The Promised Land:
(Part 20) Broken Sorrow
Caden’s eyes squinted into the
darkness as he struggled to stay conscious. The pulsing in his head did not
abate for very long and it was stronger when it returned. With his ribs as
bruised as they were, it was getting increasingly difficult to breathe. Even
with the van’s brights on, he couldn’t see very far, aside from the fact that
his vision was going in and out. Finally deciding the safest thing to do was to
pull over, Caden parked the van behind an overturned and battered tank. After
crawling to the bench seat in the back, he rested on his uninjured side and
passed out.
~*~
“I wanted to thank you for saving
me,” Eden said before she ate another spoonful of warm stew.
Shiloh smiled, but shrugged like
it wasn’t that big of a deal.
“Don’t you dare act like it was
nothing, mister,” Eden demanded as she set her empty bowl on the table. “You
almost died saving my life. Caden was ready to finish me off himself if you
had.”
Shiloh gave a look like he was
admittedly agreeing with her.
“Anyway, thank you.” Eden drank
the rest of her water and pointed to the origami crane still sitting on the
table. “He left that for you.”
Setting his empty bowl beside
Eden’s, Shiloh took the bird and unfolded it, reading the note inside. Eden
wondered what it said, but didn’t feel like prying. Partly because it was rude
to pry into another’s personal note, but mostly because she was too full and
tired to do so. After reading the note, he folded it back into its former shape
and sat back with an expression Eden couldn’t place. It looked something like
sorrow mixed with worry and anger. With a sigh, the expression melted away and
Shiloh started looking around for something.
“What do you need?”
Shiloh pointed under his bed. Getting
up from her chair and crouching to look under the bed, Eden found the dark
oblong case Shiloh normally had with him. Apparently, Caden had shoved it under
the bed at some point. Pulling it out and holding it up, Eden asked, “This?”
Shy nodded eagerly with a grin and
held out his hands to take it. Handing it over, Eden watched him unzip the
mysterious case. Lifting the lid, Eden gasped when she was what was inside.
Shiloh pulled out a smooth, worn
violin from the case and set it in his lap. Taking out a thin bow and a block
of oft-used rosin, he ran the block along the bowstrings. As he did so, Eden
noticed the bottom of the case was lined with different colored paper cranes.
“Does he leave one behind every
time he takes off?” Eden asked, staring at the case. Looking from his bow to
Eden then to the cranes, Shiloh nodded and resumed his work.
Remembering what Grace had said
about the many times Caden left, Eden felt bad for Shiloh. “Sorry about that.”
The silver haired youth shrugged
and returned the rosin to its place. Taking the violin, he began plucking the
strings, stopping every now and then to twist pegs at the top. Placing the tuned
violin on his shoulder and raising the bow, Eden jumped with excitement. “You
can actually play that?!”
Bow halted midair, Shiloh blinked
a few times before giving a little nod.
“Pfft, of course he can play,”
Eden thought to herself. “He wouldn’t get it out for no reason or even have it
if he couldn’t play. He must think you’re a total dork.”
“That’s awesome,” Eden smiled.
Shiloh beamed back. Taking the
violin off his shoulder, he offered her the instrument and bow.
“Oh, no, no. I can’t play,” Eden
waved her hands back and forth to reinforce her point. “I can’t really play
anything. I took a semester of piano back in high school, but that’s about it.
Go on, you play something.”
With raised eyebrows in an
expression that told Eden she was missing out, he returned the violin to its
resting place on his shoulder, closed his eyes, and started playing. As the bow
bobbed back and forth along the strings, one clear note followed another until
a melody emerged. Eden didn’t recognize it, but she couldn’t help feeling as if
she had heard it somewhere before. Shiloh played with the skill of one who had
studied an entire lifetime. He also played as if it were the most natural thing
in the world. Emotion rippled off the strings, voicing what he could not: sorrow,
contention, compassion, longing. Eden looked on in spellbound fascination at
the display of skill, dedication, and care. The sweet voice of the violin sang
out through the dimly lit room, filling every cranny with beauty. At one point,
Eden was afraid the song would end, but it picked up again, lingering like
morning dew. When it did end, as many good things do, Eden was again reminded
of the heavy silence.
“That was…” Eden had difficulty
finding the right word to express what she just witnessed. “Magnificent.”
Shiloh didn’t make eye contact,
but she could see a smile sneak its way across his face.
“You play very well,” Eden
continued as the awe started to wear off. “I guess you like music, huh?”
As Shy nodded, some of his silver
bangs fell into his eyes. “That kid really needs a haircut,” Eden thought.
A knock on the open door indicated
another presence. “I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Hope stated as she peered into
the room. “But I heard Shy playing so I thought it was a good time to come
check up on him. Are you feeling better?”
He nodded again and Eden wondered
if he ever felt like a bobble head some days. “Good. I have something for you.”
Hope entered, carrying something in her hands. Crossing the room, she hung a
red cloth on the end of the bed. “That’s for Cay,” she explained as she held
out a rectangular parcel. “And this is for you.”
Shiloh took the offering and
unwrapped the paper holding it together. Eyes widening in a look of surprise
and joy, Shiloh turned to Hope. His flattened left hand touched his smiling
lips before extending to her.
“You’re welcome,” she replied with
a grin. Bending down to give him a hug, Hope said, “Happy Birthday!”
Looking over to see what was in
the parcel, Eden almost didn’t catch that last part. “Wait, what? It’s his
birthday?”
“It was a few weeks ago,
actually,” Hope clarified.
“Oh. Happy belated Birthday,” Eden
said, feeling awkwardly out of place for not knowing about said birthday or
having a gift. Not that either one of those conditions could have been remedied
until this point anyway. Eden leaned over to see what Hope’s gift was. It
appeared to be a stack of papers that Eden realized were filled with musical staffs
and notes. In the back of her mind, Eden wondered how often Shiloh turned to
the violin when he needed an escape from his solitary world, when he needed
someone to listen. She absently watched Hope take the bowls and leave the room.
“Hey, Shiloh… can you teach me
sign language?”
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