Mortal Fire

by C F Dunn

  The long scar had lost its lividity, and the edges of the bruising were beginning to fade.

  “No.”

  “This is healing well; nice job – very impressive stitching, almost a shame when they have to come out.” He admired the fine stitches, turning my arm to catch a better look under the glare of the overhead lamp.

  “Our daughter was attacked.” Dad sounded none too impressed by the young man’s obvious enthusiasm about my injury. The doctor’s tone moderated.

  “Ah, I didn’t know – not good. This as well?” He indicated the cast on my arm, looking only at me for an answer.

  “Yes.”

  “And two of her ribs,” my mother interjected. “I think Emma’s in a lot of pain but she won’t tell me.”

  He stood up straight, pulling at one earlobe as he contemplated his course of action, his hand barely visible beneath thick, brown hair that curled up a little over his collar.

  He checked his watch. “This cast is sopping wet – you’re not supposed to swim the Channel in it – it needs changing. I could send you to the main hospital in Peterborough, or you could let me have a bash at it – your choice.”

  “Whichever, I don’t mind.”

  He came to a decision.

  “Right then, we’d better get on with it – I need the practice anyway. Footie’s on tonight and I want to get home for the kickoff.” He winked at me. “Off you go, I’ll manage without you,” he said, ushering my surprised parents out and beckoning to a nurse at the same time. “So this happened… when? Three, four weeks ago?”

  “No.”

  He waited and I realized that he wanted an answer with more information than that.

  “Two weeks – just over two weeks.”

  “You’re sure? This is healing well – looks nearer four weeks old, and you wouldn’t believe the number of lacerations I’ve seen over the last few years, ’specially on a Saturday night in A and E, though none as clinical as this, I grant you. Just over two weeks; hmm, well, if you say so…”

  For all his cavalier chatter, he was surprisingly gentle as he redressed my arm, and then started to remove the cast Matthew so carefully applied all those dark nights ago. I felt a pang of regret as it fell to the floor, as if he were slipping away from me along with the cast. A stifled sob came out of nowhere, catching me off-guard.

  The young doctor didn’t look up. “Want to tell me about it?” He must have thought I remembered the attack.

  “No.”

  “Can sometimes help to talk,” he encouraged, still focusing on the messy process in front of him, a fixed grimace on his face as he tried to get the gauze under the cast on straight.

  I wiped my eyes on the back of my sleeve. “No, thanks.”

  He made a pretty good job of it, although the new cast felt heavier than the last one, and my arm objected to carrying the additional weight.

  “Two down, one to go,” he said, nodding in the direction of my chest. The nurse started to unbutton my jacket and, instinctively, I drew my arms in front of me to stop her. She looked to the doctor for back-up, and he smiled apologetically.

  “The top has to come off, sorry.”

  Reluctantly, I let my arms drop and she continued. I felt exposed under the harsh light as he interrogated my body, and I kept my eyes fixed on the shadows of people moving across the floor, just visible in the crack at the bottom of the door where light peered under. He became suddenly businesslike and professional as he unwound the strapping and probed my ribs. I caught my breath and craned my head to look. “That sore?”

  “Yes.”

  I tried not to react but, from what I could see, at least the intense bruising from my collision with the edge of the shelves in the porters’ lodge was definitely fading and, although my ribs ached, I could tell they were on the mend.

  “They’re OK – just need strapping again.”

  He completed the task and thanked the nurse and she left. The doctor stood with one hand on his hip.

  “Like to tell me how you got those?” he said, looking at the small, regular-shaped bruises across my breastbone and around my neck. “And don’t tell me they were done at the same time as the rest of the damage – these are more recent.”

  “They don’t bother me.”

  “That wasn’t what I asked; has someone been hurting you?”

  I laughed hoarsely, the irony not lost on me. “Not in the way you think; this is entirely self-inflicted.”

  He lifted an eyebrow, obviously not happy with my reply. I dragged my soft jacket back on and, although my hands were more free, my stiff fingers struggled to do up the buttons again. He leaned forwards to help.

