Snakes and Splinters [PUBLISHED]

5

"Don't act like you're bored," I said to him. "You suggested this. I wanted to watch something else."

"You did?" Ario grinned at me as if he had no idea what I was talking about and I had to smile.

"You know full well I prefer comedy to a violent action movie," I said.

Manuel looked at the screen as guns were blazing in the movie and he shrugged, sitting down in the sofa next to Diego.

"We've watched this before," he said.

I noticed a scratch on Manuel's chest that looked quite fresh. It must have been caused in the fight earlier this week.

"Are you okay?" I asked him and Paulo and Diego turned their attention to me.

Manuel looked at me in confusion, "Yeah? Why wouldn't I be?"

I pointed to his chest, "That looks painful."

He looked down at himself, "Oh. That was Eli."

"That's nothing," Diego scoffed.

"I know," Ario said, pulling up his own top.

He pointed to a bullet wound in his side, right under his tattoo, "That was Walter when I was sixteen. It was the first time I'd ever been shot and it hurt so bad. I don't even remember much, I lost a lot of blood."

I widened my eyes, feeling a whole lot of mixed emotions. I knew the Santiagos had injuries from the Simpsons, but to hear it from their mouths made it so real. I felt bad even though Walter had suffered similar serious injuries from Ario.

Ario ran his finger along a faint white scar down the middle of his toned stomach, "That one was Phoenix. I'm pretty sure he tried to cut me open. It was after I put Walter in hospital one time."

"Shit," I breathed.

"This one here," Ario pointed to a stab wound near his hip, "Walter again. That time I was seventeen." Then he pointed to more. "Walter. Landon. Eli. Walter. Walter. Phoenix. Walter."

They looked bad. I knew Ario had a lot of scars but being told who had given each one of them to him, made it feel a lot more personal. It was scary. He'd been close to death so many times. Mostly because of Walter.

"Diego, show her the one Phoenix gave you," Ario said to him.

Diego stood up and lifted his top. I had to look closely because he had a lot of hair on his chest, but I noticed a raised mark which ran across it. I rounded my eyes. It was a pretty big wound.

"How many stitches did that need?" I asked in a quiet voice.

"A lot," Diego simply replied. "That one almost killed me. I was in hospital. They had to give me blood."

He pointed to another raised mark, smaller and circular this time. I recognised it as another bullet wound. It was next to his left shoulder.

"This one was Walter," he said. "It hurt like a bitch when Carlos had to dig it out with his fingers."

"Show Coral the scar on your head," Diego nodded to Paulo who was still cleaning his weapons.

Paulo came up to me and sat down on the carpet so I was looking down at his head. He cleared some of his hair away and showed me the back of his head. His scalp was a lot paler than the rest of his body and there was a large scar there that looked like it had been incredibly painful indeed.

"Oh damn," I opened my mouth.

"That was Severn," Paulo said, turning to face me.

My eyebrows shot up. I was speechless.