face heated up. "So you were watching us! I knew it!" he exclaimed. Alessandro was right. She was looking at us. At me...

"Okay, no need to kill anyone over it," Skye grumbled. "Geez, you delusional patients have such huge egos! Oh, don't give me that look." She crossed her arms. "You looked familiar, that's all."

The two continued to sit there in tense silence. Before Skye could say anything else—and it felt like she was going to—Kit ended the subject.

"We should sleep now," he bitterly said. He waited for Skye to go to her side of the cave before blowing out the fire. When he finally settled, he sighed and stared into the darkness of the cave roof. He turned and slept on his side, placing one hand over his back. If that hot spring could heal my broken ankle, why couldn't it heal this? He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep for days if he tried to figure out the answer.

His eyes were beginning to feel heavy when he heard Skye ask a question he knew he would one day get.

"How can you still believe in God even after a priest does that to you?" she asked.

It didn't take long for Kit to answer. "Because I can't blame God for the wrongdoings of mankind," he replied with conviction. "Good night, Skye."