A/N
Song this time, Luis Berra - Minor Fable
/
Before Erin could even think of dozing off into any kind of desired rest, it was morning, the sun was shining and her parents were there. Had she called them?
No, it was the nurse, the nurse had said she would call Ada, and Erin could only assume Ada had in turn called her parents.
Everything after Erin's time with Uncas, lying on the cold rock of the triple falls, felt like it was part of a waking dream, barely remembered, but now Erin felt she had no other choice, she had to wake up.
She had seen them walking towards her little encampment of a chair outside Uncas' room, the sight of them shocking some part of her back into motion and reality, and she'd fallen apart in her father's arms. She'd wept and held him, and then hugged her mother tightly, as garbled sentences spilled from both parents' lips, of how they'd been so worried, and thank god she was safe.
Erin noticed just a few steps away, Ada was there too, and the two friends had emotionally embraced, barely holding back their tears. Erin had clung to her friend's body as if it were her last vestige of sanity. Ada had patted her back and said warm, comforting words, words that told her everything was going to be alright now. Erin was here and safe, and everything would be alright.
In that moment there had been no barrage of questions, of where she had been or what had happened, just an understanding that she needed them all, and they gave her the comfort without protest, only exchanging worried glances with each other.
The rest was a blur of hot showers and hotel rooms. Spontaneous shopping trips for much needed new clothing. Police interviews. Half eaten meals and polite small talk. Long silent warm hugs within her mother's arms.
Ada had stayed the first night, sleeping in the same bed as Erin, arms wrapped around her friend, there to soothe nightmares and anxiety. Erin knew she wanted to ask so many questions, her eyes lingered with concern on Erin's bruised face, the bandages, and the discarded 18th century clothing swept into a corner of the room. But Ada seemed to understand Erin needed time, and so she gave it willingly, stroking her hair as Erin finally fell into an exhausted sleep, speaking of all the trivial matters that had been normal daily life while Erin had been gone.
The next day Ada had left with much reluctance, but she had to go back to her own life, her job, and she had left with more hugs and requested promises that when Erin came home, they would talk.
That very next day Uncas had his surgery. They'd all lingered around the hospital, like spectres haunting old hallways, unsure what to really do with themselves as the clock's hands ticked by. They wandered down the road to a very aesthetic coffee shop that specialized in classic books and matcha lattes.
Erin had picked at her tiny slice of purple yam and yuzu cake with a dainty dessert fork, and let her eyes wander over the familiar names of so many titles she knew, glittering from golden embossed letters like a cave full of treasures. Her gaze had finally lighted upon a dark green cloth book, a set of two crossed feathers glinted on its spine like the amulet at the 'Three Sisters' in the hazy sunlight. Erin's heart had jumped and she'd risen too abruptly to her feet, spilling her own latte all over her lap. She'd dabbed calmly at the spill with paper napkins while her own heart hammered and her parents fussed, but Erin's eyes didn't leave that book, as if it would somehow dissolve and dissipate if she didn't keep it in her sights. Once she'd assured them all she was fine and not scalded or wet through, she made a bee line for it and, despite a rather hefty price as a collector's edition, she'd bought 'The Last of the Mohicans' along with a bookmark, and spent the rest of her time in the waiting room frantically reading and rediscovering the tale she had once thought she knew so well.
All went as well as it could have for Uncas. The surgeons had removed the necrosis, repaired the damaged muscles, and neatly stitched him back up. They managed to stabilize him, but the infection had done some damage to other parts of his body, compromised his health, and until they could get him into a state where they could say the infection was beaten, they wanted to keep him in an induced sleep. Then came the waiting game, and days slipped slowly by. Days became weeks.
When things were calmer and the doctors were reassured Uncas was healing well, and his breaths much less laboured, they removed the machine that had been breathing for him, and there was even talk of waking him up. To Erin, it felt like the first hurdle had been cleared, but there were many more in the road ahead, and she would have to be prepared.
That was the evening, after a subdued celebratory meal at a local restaurant, when Erin's mother had asked her what had actually happened out there in the wilderness. They knew a little through her interviews with the police, but Erin hadn't told them the full story, not yet.
Erin had paused, pushing away the glass of wine she'd treated herself to, suddenly no longer feeling thirsty. She wanted to tell them the truth, but she knew the truth was too hard to believe, even though her parents wanted to give her every benefit and kindness. So, she did the only thing that made sense, she made herself the selfish, unthinking daughter she had been to them in the past, the same girl who had picked her love of a controlling man, over them. It hurt her to do it, but she knew she'd be believed, because she had let them down before.
She kept mostly to the story she had woven to the police, of her suddenly wanting to explore the area and 'find' herself again, to go on a spontaneous adventure, after meeting a guy at the re-enactment. She didn't think she'd be gone more than a night, so selfishly she hadn't bothered to tell Ada or anyone where she had gone. That man she had gone off with became the true hero of the tale in her parents' eyes, because in Erin's story he'd been the one to help her, listen to her, and convince her to go home and reunite with her family, to make her see she had to stop hiding away and face not only the past but her future too.
Just as she told the police, they'd been at the falls, where they'd been attacked by some crazy guy with a knife. Uncas had been stabbed protecting her, and both injured and terrified, they had fled into the forest, hiding for many hours and then wandering, becoming lost. They'd been able to tend each other's wounds, but she had lost her phone and they could find no path, only endless woodland. Uncas had become sick, and this had made any progress of finding their way back impossible until they'd had one last burst of adrenaline to try. Limping and nearly spent, they'd somehow made it back to the triple falls, and that's how they got here.