  “So, there’s nothing more you want to say; I can’t contact anyone for you?”

  His brown-green eyes were kind and concerned; he had a sweet face.

  “No – thanks.”

  “OK, you’ve got your reasons, no doubt, but if you were a dog, I’d be calling the RSPCA right now. You’re all done. I’ll fetch your parents, but remember, I don’t want to see you in here again in your emaciated state. Drink plenty, eat lots and I won’t report you.”

  He chucked the remains of my old cast in the pedal-bin, the lid clanging shut long before I took my eyes off it.

  “Report me? For what?” I asked dully.

  “Oh, I don’t know, causing unnecessary suffering to the NHS budget, or some such; doctors like me don’t come cheap, you know.”

  No, I knew that.

  He left the room, taking my notes with him, and took longer than I expected to return. Minutes later, when I joined my parents in the seating area, the expressions on their faces were ambiguous. He must have said something. I sighed internally, dreading what conclusions they might have drawn between them and deciding I needed to make a bigger effort to appear more normal to prevent a repeat of the earlier farce. When we reached the reception area I did something I had longed to do for the last month or so.

  My grandmother resided in a side ward in a part of the hospital to which I had never been. Single-storey and purpose-built, its windows overlooked a paved courtyard with raised stone beds filled with semi-naked plants waiting for spring, now shivering under the overcast sky. Although made as pleasant as possible, even the brightly coloured curtains and cheerful prints that decorated the windows and walls of the assessment unit could not disguise the sense of imminent death that accompanied the living corpses inhabiting the beds.

  Mum went over to talk to the nurses, and I was left to gaze at my grandmother from where I stood. Better than expected, she looked well, her face full and her skin still softly coloured, not sallow and drawn. She lay with her eyes closed. I went over to her and tentatively reached out to touch her hand as it rested on the peach-coloured cotton cover, to find it warm.

  “Nanna?”

  She did not respond. I pulled the high-backed chair close to her bed. The card I sent from Maine weeks ago sat on the bedside cabinet along with the regulated clutter of my family’s gifts, a few personal items and a photo of my grandfather in its over-polished frame.

  “How are you, Nanna?” I asked softly. “I’m so sorry I haven’t been to see you; I’ve been away but… but I’m back now.”

  Her breathing came as a rhythmic pattern of in and out. I held her small hand between my newly liberated fingers, stiffly stroking them in time to her breaths.

  “I’ve been working. I went to America, do you remember? I went to where the journal came from – as I said I would – and I’ve found it, Nanna; I’ve found Grandpa’s journal.”

  Perhaps I hoped that she could hear me or would somehow respond. I laid my head on the bed, the movement of her chest so slight that it barely lifted the bedclothes. I watched as it rose and fell.

  “I haven’t read it yet, but I will; we’ve waited so long, haven’t we? Will you wait a little longer – until I’ve read it – then you can tell Grandpa for me, because he’ll want to know, won’t he? He’ll want to know all about it, like the last chapter of
a book.” Her breathing halted for a second, and I lifted my head to look at her anxiously, but she seemed peaceful and the pattern of her breaths returned to their slow, shallow beat. I laid my head down on my arm by her hand and closed my eyes.

  “I met someone when I was out there. I think you would like him – he reminded me of Grandpa; his hair is the exact same colour – the colour of ripe corn.” I smiled to myself despite the bitter, wretched ache somewhere in the middle of my chest.

  “But I left him there, I had to. He’s different… I can’t explain it, there’s so much about him that I don’t understand and, until I do – until I’ve worked it out – I can’t be with him, I can’t go back…”

  A soundless tear heralded an unlooked-for stream and I let them flow, glad that Nanna remained unaware of my sorrow.

  “Sorry, Nanna,” I managed after a few minutes, the top layers of bandage on my wrist already soaked. “That wasn’t supposed to happen. You’re stuck in here and I’m blubbing all over the place; what would Grandpa make of the pair of us?”

