In Isolation

159AG

May these words be the first to find your ears

The world is brighter than the sun now that you're here

Though your eyes will need some time to adjust

To the overwhelming light surrounding us

I'll give you everything I have; I'll teach you everything I know

I promise I'll do better

I will always hold you close; But I will learn to let you go

I promise I'll do better

I will soften every edge; I'll hold the world to its best

And I'll do better

With every heartbeat I have left; I will defend your every breath

And I'll do better

'Сause you are loved, you are loved more than you know

I hereby pledge all of my days to prove it so

Though your heart is far too young to realize

The unimaginable light you hold inside

159AG

"Mommy, What will you name him?" eight-year-old HuiFan asked peering into the bloody tub where her mother held the sleeping baby boy.

"Kang."

"Why?"

"Because I am tired. I am done with legacies and with fancy names. I just want this boy to be healthy, and to survive, longer than me at least," the mother sighed looking down at the mess in the bathtub.

"You're hurt!" Huifan gasped noting now just how much blood had come out with the baby just how pale her mother looked.

"My love, I'm fine. I promise. Will you bring me a towel for Kang? And that length of string on the counter and a pair of scissors from the drawer?"

Huifan ran over to pull the requested items off the counter and the scissors from the drawer. Her mother set about wiping the blood and paste and other gross fluids from the baby's skin. She tied off his umbilical chord about an inch off his belly and cut it, then wiped down her own chest and held the boy to her breast as he instinctively began sucking.

"Mama, I want to get you a healer!" Huifan said.

"No! Remember? No one can know about us. The nursing staff may speak and sell stories about you and me!"

"But Ma! You're dying! I have to do something!"

"I'm not, Love. I have survived hung Jian. You, Jinkun, Jiexue and Xiaoyu just fine. I can survive Kang too!" Her mother said weakly.

"But you weren't as tired after Jiexue and Xiaoyu!" HuiFan argued.

"I was. You were just too young to notice," her mother said faintly, her eyes fluttering closed, before only opening half way again.

"I notice. I know you," Huifan said sadly with her hand on the ceramic bathtub, feeling both her mother and her new baby brother's heartbeats with her seismic sense.

Her mother wiped a hand clean on the towel and put it behind her eldest daughter's neck. "I love you, Huifan. No matter how things may change, never forget who you are." Her mother tilted her head back and fell asleep in the bathtub with the new baby in her arms, and her legs still spread. Huifan took the opportunity to run. She ran as fast as she could. She wrote a note and went to the guard at the gate.