The Water Alchemist

Things Left Unsaid

A flash of lightning shot across the sky, followed closely by a clap of thunder that made me jump. I shivered, realizing how cold I was as he made his way back over to the unearthed grave in a trance-like state. He stared blankly into it.

"Ed, I think it's time we head back," Pinako said gently. He shook his head.

"I need absolute proof," he said, dismissing the thought.

He inhaled sharply and suddenly ran back to the tree, though all that was left in his stomach was acid and air. It was agonizing, watching him go on like that. He dry heaved as I stared into the dirt. I noticed that Pinako had brought and worked with a small trowel, so I took it and shuffled into the divot in the ground. I began excavating the site, tossing tiny bits of dirt from the grave, carefully carving around the limbs. Pinako watched in a sort of horror, but she didn't dare say anything. Ed, however, did.

"Marina, stop," he said as he reapproached, still clutching his stomach. It was no doubt tearing itself apart from the inside with nothing left to be expelled— a perfect metaphor for what Ed was doing to himself with this whole horrid task. I continued digging. "Marina!"

"I said I was going to help," I said through grunts as I unearthed a bone.

It was long and windy, and I brushed the dirt away from it with my fingers before lifting it out of the hole and handing it to Pinako, whose expression hardened. Being a surgeon, she had probably handled her fair share of body parts, but this wasn't something you could easily remove yourself from. I was amazed she had it in her to bury it on her own all those years ago. Ed staggered into the hole with me, placing his hands over mine to impede my work. I didn't look up to him. I knew I'd stop if I did.

"This is too much," he said shakily. "At this rate, you'll see everything—"

"Yes. I'll see it. But I've already seen it. I saw it before I knew you, Ed," I said, finally meeting his sorrowful gaze. He looked so guilty, so ashamed of what he had done. "But it doesn't change the fact that I'm here for you. It doesn't change how I feel about you. You don't have to protect me from this."

His hands slid from mine and rested in the dirt. He nodded weakly, and I tried to smile, but it was meager at best. I handed him the trowel, and we dug together, me with my hands and him with the trowel. When we uncovered a bone, I'd hand it over to Pinako, who had begun to arrange them as best she could. We managed to dig the rest of the remains up in about an hour. The rain had let up a bit, helping our endeavor. I carefully laid out the last of the misshapen bones of the creature they had transmuted, and as I did, it seemed like I was putting in the last piece of a puzzle— except, someone had mixed in the pieces to multiple different puzzles, no part seeming to match the others. Pinako began measuring and inspecting the remains.

"This femur— it's much too long," she noted, as he marked the length on her tape measure with a steady finger. She shuffled in her crouch to inspect the next part, stuffing the tape in her apron pocket. "And this pelvis? Pretty sure it's male."

"It is?" Ed asked, his voice a whisper. She shook her head, placing the bone back to the earth.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid this isn't your mother, Ed," she announced.

Irrefutable proof. He looked as if the wind had been knocked from him, just before he fell to his knees, then his hands. His shoulders began to stir as he broke out in a laugh, an unsettling act. The laugh grew stronger, more incredulous, and scarily frenetic as his head shot up and he stared directly up at the cloudy sky. His unhinged laughter quieted as rain cascaded down his face like tears.

"That's it. It really is impossible to bring the dead back to life. The undeniable truth," he murmured. His head fell heavily into his hands as the reality set in, a few more chortles rocking his shoulders. "It was impossible all along."