  The faintest touch on the crown of my head startled me and I lifted my face. My grandmother’s eyes were open, their faded blue alert. The corner of one side of her mouth lifted in a weak but discernible smile.

  “Nanna? Nanna! You can hear me? Oh – you heard me,” I said as I realized that she might have heard my ramblings. “I’m sorry,” I said again. “I didn’t mean you to hear all of that. I’ll get Mum for you.” I turned my head and saw that my mother still talked to one of the nurses. I felt a slight touch against my fingers and I looked down. My grandmother had moved her hand towards mine.

  “What is it? Don’t you want me to get her?”

  Her fingers lifted and tapped against mine again, a slight question in her eyes.

  “Oh this – it’s nothing; I had an accident, that’s all.”

  I looked away from her, hating lying. She tapped again, a persistent glare in her eyes. “All right, I was attacked, but I’m fine now; I had someone to look after me.”

  I couldn’t hide the shake in my voice. Nanna made a guttural sound in her throat made of frustration that she could not speak.

  “I bet if Matthew were here he could help you – he’s like that – full of surprises.”

  Raw pain twisted inside me, but it was worth it just to be able to speak his name. Her fingers fluttered again, accompanied by the smile, and I smiled back. I heard a noise behind me.

  “Hello, Mummy, you’re looking much better,” my mother said over my shoulder.

  “You didn’t tell me Nanna’s awake, Mum!”

  “I did tell you she is much better, but you weren’t listening, darling.”

  She leaned over from the other side of the bed and kissed her mother tenderly on her forehead. Nanna smiled her half-smile in response, then swivelled her eyes to look at me, then back to her daughter again, questioning.

  “Emma’s fine; nothing time won’t heal.” She looked at me. “Darling, I need to talk to Nanna for a minute…”

  I nodded and kissed my grandmother’s warm, soft cheek. “Thank you,” I whispered in her ear; “I will come and see you again soon.” She grunted in her throat, her blue eyes watching my face.

  That evening, I sat in the dining-room and ate for the first time in days. It felt cold by the great floor-to-ceiling windows that let in a steady stream of air through the insubstantial frames, and I remembered that I needed layers of jumpers to survive the raw winter here. I moved around to the other side of the table, closer to the electric fire that did its best to make inroads on the chill. Dad pushed the kitchen door open with his foot, carrying several plates and bringing with him a waft of cooking-scented air. He laid a plate of hot food in front of me, spirals of steam rising.

  “Your mother said not to wait and tuck in while it’s hot. It’ll do you good – put some colour in your cheeks,” he said in an attempt at being positive. I regarded the food with a singular lack of enthusiasm. “Come along now,” he chivvied; “step to it. Chop, chop. Remember what the doctor said. We don’t want you ending up in hospital now, do we? And it’ll take a load off your mother’s mind,” he added, as the door began to open and she came in.

  The increased mobility of my hands made eating much easier, although my right arm ached with the effort and my left hand could barely grasp a fork. My parents said nothing but the questions were not far away. I sensed they waited for me to eat something before they started. I was right.

  “What a very pleasant young doctor you saw today,” my mother ventured. I put my fork down and waited. Dad had almost finished his food and he eyed my near-full plate.

  “Eat up, Emma; don’t let it go to waste.”

  Mum shot him a glance and he shut up; she continued.

  “He said that you’re healing very well and your stitches can come out in a week’s time; that’s good, isn’t it?”

  I loathed being humoured.

  “The thing is, darling, he is a little concerned…”

  Here it comes, I thought.

  “He mentioned that you have some bruises that weren’t caused by… well, by the attack, and that you said that they were self-inflicted. He thinks that you might benefit from a little help.”

  My dearest mother – always trying to be diplomatic – but she might as well have just come straight out with it and said: “The doctor thinks you’re off your rocker, darling, and he thinks you should be committed.”

  I had to laugh. Dad looked shocked.

  “It’s not a laughing matter, Emma. What your mother is trying to say…”

  “I know what’s being implied, Dad,” I cut in, “but they weren’t self-inflicted, not in the way he means, so I don’t need any help – of any kind.”

