Kiri: Chapter 11

Only two cars were in the small parking lot of the twenty-four hour coffee shop when Ryo pulled up. He could see Kite’s sister sitting inside with her hands in her hair and her elbows propped on the circular table in front of her. The Asian man leaned his forehead against the steering wheel and closed his eyes trying to get his heart to calm down a little. He felt nervous about this meeting, knowing that he was going to learn something that he would probably be much happier not finding out.

His jaw trembled slightly, and he clamped it shut tightening his hands around the narrow wheel until his knuckles were bleached white. Forcing himself to take a deep steadying breath, he straightened and opened the door of his car. As he stepped out into the cold air of the night, he shivered, locked his door, and hurried into the building.

As the bells on the door jingled merrily with his entrance, Ryo saw Skye’s head jerk up. He nodded to her but made his way first to the counter and bought himself a small cup of hazelnut coffee. Making his way over to the woman’s table, he smiled slightly.

“I’m sorry about calling you so late,” he said in way of a greeting. “I just want to help him, and I don’t know how—“

“I don’t know if anyone short of a psychologist can help him right now,” Skye said softly.

Ryo’s head jerked back from his coffee cup. His dark blue eyes were wide with shock at her words, but they narrowed swiftly as he demanded, “How can you say that?!”

Sighing Skye shook her head and rubbed her forehead. “It’s not so cruel as you might think. I’ve been trying to get him to see one since he came to live with me three years ago.”

When she fell silent, Ryo took the time to study her worried countenance. He could hardly believe that this was the same woman who was so exuberant in the classroom. Dark shadows under her eyes along with the deep frown seemed to age her beyond her young years. Her brown hair was disheveled from sleep, and she kept running her hands though it in her anxiety. She had apparently taken only seconds to throw on her clothing as well, the man noted as he spotted her inside out tee-shirt beneath her long jacket.

“Alright,” he said with a deep sigh. Sitting his mug down on the table, he raised his eyes to meet hers clear with his willingness to listen. “I wanted to know. I apologize again for pulling you from your bed. Please, tell me about your dad.”

A few moments passed as Skye seemed to consider where to begin. Finally she nodded and folded her hands onto the table before her.

“First off, the man Kite calls Dad isn’t really his father. When I was about twelve, Mom started a series of affairs. Dad never knew about them until years later, but it’s because of them that Kite was born. I have three older brothers and an older sister, and for thirteen years I was the youngest child in our family.”

Ryo raised an eyebrow in silent curiosity, but Skye seemed to be too lost within her own brooding thoughts to take much notice of her surroundings.

“Dad wasn’t happy when Kite was born,” she said carefully. “It seemed like he knew there was something different about him. He was never close to Kite like he was with the rest of us. I can remember when I was really little when Dad would take us all to the playground and play with us for hours on end, but with Kite, he was really distant and never really took the time to take care of him.

“During high school, I got stuck babysitting Kite a lot, and we got pretty close. It was kind cool having him around. My friends and I used to take him to the pool and the park.” She laughed at the memories. “I actually had a few people tell me my son was simply adorable. It was a good time for us, and I’m so glad that Kite had that time.”

Taking the period of silence to sip some of his coffee, Ryo studied Skye’s face as she mused about that happy period of her life. He felt a warmth blossom in his chest as he allowed himself to imagine a four year old Kite playing with his older sister on a playground with a bunch of other kids.

“Everything changed when I went away to college,” Skye said, and her face darkened with anger and regret. “I never even realized it. I moved to New York to go to school there, and only visited home at the holidays. I was too caught up in my own life—in school, in my friends to see what was going on!”

Ryo reached over and laid a hand gently on her hand. “Skye, calm down,” he murmured as tears started to leak from the corners of her eyes.

She took a deep breath and nodded. “Sorry, it hurts so much that I didn’t open my eyes back then….” She sniffled hard and scrubbed her hand across her eyes. “Dad started drinking after I went to college. I think that was about the time he found out about Mom’s affairs. Mom and Dad were never really affectionate with Kite, but apparently it got bad then. Kite doesn’t talk about it much, but I think they were beginning to abuse him then.”

The young author’s breath caught in his throat and his hands tightened around the white, ceramic mug. In his minds eye he could see what Skye described, and the thought of someone hurting a child infuriated him, but she was still speaking.

