From the Ashes

35

"'If only those
Sad
Eyes could see all the
Happy
Moments they have left to see.'"

- Atticus

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Sitting outside, Bear softly sang her mother's song, as Eliza sat on her lap with her arms hung around her neck.

'Your voice is my favourite sound,' Reese smiled, resting her chin on Bears stomach,'sing it again, for me.'

'Whatever my lady wishes,' Bear whispered, softly calling on the tunes, her voice carrying through the old room.

On her right arm were fifty six scars, etched into her skin by a knife one night. That's how many of the delinquents, her people, they've lost.

On her left, five scars were done, the initials of each member tattooed onto the knuckles of her fingers.

E.H for Eliza Harvey, her mother.

C.H for Caden Harvey, her father.

E.S for Ember Smith, her sister.

R.J for Reese Johnson, her girlfriend.

N.J for Noah Johnson, her best friend.

It has been a couple of weeks since Mount weather, the sensation of pulling that trigger still indented on her fingertip.

Since then, the girl has begun to loose her stitched up exterior, the threads being pulled, ripped, and torn apart. Her mind was finally allowing her to feel what it has shielded her from for years.

Pain.

Anguish.

Death.

Seemed that, those she cared about most, died off somewhere along the lines of her admitting she could be allowed to feel again.

At least three times a week, Marcus sat with the girl around a fire, far away from everyone else - after Eliza was put to bed.

He'd allow her to talk, cry, scream, and through it all he'd take every crude word thrown his way and every fierce thorn punched into his side.

After all, she was what he had left of his sister, and he was what she had left of her family,

Everyone whispered, but Bear didn't care. The only time her creature arose back up from the depths of her dying flame was when they'd say anything about Jasper.

"At least she isn't anything like Jasper," a girl whispered.

Twirling a knife between her fingers, Bear suddenly turned around and threw it, the metal piercing the wall beside the strangers face.

"Speak about Jasper again," Bear warned,"and I'll gut you."

Mayas death broke him.

Standing up, Bear hugged the girl to her body, shifting her so that she sat on her hip. Eliza tried to hook her legs around her aunties waist.

Pulling a wooden carving of a bear from her back pocket, Bear handed it to Eliza. Her face blank of emotion, but the little girl knew her intentions.

"Thank you, strawbearies."

Nodding, Bear kissed the little girl on the forehead, rocking her gently as she took small steps around the grounds.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Tangerine seated by her mother's side, lighting a small fire for the fragile women.

Making her way around the camp, she walked next to her fence, listening to Eliza name of all the plants and creatures she could make out beyond the field around them.

"Butterfly!" Eliza suddenly called out, as something fluttered in the air around them.

Reaching out her hand, Bear watched as the red admiral landed on her outstretched palm. Bringing it towards the little girl, she nudged the butterfly onto Elizas little palm.

Continuing to walk the perimeter, Bear listened to the soft giggles erupting from the little girl, as the butterfly danced delicately on her skin, it's little legs brushing her fingertips.

'Why do you like my voice so much,' Bear giggled, as Reese snuggled her face into the girls neck.

'It makes me feel like I'm outside,' Reese suddenly answered,'The wild has heard your call, and with it, you bring the wild with you wherever you go.'

Ringing her arms around the girls waist, Bear smiled,'your a hopeless romantic.'

'I try,' Reese giggled.

Bopping little Eliza with every step she took, Bear took a moment to look out at the field beyond. There, in the midst of the greenery, stood a tree with fire for leaves.

The hues of orange, yellow, and red looked stunning amongst the blank canvas that was the green hills rolling with the waves of the wind.

There, is where she had laid them down to rest, a stone placed at its roots with their names etched into it by a blade.

Noah and Reese.

The pain stands as a witness to the loving bond that survives between the dead and the living. It will stick to the girl, like sap dripping down a damaged tree.

With the years to come, it will get easier, as the wound will heal slowly and be clogged up by whatever else makes her smile.

But, whenever the heat of the sun would strike again, she'd never be able to outrun the burn that would cascade down her skin - like runny sap down the tree bark.

It was a pain she had to carry alone, and it was a big one. For it was of two people, their last words running the beating rhythm of her heart.

"Can we go see Reese and Noah today," Eliza smiled, her eyes watching the wings of the butterfly flutter.

From the stories Bear had spun off to the little girl about Reese and Noah, the children of the mountain, Eliza had grown fond of them.

The stories were now, to her, like memories she had lived through with the two. Sometimes, she'd call them her Aunty and uncle.

Bear would watch the girl with soft eyes.

"Yes," Bear said, putting the girl down on the ground,"go get the flowers and the box... and don't dawdle!"

_________________________________
Authors note:

Bear: I don't like kids
Also Bear: I've only had Eliza for a day and a half, but if anything were to happen to her, I'd kill everyone in this room and then myself

P.s this song reminds me of Bear and Reese