Sabella's Journey

Chapter 8

In less than a week, we'll be in Kansas. It was supposed to be a fresh start for us, unfortunately, it will not be any different from what it was like back home. In fact, it might be a lot worse, a lot harder. But one thing is for certain. It will definitely not be the same, after all....how could it?

Pa is dead, and so is Ava. I don't know what life awaits me and Joseph there, but whatever the outcome may be, we'll have to live with it.

It was noon, the sun blazed heavily down on us, without a single stroke of wind, it felt as if we were boiling in hellfire. We hadn't stopped for a rest since we took off early this morning, but we weren't making any progress either as the animals were too tired to go fast in the heat.

"Joseph?" I called from inside the wagon. I was beginning to feel hungry as my stomach began to grumble, but I ignored the unpleasant feeling and called again.

"Joseph?" There was still no response. Maybe he didn't hear me.

I peeped my head out the front of the wagon and looked at him; he looked tired, but he held his posture as he stared the horse in the right direction along the wagon train.

"Didn't you hear me calling you?" I asked, climbing my way out to sit beside him.

When he finally turned his head to look at me, the only thing that came out of his mouth was, "huh?"

"What is it that has gotten you so distracted?" I asked, studying him.

"I was just wondering...." He turned back his head to stare at the horse.

"Wondering what...?"

He let out a big sigh. "As I said. It's nothing important."

"Fine. Don't tell me...."

"What is it you want, Sabella?"

"Nothing," I said, following with a bigger sigh than his previous one and snuck back into the wagon to read a book.

I gazed out from the back of the wagon, looking out as the sun had begun to set. Colors of purple, pink, orange, and blue painted the sky, while a cool breeze blew by, making the tall bushes and grass dance to its melody.

"Hold!" a strong voice yelled from in front of the wagon train, which snapped me out of my gaze. I turned around as Joseph started slowing down our horse so we wouldn't move.

The same person spoke again, "We're going to rest here for the night!"

I sighed loudly as I got up to climb out of our wagon, making my way to go meet Anna. I heard Joseph from behind me. "Where are you going?" I turned around to look at him; by that time, he had already gotten down and was taking his, or should I say pa's, brown hat off of his head.

"Um...I'm hungry. I was thinking I might ask Anna's parents if they would be willing to spare some food," I told him, raising both of my eyebrows as I was waiting for a response. When he didn't say anything, I continued, "look, Joseph, we hardly have any food left. I know you don't like asking, but...."

"I didn't say anything," he cut me off.

"Alright then. Do you want me to ask them for you too?"

He turned to face my back, making his way inside the wagon, but before he climbed in, "No," was all he muttered.

Anna's family was wonderful to me. We talked and laughed throughout our meal; I hadn't felt this happy in a long time. Since pa had died, I'd been nothing but depressed, even more so when Ava went too.

"Where is your brother?" Anna's mother asked me as she was taking a sip of water from an old steel cup.

"Um...he's tired. But...he might come later," I assured her with a warm smile.

"Well, in that case..." she was cut off by a thunderous sound of hooves that were riding our way.

"Indians!" I heard someone shouting; everyone turned their heads to see where the frightful word had come from.

Men came stampeding towards us, riding horses as swiftly as they could. They all stopped where our wagons were as everyone hurried to see what all the commotion was about.

I turned to look at Anna and quickly got up; Joseph was still in the wagon; he probably fell asleep. I had to get him.

I tugged at his arm, "Joseph?! Joseph! Get up, there are some men here. They're shouting about Indians. Get up and go see what's going on."

He got up swiftly; his tired face quickly came back to normal. He hopped out of the wagon; without even looking at me, he went to see what was going on.

I followed him from behind; everyone was already there, whispering to each other, some in panic, some shouting.

"How far away are they?" Mr. Boone asked the men; there were three of them. One looked as young as fifteen, while the other two looked older, maybe in their thirties, all wearing guns slung to their sides.

"I reckon' about sunrise. But we could be wrong; maybe they won't bother coming after us," the tall one said as he was getting off his horse.

"We don't want any trouble. If you men and the Indians have a quarrel, don't bring it here...."

"Our problem is your problem now, old man," he spat back at Mr. Boone.

He continued, "Besides. You folks need us." he said, looking around at everyone. "We can fight them; we're trained gunfighters....you folks won't stand a chance without us."

Everyone was looking at each other; no one knew what to do. Could we trust these men? Who were they really? Are Indians really coming? So many unanswered questions.

After some long pauses, Mr. Boone finally spoke, "Alright. You can stay. We'll rest for a few hours, and we'll leave before day breaks."

Screams. I jolted up from my sleep from the sound of screams of a woman. I quickly got out of the wagon to see what was going on.

"Everything's gone!" the same distressed sound of the woman yelled.

I tried to keep my eyes open, "What's going on?" I asked Joseph who came up to me; apparently, he had already woken up a while ago.

"Those men....they stole all our valuables..... God damn it!" his hands curled into balls of fists as anger began to fill his eyes.

"But....they said Indians were coming..."

"They lied," he looked at me, cold and dead. " They just wanted to rob us."

I was getting up to comfort my brother, who seemed too stressed out to even think straight.

"It's alright, Joseph..we'll make it somehow...."

"Enough!" he gritted his teeth as if he was holding back. " That's all you ever say. We're not going to make it. Can't you see what's going on? Are you blind?!"

Tears flooded my eyes as I spoke softly, "why are you yelling at me?....is this somehow my fault?" I asked, standing up beside him.

"Bella...i'm sorry -"

"Don't be," I cut him off as I straightened myself up, looked him in the eye, and walked away.

We left a little later than we had previously planned yesterday; we figured we weren't in any real danger. The only danger was those men. They tricked us, and then robbed us blindly of our valuables in the night.

The wagons moved steadily along the grassy plains as I was reading from inside the wagon. Everything was peaceful and relaxing, then all of a sudden, a man who had been riding his horse along the sides of the wagon train shouted, "Indians!" His voice echoed through the line with fright in them.

I dropped my book and scrambled my way from inside the wagon, peering my head out from the back, and there they were, a dozen of them at least, coming towards us swiftly with their horses, all armed with weapons. My eyes widened with fear as I screamed, "Joseph!" I turned to look at him, but he paid me no mind as he began picking up speed, as was everyone else.

My eyes made its way back to them; they were gaining on us. We were going as fast as we could, but it seemed of no use. My mind flooded with thoughts of what would happen when they finally reached us, and it only came to one conclusion.

We were all going to die.