We Stitch These Wounds

“Get in the car, now” the older man said, rage flowing through his mouth as he looked at the sixteen-year old girl that stood in the rain, paralyzed. “Get in the fucking car, goddamn it!”

“But…” She tried to say, but he had already gotten out of the beaten up black Toyota, walked up to her and, forcefully, shoved her inside the car; she tried to fight it, but it was useless. “Where are you taking me?” She asked, a little bit fearfully, but, for most part, she felt rather calm; this was a man she could trust, for sure.

“I don’t know, yet; just away from here. I still can’t believe I had to come here to get to you…” He said, while starting the old engine off; he wasn’t quite sure why he felt like he needed to take the girl away from there, but his instincts were strong and kicking.

“Why me?” She asked, buckling her seatbelt, sincerely afraid of what could happen in that rainy night, with the man driving so fast.

“Because you are the girl I’ve been searching for since last year” he said, his voice trembling as he tried to control his rage. “Because you’re my daughter, Scarlet.”

“My name’s not…” She tried to tell him, but, once again, he interrupted her abruptly.

“From now on, it is. You’re my daughter, I can name you; besides, the girl inside said that you liked the name Scarlet…” He said, angry at first, but calming down as each word left his mouth.

Even though she was still surprised that he had chosen her, she felt happy that he had considered what names she liked to name her; it only meant that, even though he didn’t know her, he considered her, already.

“I do, it’s beautiful; thank you” she said, calmly and voided of emotion in her voice; she had started to lose her emotions, progressively, after all that had happened in her life.

“It’s okay… I just want you to be happy” he stated, speaking truthfully; the woman that managed the orphanage had told him a plotline brief story of Scarlet’s life, and he could be nothing more but sad. It had been partially his father’s fault that she ended up that way.

“Oh.” She said, briefly, a little taken aback from that; afterwards, though, she decided she wanted the exact answer to the question she had, subtly, asked before. “Why did you adopt me?”

He was left speechless at that question; he hadn’t adopted her! He… he was doing what was right. She deserved to know it all, even though he didn’t want to relieve the nightmare again; the nightmare he had long forgotten, it wasn’t for his uncle’s words.

“I… I didn’t adopt you” he started, and, right when she was about to reply, he stopped the car, opening the door and motioning for her to follow him to the edge of the hill they were in; there, he sat down, and she followed. “I was just getting you back, Scarlet; I’m your real father.”

“No, you can’t; my father’s dead” she denied, looking at the stars up above their heads, not wanting to accept what he was saying; he insisted on the same thing, though.

“No… I’m your actual father; I made DNA tests to confirm it.”

“But… you were only thirteen when I was born; and my mom was 35” she said, crossing her arms over her chest as she thought that she had finally proven that he couldn’t be her father; it made no sense, to her.

“I know. I know this seems twisted, but me and your mother… Well, we had sex. I’ve found out you were my daughter last year, and even though you’re a reminder of something I really don’t wanna recall, I have to have you under my guard, it’s the right thing to do, and you deserve to be happy” the man said, looking sideways at the girl, who still showed no emotion; inside, though, she was feeling very troubled.

“It can’t be. My mother wasn’t a pedophile.” She stated, trying to convince herself more than she was trying to convince him.

“That’s true, she wasn’t; she was passed out when it happened” he told her, closing his eyes, trying to erase the memories, but being unable to do it.

“So, you took advantage of an older woman while she was unconscious, and now you’re claiming that you want me to be happy? Seriously?” She asked, this time the emotions breaking free on her face and voice, even if just slightly.

“I didn’t want to do it… But… my father… he was a sick twisted man, Scarlet; he… he made me do the unthinkable, since very earlier times in my life. You see, my mother died when she was giving birth to me; I guess my father always blamed me for that, and he got his revenge throughout eighteen years of my life” he started, leaving the girl speechless. “On that day… he had never made it sexual… but he decided to start on that day. He took me out, to a club, and your mom was playing there; I guess he saw her as a good enough woman to help on his revenge, even if she didn’t know of anything. So, he bought her a drink, and put something on her drink, drugging her. Then, he dragged her to a motel nearby, and made me… sorry for the term, but, he made me fuck her, with no condom on… and… yeah. I guess that was it” he told her, leaving her unable to form coherent words; he was her father because he had been forced to ‘rape’ her mother? That was, indeed, twisted. “I hadn’t heard nothing more from that woman until last year, when my uncle told me she was a dear friend of him; I couldn’t be more shocked, trust me. And I was even more shocked when he said that she had a daughter, and it was probably my daughter, so, I started looking for her, just to make sure if you were, or not, my daughter” he continued, and Scarlet still couldn’t speak; he could’ve probably just ignored it, because, in all honesty, he wasn’t forced to take her guard, yet he had been looking for her for over a year. “And then I found out she was dead, and so was ‘your father’, and I just knew I had to take care of you” he concluded, looking over at her, and subtly putting his hand on her arm. “I’m sorry I took so long to find you, and I’m sorry for everything that you had to go through.”

It wasn’t logical for him to apologize for anything; it hadn’t been his fault. He wasn’t the one who kidnapped her and her sister, raped her sister and killed her; he wasn’t the one who murdered most of her schoolmates, including her best friends; he hadn’t been the one who had crashed against her brothers car, killing both of them, leaving her to see them die while the ambulances didn’t arrive; he hadn’t been the one who gave the girl she loved the cancer that killed her. He was as innocent as Scarlet, in all this, yet he was apologizing; that only showed off the good character he possessed, that she already acknowledged.

“I’m sorry too; I wish none of that had happened. Don’t apologize, though; it wasn’t your fault” she told him, pushing through his arm as she nuzzled under it, hugging him sideways.

“It wasn’t your fault either, you know?” He said, resting his chin upon her head, just like he felt he should.

“Somehow, I think it was; I must’ve done something really awful to this world, to get paid back that way” she stated, ignoring the tears that started to skim down her cheeks, unto her father’s clothes; it still felt unreal to her, but, somehow, she had accepted that fact already.

The man wasn’t able to answer; he still had nothing to come up with to soothe her. Instead, he just pulled his hand up and stroked her hair calmly, hearing her sob quietly; he felt useless, but, what more could a man do? He had just met the girl, his daughter; how was he supposed to know which words would calm her down?

As they both stared into the horizon, even though the night had taken over the sky completely, earlier on; right now, only stars could be seen, since the moon was hiding in its safe spot, scared of what was to come. In fact, around the millionth time the man had pet Scarlet’s hair, the show began; the fireworks started erupting in the sky, exploding in thousands of different colors and shapes.

“Happy new year, Scarlet.”

“Happy new year, CC.”