The seventh story: trauma

Morning of the eighth day, Ash became seven years old.

It's been raining since this morning. Eiji was reading the book on child care because he was bored.

"The neural circuit of seven or eight year old children are developing, so they don't want to do anything that are not interested for them. Hmm…I see…"

Today, Ash isn't fine. He didn't eat breakfast, didn't swing his bat, and he laid on the floor and he was watching TV but he looks uninterested.

(Well…What happened to him? He looks sad and seems down.)

Eiji worried about him.

It stopped raining in the afternoon, and it cleared up.

"Hey Ash, Why don't we play baseball?" Eiji asked Ash.

"No, I hate baseball." He replied.

(Mmm? It's little strange….he enjoyed it yesterday, though. He's already not interested about it anymore.)

"Shall we go to the park? You've just been laying flat since this morning…." Eiji asked him.

But Ash said with dry voice.

"My body hurt…"

Eiji was surprised and said. "Really? Oh, that's a big problem!"

Eiji put his hand to Ash's forehead, but he doesn't have any fever.

"You have no fever…Which part of your body hurts?

「…」

"…"

Ash ignored Eiji and he turned away.

"Is it ok if I'll call a doctor?" Eiji asked him.

"Absolutely, No!"

Ash shouted and refused to call a doctor. Eiji was surprised by his large reaction.

"He might not be sick…He told a lie, didn't he? Why did he say such things? "

Eiji felt it was too hard to see. If Ash feels down, he also feels blue. Then Ash noticed Eiji didn't smile and looked sad. He went near to Eiji and said with small voice.

"I don't play baseball…."

" I know. You don't want to play it, so it's okay."

Eiji knew Ash worried about him.

"It's ok to play soccer or basketball…" Ash said.

"Well? …..All right! Good! Let's play soccer!" Eiji was surprised because of Ash's words and he smiled.

Eiji took Ash to the park and they play soccer together. Ash was in a good mood.

"Hey Ash! Kick the ball stronger!"

"I did!"

The ball that Ash kicked rolled to the different direction of Eiji.

"hehe…Nice ball! I'll get the ball for you …You wait there."

Eiji left and run to get the ball. Then a middle-age fat man who was running to lose his weight looked at Ash and spoke to him.

"Hello. What are you doing here? Where is your dad or mom?" He worried about Ash who looks sad that's why he asked him.

"No…I'm not sure…."

Ash took a pace back and responded.

" Oh..You got lost, didn't you? Come with me. I'll contact the police…"

The man gripped the wrist of Ash.

"Nooooooooooooooooo! Don't touch me! "

Ash refused loudly. The man touched him a bit, though.

"Ash! What's the matter?"

Eiji came back but he was surprised because Ash was crying and shouting hard.

"No…I thought he had lost and I just touched his hand to take him at the police office."

The middle-age man negated and explained to Eiji his situation.

"Don't touch me! Never come here!"

Ash was really nervous and reacted a lot.

"Well…I'm sorry, Mr. He is my nephew. He is just nervous. I understand you just try to help him. I appreciate it."

Eiji apologized to him, and then the man said.

"It's okay. But you should keep your eyes on him."

And he left there.

Ash still keeps crying, Eiji worried about him, but he didn't know how to deal with this problem, then he crouched down at the place. He waited patiently until Ash stops to cry. After Ash stopped crying, Eiji held him gently.

Ash shivered a little bit, but he stopped shivering after.

Eiji remembered his sad case that his father told Eiji in the Cape cod.

When Ash was seven years old, he was treated badly by a baseball coach who is pedophile.

Unfortunately, Ash's father Gim didn't take care of him very well, and his brother, Griffin is in Vietnam, so finally he had shot him by his father's gun.

( I want help Ash who is brokenhearted. )

Eiji heartily wished about it.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Morning of the ninth days, Ash became eight years old.

Ash seems down. He looks terrible. Eiji was worried since this morning. Ash was really nervous and never smiled. Eiji understood that Ash remembered the case that he killed his baseball coach when he was eight years old.

When Eiji was keeping his eyes on Ash carefully, Ash got to a fake gun that made of plastic, and then he gripped and shot it to the ceiling.

He said, "bang! bang! bang!"

And when the news broadcasted the murder case, he kept watching it.

Ash's reaction made Eiji sad and Eiji called him to come closer then held him gently.

Ash didn't resist. He kept sitting and asked to Eiji.

"Eiji, Are you going to leave me alone and go to war ? …Like my brother Griffin."

"No, I won't. I'll stay with you." Eiji replied.

"Really? I don't need to leave this house, huh? I can stay with you, right? "

Ash gazed Eiji to confirm his answer. He looked so uneasy as hell. Eiji was stroking his softy blonde hair and replied.

"Why not? I stay here because I want to stay with you."

Ash said, "Because I did a bad thing….and adults said to me that they were scared of me….I was afraid you will dislike me, too. If you hate me, I'll leave."

Then he lowered his head.

" No way! ….I've never thought such a thing! I'll say as many times as I have to. Well…I'll stay with you…I'll stay with you all the time because we are friends."

Eiji stared to Ash's eyes directly and said while he was touching Ash's shoulders firmly.

Ash seems surprised with his eyes wide open. But he felt relieved, he buried into Eiji's chest and got to sleep quickly.

Eiji held Ash and brought him to the bedroom, put him into bed.

( Dear Lord, Please help Ash… He is really heartbroken) Eiji prayed to god while staring at Ash's sleeping face.

continue