Bloody Backgrounds and Bloody Perception
Chapter 3
I asked him to move back with me to Ireland. Steve was at first hesitant but soon he agreed. The thought of a twenty-one year old man living with his mother may be unacceptable to some others, but for one who has never before known her or who she was, Steve was grateful. I was all he'd ever wanted but I turned my back to him and a few times a knife or a gun. I turned my back on my son, my sister, and even myself.
I had been numbing the pain all the years of my life. The Novocain is only now wearing off at twenty four. My whole life was wasted pleasing someone who has been long since dead and not around to see my works. Realization first came as I lay on my deathbed, lethargic, awaiting the return of my spirit.
Now, when I look into my cold blue eyes, I see a different set. A set by the name of Steve Fox. My eyes, once cold, now have a softness that I never noticed. I feel a burden released that I never knew weighed on my shoulders. As long as I have known that Steve is my son, I have tried to kill him.
Steve Fox, disgraced by his mother, his aunt none the better, was an experiment in cryogenics. I was an experiment. I was put into cryosleep and my body didn't age for fifteen years. But I never once regretted leaving my child, since I found out, until now. Now, he stands before me a grown man. A professional boxer. I turned my back on the only thing that should have mattered.
He asked me about what I would do, now that I have decided to quit my job. I think he knew that I, myself, wasn't sure yet as to what I would do in the way of work. But on a more personal note, I'd planned to make up with my sister.
It's sad how we have fallen apart and curse each other even though we both know who is to blame. We've lied to ourselves and each other. "Lies take victims, separate them at the seams, cause them to fall apart, then move along to better things." We have spent most of our lives, or about seventeen years of it, fighting a battle neither can win. She knows that she is evenly matched but won't admit it.
"Mother?" Steve had come back into the room. "Why is it so important to you that I go back with you to Ireland?"
"I want to make up for all the hurt that I've caused. And if my sister Anna forgives me as well, I think you should know her too." He smiled at me. I smiled back. Again my son embraced me.
"I'd like that, Mother." I lifted my hand and stroked his blonde hair, thinking to myself, what a handsome boy I have.
"Steve?" He looked up at me. "Have you ever thought of marrying?"
"I have thought of someone, yes, but marrying her, no. I have recently come back from America, where I was hiding from the mafia. I had made my way to Arizona, while in the States, and there is where I met her. Julia Chang." A smile crossed his lips as he spoke her name but soon faded as he continued. "But she didn't seem interested. And when I felt it was safe, I came back here to England."
"So you have not seen her since then?"
He nodded. "It's true. Though I hear that she may be in the next King of Iron Fist Tournament."
"She was in the last one?"
"Yes, I believe she was. But I never really knew her until I met with her in Arizona." He waited a moment in thought before saying, "It was said also that hr mother was once in the tournament?"
"Possibly." I could no longer remember my past other than my father and my son.
"In all my time with hr she had said nothing of her mother."
"I know nothing of her," I said to him. "But there is a way to find out. But we shall do that later. Now, I think we should pack then after we can rest."
"When will we be leaving?"
"We have four days before a plane leaves to take us to Ireland." I smiled and he nodded. His golden hair was brushed back to reveal a set of eyes that were blue and full of hope for his mother's love.