The Tutor

Chapter 16: Morning Clarity

Nick stood in the hallway, composing himself, hoping his face looked normal, before sliding his keycard and entering their suite. One look at Sumire's face and he knew that his decision not to tell her about her mother was the right one.

She was still huddled on the bed, her hair in disarray, face blotchy with tears. He was once again stopped dead in his tracks by the sight of his friend crying. It was so alien, just so wrong. She was hugging herself like she was cold, though the suite was very comfortable, her slight form cycling through violent shivers which made the entire bed shake.

Darcie was sitting close to her, though she wasn't touching her. She had draped a blanket around Sumire's shoulders, a blanket which was so large she was nearly buried under it. They both looked up at him and behind him, obviously searching for Christine.

"She was already gone," he explained. "I went down to the desk, but they said she checked out about ten minutes ago. Sorry, Mimi-chan," he added, hoping he sounded sincere.

She shook her head. "It's okay," she said, sniffing and reaching for a tissue. "I was kind of reconsidering telling her while you were gone, anyway."

"What? Why?" he asked, sitting down across from her on the bed. He was careful to sit a measured distance away.

She shrugged as she wiped her nose, a hopeless gesture that at once broke Nick's heart and made him want to kill her parents. "What good will come of it? After all this time, what good will it do? She's happy, he's not doing it to anyone else, why ruin her life?"

"How do you know he's not doing it to anyone else?" Darcie asked, her voice soft.

"I guess I don't, not for sure, but he doesn't have regular contact with any little girls," Sumire said. "As far as I can tell, he had a thing for me, and only me, and only when I was little." The matter of fact way she said this made Nick's skin crawl. He gripped the sheets of the bed very tightly, bunching them up in his fist as he listened. Sumire didn't notice, but his sister did, and put her hand over his, trying to get him to relax.

Sumire took a deep breath, and Nick could almost see her tucking the escaping ends of her personality back into herself. He wanted to reach out to her somehow, to stop her and tell her not to do this, but he didn't know how.

"I'm really sorry, you guys," she continued in a small voice. "I'm so sorry I did this on the very first day of your time together in New York, I really am. If I could just go away somewhere and leave you two to your good time, I would, but I know you'd just worry about me." She flipped the blanket off her shoulders. "So I'll stay, and try not to ruin your time together, okay?"

She looked from Nick to Darcie and back to Nick again, wiping her face on her sleeve. "I want to take a hot bath, and then maybe try to sleep some more if I can." She began to get out of bed.

"Wait," Nick began, reaching out to stop her.

"What?" Sumire looked back at him.

"Don't we need to talk about this some more?"

"What is there to talk about?"

"Well, about what happened to you, about your stepdad, about what should happen now, about whether or not to tell your mom--" Nick stopped, unsure how to continue.

Sumire shook her head. "No. I'm not going to do anything, or tell anyone. You two know, I think that's enough for now. I just really want a bath, okay?"

"Okay," Darcie interjected, putting her hand on her brother's arm. "We'll get out of your hair." She squeezed Nick's arm, signaling him to be quiet.

"Thanks," Sumire said. "Just do whatever you were going to do today without me, okay?" She nodded for emphasis. "I'm not going to be very good company anyway. I just want to hang out here and kind of lie low, you know? Good night, you guys, and again, I'm sorry."