Erin paused upon finishing, rubbing her lips together a moment in anxiety. "I'm sorry," she finally pushed out, "for everything, for being a selfish brat, for always thinking I know best, for what happened the last time I saw you, and how I just ran away again. I'm going to try and do better, if you'll let me?"
"Oh honey, you never, never have to ask us that. We are always here for you, no matter what happens." Erin's mother had cried as she'd held Erin's face in her hands, stroking her cheeks and repeating how skinny she had become, how scary it must have been, how brave they both were out there in the forest.
Erin knew the story wasn't perfect and had many tissue paper covered holes that wouldn't withstand a good poking by people who knew her well, but Erin's parents didn't poke, they only offered understanding. Erin felt a warmth she hadn't felt for a long time, unconditional love, it was so wonderful to feel, so full of possibilities. It gave her the will to hope, even if she felt undeserving of it in that moment.
Erin knew, even with this acceptance, it would take time to heal the rift her past, and her inability to deal with what had been said in anger or despair, had caused, but now she felt ready to own all that had been and all that would come. She knew it would mend with time and effort on her part, and the reward was, Erin had her family back.
The lies and untruths she still had to bear and speak, about the days she was missing, felt like a fair price to pay to now help Uncas.
/
The day finally came. Today, the doctor was going to wake Uncas up, and Erin felt a mixture of fear and excitement at what was to come. When he opened his eyes would he still be afraid? Would she be able to comfort him? How eager would he be to get back home? Could she keep him beside her just a little longer?
She looked up at herself in the motel's grubby mirror, her hair bundled into a mass of sopping red atop her head, her forehead stained, and the outer edges of each fingernail outlined in crimson.
"Honey, I thought you were going to let it grow out?" Erin's mother's slightly judgmental voice came from the bathroom doorway and Erin turned to greet her.
"I know, but I kinda like it red."
"Seems such a shame, you'd just started to grow out your roots. You always suited your dark hair, honey, isn't that right, Clive?" Erin's mother raised her voice, bringing her father forcefully into the conversation.
"It's her hair, she can do what she wants with it." His words sounded from somewhere else in the room but he made no physical appearance.
Erin raised a scolding brow. "I know you didn't like it, but..."
"This guy does?" Erin's mom finished for her, with a crossing of her arms, mother and daughter so very alike in character.
"Mom!" Erin said, as if she were thirteen years old, being told off for her crush on a boy band member.
"Don't go teasing her, Jenine!" Clive said, still trying his best not to get involved.
Jenine rolled her eyes, grinned at Erin, and let out a sigh of light exasperation, which made both women laugh. "I get it, I'm not hip or down with the cool kids, red it is!" She paused. "I just feel like he's the reason you want to keep it red. I mean tell me I'm wrong, or-" She cut herself off and looked down, taking in a deep breath, trying to step carefully around her daughter's complex feelings. "I just want to understand what's running through your head, because it is only hair. If he's any part of what you've been telling us he is, I don't see him as the type to give a flying V about your hair. But I can feel all this nervous, jittery energy coming off you in waves. What is it honey? I feel you're holding something back, and I'm right here if you need to talk."
Erin let out a heavy sigh, turning back to the mirror, knowing her mother was right, but unable to exactly express why. It was only hair, and it shouldn't matter if it was bright red, or stark white, or the darkest raven black, but it did matter, in a way she couldn't fully explain. "He knows me looking this way," Erin offered, rather limply. "It might be less of a shock, if when he wakes up, I look like me," she whispered, avoiding connecting with her mother's gaze in the reflection.
"Honey, I don't think he's going to care how you look, he's going to be happy you are both still alive after that scary attack! Not to mention you both nearly dying of starvation and infection in the forest!" Jenine's look softened. "I think he's going to be glad to see you, and you really are worrying too much." She searched and held her daughter's gaze, a meaningful and reassuring smile on her lips. "He won't care what colour your hair is."
"Thanks mom," Erin said, trying not to sound too emotional.
"I can't believe they haven't caught that thug that attacked you! You'd think he'd stand out like a sore thumb, but who knows, maybe he went underground after the fight, huh?" Jenine gave another low sigh.
"Yeah, I bet he's deep underground, mom," Erin said, unable to stop herself finding a ghastly bit of amusement in that statement. Magua would never hurt anyone again, thanks to one young Georgian woman's bravery, that seemingly never made it into any fictional story books.
Jenine began scooping up various coats and bags. "Anyway, go wash that dye out, I want to go get something to eat before they wake him up. Where did I put my damn wallet..."
Erin looked up into the mirror as her mother's voice faded off into a conversation with her father. She sniffed, her eyes drifting back to her hair, unsure how to admit to herself that she was scared, that without that bright flaming colour, Uncas wouldn't recognize her.
/
They were at the hospital cafeteria eating pumpkin pie in silence, watching the chilly early Fall weather swirling about outside, leaves of red and gold swept into the air. The time had been set to begin waking Uncas, an hour from now, and Erin couldn't help her eyes going to the clock, nor her fingers constantly combing through her freshly dyed hair. Her other fingertips drummed a rather tuneless beat against her already very dogeared copy of 'Last of the Mohicans'. Some of the gold lettering on the spine had been worn away from all the attention.
"Huh!" Her mother's little noise of realizing something amusing drew Erin's eyes back to the table.
"What?"
"It's just funny, his name I mean, like in that book!" Jenine gestured to the novel upon the table. "You loved it as a kid, remember, honey? He was the hero, right?"
"Yeah mom, just like in the book." Erin smiled.
/
A/N
Friday, hi :)
Erin really dodged around all the situations, she's very lucky to have such a supportive network. Uncas is out of the woods, both figuratively and literally, but that doesn't mean all is going to go smoothly, does it? Just what did Erin find in the novel? Let's see what happens next time.