  I pushed my plate away from the edge of the table, ready to rise, the silver fork sliding to one side, the remnants of my fragile hunger gone.

  Dad frowned at the food on my plate. “And that’s another thing – you’re not eating; it can be a sign of emotional difficulties. It’s nothing to be ashamed of; it can happen to anyone.”

  I stared at him and then at Mum in disbelief.

  “I don’t need any help because there’s nothing emotionally wrong with me. I’ve told you, I need time to get my head straight about… things… but I don’t need anyone to do it for me. I just want to be left alone to get on with it.”

  I pushed my chair back, the legs scraping painfully across the stone floor as they left the quietening pile of the rug. I picked up my plate to take it through to the scullery.

  “So if you didn’t make those bruises, darling, who did?”

  The subtle approach, direct but always when I’d dropped my guard; Mum knew me well. She saw me falter and stood up, taking the plate from me and putting her arm around my shoulders. I looked straight into the depths of her eyes, inflicting as much sincerity as I could pile into a few words.

  “Nobody has hurt me, Mum.” I ducked out from under her arm, reclaiming the plate, and into the steamy kitchen scullery. I washed my plate under a stream of hot water, the steam condensing almost immediately on the uneven stone walls. There were sounds of subdued whispers, then the door opened behind me and the heavier tread of my father’s footsteps, but I didn’t turn around.

  “Emma, did that man do this to you?”

  For a moment I didn’t know to whom he referred, then anger flashed through me, blood rushing to my face.

  “Matthew has never hurt me. How can you accuse him, after all he’s done?”

  Disgusted, I flung down the tea-towel I had just picked up to dry my plate; it missed the draining-board and sank below the bubbles left in the washing-up bowl. I went to push past my parents as they stood blocking the doorway.

  “Don’t be angry, darling, but you did leave the States in a hurry – what else were we to think? That broken table in your room… and you had been out with him all day; I mean, what else…”

  “Not that, Mum.”

  Guilt twisted my voice. I was angry all
right – angry at them for even suggesting that Matthew would have purposefully hurt me – but furious with myself for all the doubt and fear I put them through – and tormented by what Matthew himself might be feeling right now. They let me pass and I slammed out of the kitchen, through the panelled sitting-room and up the stairs. In the fading light, the watchful eyes of my ancestors followed me, the only points of light in portraits blackened with age.

  I reached the sanctuary of my room. I seemed to make a habit of wrecking people’s lives. Guy had deserved it and I felt little guilt in that respect. But my parents? If I were in their place and I saw my child behave in the way I acted, and witnessed the damage I bore, would I not also have come to the conclusion they had logically reached? And Matthew? I turned and buried my face in my pillow.

  Matthew – what have I done to you? Would you ever believe me if I said that I loved you beyond boundaries, and that the only limits to that love were those defined within the mess in my head?

  I made certain to be seen eating and drinking regularly, and my parents watched me, never leaving me in the house alone. Despite the size of the building, I felt confined and couldn’t clear my head enough to think. Flashes of thoughts and images lingered on the edge of dreams I wasn’t sure I had, words and faces tugging at my memory but always just out of reach.

  I woke early several mornings later and lay under the thick duvet listening as the first birds began to stretch their voices; but the world sounded remote. Climbing out of bed, I drew the curtains to one side, letting in the feeble dawn. A dense fog shrouded the windows. I washed and pulled on my clothes, and found my quilted coat that I hadn’t worn since the fight with the bear. From under my bed I dragged the bag that had lain there since my return home. Through the soft wool of his scarf, the hard edges of the two books made their presence known, but I dared not look at them, placing them instead on my little desk and, doubling the long scarf around my neck, I went quietly downstairs.

  My parents still slept as I let myself out of the house and made my way past the Town Hall, crossing the road to the Norman arch where the entrance to the ancient passage made a black mouth in the golden stone. I entered it as I had always done as a child – with a sense of crossing a threshold into the past.