Kage sat back, pronounced in the metal chair which rocked with the breeze of the cool day. Winter was in the midst of its war raging in the eye of December which cried for aid from amassing warmth soon to arrive. His breath chilled at exhalation as it passed seamlessly to the object which stole his attention. There was an unbridled worry that plagued each micro movement which occurred in the boy's body.
This weather forced the girl to wrap her dyed blonde hair beneath the covering of a knitted cap that eased the temperature from her ears. Lisa swiped her bony fingers over each other attempting to conjure some sense of warmth, a futile effort. Finally, her eyes drifted from their besmirched placement on the concrete pavilion to the face of her nightmares. The scarred tissue surrounded by the glowing red irises which pronounced her waking steps served to line her skin in goosebumps. For nearly five years she had been fearful of her own brother. The memory of that night haunted her attempts to quietly find a way to flee from the figure which demanded her constant focus. Each second that would pass felt as if a bomb was about to explode with the timer growing only shorter as they stayed near one another.
A gust of a particularly harmful wind washed over the pair cooling the heat from their chosen beverages. A green tea freshly made for the lass while the lad quenched his thirst on a standard cup of black coffee. He was not one to take into account his own material desires thus he subsisted off the bare minimum. Lisa assumed that was simply his personality but since his apology, she came to realize that it was an effort to assist her. Each dollar was saved and obtained to be kept hidden in some pocket only to be produced when her school materials must be bought, or a particular event approached. At this moment, Lisa knew that Kage had not taken the black coffee due to its taste, of which it was of rotten motor oil, but because it was the cheapest of the options at this cafe.
The notion to cough up the refuse from the drink decorated the quiver in his throat yet sheer willpower devoured this motion instead producing a satisfied gasp which fogged the morning.
Lisa played with the straw to her tea, twirling it around and around so that a tiny whirlpool sifted within. Since they were children, they had not spoken in such a straightforward manner. Face-to-face, the mask withdrawn from the other so that nothing, but the honest truth remained. When Lisa finally took the chance to see her brother, she did not see the monster. All that stood was a boy aggrieved by a painful recollection with frayed eyes that darted from her own. There was a jitter to his hands that did not end as well as a stutter to his step that paced a tune ever so familiar. While his right lifted the coffee to his lips, the left tangled with a golden cross strapped around his neck, the one gifted by Father Bentley long ago. Catching this image, Lisa translated the quiver of Kage's lip to instead be a prayer.
He prayed for the strength not to run.
Despite their willingness to not hide from the other, there was not a single way to begin their dreaded conversation. Therefore, they stood deadlocked into drinking their beverages for some time. That was until Lisa mustered the courage to speak, "I never knew you kept that." Her finger raised to point at the cross that Kage had been toying with in his daze.
"Ah, yeah. I don't tend to toss gifts away."
"It was a good gift, I kept mine as well." She raised her wrist demonstrating a similar gold rosary with a medallion attached to a similar silver cross. If one were to look closer the medallion beheld the hunched form of Saint Christopher bearing a great weight on his climb. Father Bentley had given them both the icons so that they may never lose faith, so that there was always a pathway to return even in the harrowing of nights "I don't know why I got this one. Personally, you are much more like Saint Christopher than I am. When I had the chance, I didn't bear any weight, I didn't sacrifice anything but went and hid."
Her words echoed across to Kage forcing him to rise from the floor and look into his sister. There was only a source of regret that may take a lifetime to fulfill. Yet even then, he knew not a minute could pass without that regret returning to infect his mind. "No, I don't deserve it either. Instead of facing the truth I built a lie so vastly elaborate I dared not to look past it and see the reality staring me in the face." His hands darted to their palms scratching at them despite there being no damage. At that moment Kage wished he could throw away the gloves and slice open his skin with his nails. However, the fear crept upon him of the mistake which could be made. "Since my birth I've done nothing but harm. I've faulted with every step that could be done and here I am finally to see that. But what is to greet me is my sister's own judgment as I had forgotten the most important of all."
Lisa was unable to speak as she listened to his words. This deep sorrow was unlike the cardboard cutout that she had pictured of her brother. So very strong and so very brave he was. Even in the time of near death, as she heard from the various doctors that operated on him, he would not die. His body refused to succumb to the notion of such a concept pushing through into the otherside. It was the first time in so long that Lisa was given the grace of her brother's weakened self as he lay there on a hospital bed. Here and now was a much different prospect. This was not someone brought to relaxation after giving his all, but a crippled man.
This was the brother who fretted over her every move when they were younger. The same that would sit by the pond's edge and watch as she played. Yet, she still was chilled by the sense of fear that decorated the idea manifested by the claws and dagger sharp teeth which tore through her arm devouring it like a turkey in a Thanksgiving feast.
The sister thought for but a moment that tears may be pronounced just as they had in their meeting at the hospital. However, the time for such indignant behavior was over. "Kage, I don't think you understand, truly, how anyone sees you."
He was warped away from the loathing into this quandary posed at him.
'I know, I'm an accessory. Something that they will acknowledge but never able to stand beside them as an equal. Their kindness only extends so far.'
"I, at least, for a long time have been deathly afraid since you returned. Not because of you being near but the idea you could be gone. When you were taken away, I thought you may have died. I don't remember how long it took for me to recognize that… that this fear has nothing to do with the pain I suffered but rather the potential for more." A sudden flash fell onto Kage's chest as she buried her face into the surface of his coat, striking him by surprise. "Never leave me again. Never do anything like that AGAIN."
Kage's hands were held up above her head too afraid to set them where they belonged. Had he even the right to comfort her after all he had done?
'What could more serve as recompense so that this gnawing emotion evacuates from my heart?'
Before he could adequately contemplate the consequences, Lisa raised her face so that their gazes met in sequence. "We care for you, Kage. Although I can't forgive you now for what you've done, I'm going to try for the rest of my life. But that won't happen unless you stay here. So, never, never do that fucking shit where you run into death like you did, understand?"
His hands fell where they belonged. "Ok."
"Promise me."
"I promise."
Lisa pouted, sticking a finger into her brother's face, one from the prosthetic this time. "You're going to Father's place today!"
Gulping on a wad of spit Kage resorted to a negotiation on the topic, "It's already midday I can go-
"NO! You're not putting it off anymore!"
It took not a second for Kage to come to answer at the behest of his enraged sister. "Fine."
"Good."
The two clung to the other for minutes without a word passing between them. Kage couldn't recount the last time they hung so close to the other, yet Lisa could. It was an autumn evening; Father Bentley had driven her to the facility in which her brother had made his recovery from the horrors of that night. When the priest was signing in at the front desk Lisa snuck away toward the room her brother was being kept in transition. Nearly two years had gone by with them away from each other and at the sight of his now widened back, brimming with strength, Lisa dove to clasp around it. Her brother had returned to her. A brother that turned to see who the vermin that disgraced his form was, showed nothing but restrained violence.
Thus was the final warm touch he experienced.