In the Realm of Ash and Sorrow by Kenneth W. Harmon

Author:Kenneth W. Harmon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Regalo Press
Published: 2023-10-27T17:08:08+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

Micah blinked as the room came into focus. He sat up and yawned. To his left, Kiyomi and Ai slept on the floor. Behind them, white mosquito netting cascaded from the ceiling like water spilling over a crest. He massaged his eyes. How long had he been out? The last thing he remembered, two men wearing fancy robes strolled through the house making a terrible racket. Micah yawned again.

“Ai said you were still here.”

He turned toward the voice. Kiyomi’s spirit sat a few feet away, her legs pulled under her. She wore a pale green kimono with her hair pinned up. Being this close to her made his body tingle with excitement. To have these thoughts about Kiyomi seemed preposterous, but he could no more control his feelings than a bombardier could control the flight of a bomb once it left the airplane.

“I’m not sure why I fall asleep. You wouldn’t think the dead needed rest.”

“We worried the priest drove you away.”

“Those two fellows who were here earlier?”

“They came to—”

“Get rid of me.”

“Hai.”

“I seem to recall Ai mentioning that.” Micah massaged the back of his neck. “You had them here because I scare you?”

“You used to scare me. Not anymore.”

He sensed a door had opened. There was a chance now. A chance for them to draw closer. Micah glanced over at Ai asleep, then back at Kiyomi. “Why was Ai crying earlier?”

“There’s only sorrow in war.”

“The girl at the train station. She was a friend of Ai’s?”

Kiyomi raised her eyes a moment before looking away. “You followed us to the station?”

“I hope you don’t mind. There’s not a lot to do around here.”

“I don’t mind.”

Kiyomi shifted her weight and started to rise off the floor. Sensing she was about to leave, Micah thrust his chin in the direction of the screen and said, “Can we go sit in the garden?”

Kiyomi’s right hand brushed over the floor as if smoothing out a wrinkle. “Hai.”

Micah stood and held out a hand. She ignored the gesture and walked away. He trailed her through the mosquito netting, then passed through the sliding screen that divided the room. Kiyomi wasn’t a woman who could be rushed into anything. This realization left him confused, but his growing excitement pushed the confusion aside. Micah hoped he wouldn’t say anything Kiyomi might find offensive. In the past he told women the wrong things, sharing his mind as if expecting them to fall in line with his hopes and dreams. “You can’t hurry a woman into making a decision,” Levi warned him, “and the ones who can be hurried aren’t the kind you’d bring home for Sunday dinner.”

A peaceful night greeted them, the only sound the chirping of crickets. Stars dappled the dark sky. Kiyomi sat on a large rock near the pond. Micah sat across from her. With the sun gone, the sweltering heat diminished, but the air remained warm and moist. Fish swam near the pond surface, producing quiet splashes. A tickling breeze carried the dank smell of the riverbed and swayed a smiling ghost doll tied to the branches of the willow.

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