“In my senior year, Mom disappeared. She probably ran off with one of her lovers. I haven’t heard from her since. I’m not sure if anyone has. No one speaks of it, but Kite was left alone with Dad. About that time, he got fired from his job for coming in drunk so much or just not coming in at all. It didn’t really effect me. I had earned a scholarship, and I was working at a pretty good job so money from home wasn’t so important, but Dad was frustrated with taking care of a kid he knew wasn’t his.”

Pausing, Skye placed her hands over her face to hide tears of shame.

“That’s when he started raping Kite.”

As the words fell from Skye’s lips, Ryo felt a wave of ice was over and though him. Something in him refused to believe it possible that a man could do that to a child in any case, but for a father to do something so horrible to a child he had raised as his own. His hands began to shake violently, and he set down his mug to keep from breaking it.

Moving his hands into his lap to hide his white knuckled fists, he asked, “How long did he--?”

Sniffling hard, Skye scrubbed her face and ran her hands back into her hair. “Th-three years,” she said in a voice choked with suppressed tears. “I never would have known about it, except I came home on a surprise visit over Thanksgiving holiday. I got there early in the morning. Dad had already gone to work at a construction site that had hired him. I thought Kite would have been at school, but he was sitting in the living room—just sitting there staring at the television screen. The house was filthy, and so was he.

“I-I actually got mad at him for not being in school, and he turned to look up at me and—God, his eyes were so lifeless! It shocked me, but nothing could have devastated me more than what I found when I took him into the bathroom to give him a shower. He had bruises all over him—down his chest and arms, a number on his throat, but the worst were the ones on his thighs and buttocks.”

Skye closed her eyes shaking. She couldn’t continue for a long moment, and Ryo’s mind flickered back to the haunted look in Kite’s eyes when he had found him in the bathroom after the boys had beaten him up. Gritting his teeth, he stayed silent while he waited for the woman to regain her composure.

“I packed his things then; he didn’t have much, and I took him to a hotel and called Mark. He had just graduated from law school and was working at a firm in town. He and I were friends in high school and were still close. I didn’t know who else to turn to. He helped me build a case over the next month, and I took my dad to court for child abuse. I know it was hard on Kite—the trials were short, but he still had to be there with us every step of the way. Dad was convicted, I was given custody, and I moved us as far away from there as I could afford to.”

Skye dropped her hands down onto the table weakly. The expression on her face showed her years of pain over allowing this to happen to her brother. Reaching out, Ryo covered her hand with his. When she looked up, he smiled sympathetically.

“It wasn’t your fault,” he said softly.

“I know.” Her voice was a bare whisper. “I know, but it still hurts me. If I had only noticed it earlier, then I could have spared him some of it….”

Ryo squeezed her gently. “Skye,” he didn’t have to say more than her name, but she smile anyway to appease him. “I’ve got to go. I told them I was going to get some doughnuts. He’s get suspicious if I’m not back soon.”

“Alright,” Skye said with a nod.

“Thank you.”

“Do you think you’ll be able to help him?” She asked and her voice was soft. “I’ve tried—ever since he’s been with me—to help him, to talk to him, but he just smiles. I’ve never seen him cry. He has nightmares, but he won’t tell me about them. He just smiles.”

She swallowed hard.

“I-I came here tonight—I wanted to tell you because…. Kite really likes you Ryo. I think if you wanted, he would open up to you. He would let you help him like he hadn’t let me before. I think he can trust you.” Skye raised her red-rimmed gray eyes. “Ryo, please, help my brother.”

Taking a deep breath, Ryo nodded slowly. “I will do everything I can to help him,” he said in a gentle voice. “I’m sorry I woke you up. Please, forgive me.”

“It’s alright,” Skye said. “Why don’t you go ahead and get the doughnuts? I’ll pay for them. Just let the man know alright?”

“Ah—Are you sure?” Ryo asked uncertainly.

Nodding, Skye waved at him to go ahead. She watched him get the doughnuts from the counter and leave before rising to buy herself a cup of coffee. She heard him drive away and turned smiling slightly. Stepping from the shop into the night, she looked up at the sky and sighed.

“Ryo, thank you….”

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End Chapter 11
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