Sabella's Journey

Chapter 15

Night had fallen, and I sat silently in the far corner inside the gloomy hut along with Chaska, who scrunches down opposite on the other end, withered away like a dying rose.

He had been crying for hours ever since his bastard of a father had told him he was no longer his son. He had been aching in pain ever since. I wanted to make it go away, but I don't know what to do or what to say. I don't even know if I should say anything at this point. Every time I tried to talk to him, he would turn away and cover his face with his hands, crying even louder, like a child trying to hide away from the cold, dark world.

His olive-covered face was now pale and stained with dried tear trails, his once radiant eyes now swollen with bags sagging underneath as he sniffed at his red running nose, and quietly he whimpered while he held tightly onto the colorful beaded chain he had worn when I first saw him - the chief's chain. Chaska was broken beyond repair - all because of me. And I don't know how to fix him.

"This was my father's chain." I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Chaska whisper from the corner, finally saying something after hours of being silent, his voice raspy from crying. "He gave it to me when I turned twenty. That was six years ago. He wasn't always like this. He was once full of light. We had a ceremony; I was to become the next chief when I'm married. I would've been married a long time ago to some woman who I would've never truly loved... but on my parent's anniversary four years ago we had a big celebration... whites came into our village... they killed my mother... and many others. Since then my father had become bitter towards outsiders and his own along the way, so we moved until we came here - where no one could find us... He doesn't value me as a son anymore, so I could no longer be chief; that title will go to my eldest cousin." Chaska looked up from the ground, his hands trembling as he gazed into my tear-filled eyes that stare back at his. He bowed his head back down facing the ground, fiddling with his trembling fingers as he continued to speak. "I never loved any woman from my village; none of them were the one... but... when I first saw you... I felt as if a spark had ignited within me. I just knew at that moment. You were the one. I never wanted to hurt you or anyone, Bella." A droplet of tear fell out of Chaska's eyes as his voice cracked within every few words spoken, but he continued. "What I'm trying to say, Bella... is... I want to be with you, Bella."

I gasped in shock as I began to process what I was hearing. Chaska heard me and instantly stopped speaking, his eyes never left the ground. It was as if he were waiting for me to reject him - to tell him that I would never be with someone like him. After all, all he'd truly ever known was rejection, disappointment, and emptiness, that he'd buried deep within.

Without uttering a single word, I got up slowly, making my way towards Chaska, whose head was still bowed facing the ground. A small smile crept up my face as I bent down, sitting mere inches away from Chaska's bowed head. After a few seconds of hesitation, I cupped the side of his cheeks with both of my nervous hands and gently lifted his head up to look at me. His eyes were tightly shut as he tried to hide the tears from escaping. "Chaska?" I whispered. When he didn't answer, I continued. "Please look at me." Slowly, his honey-colored eyes, red and swollen from crying too much fluttered open, gazing into my soul. "I'm going to be honest with you, okay?" He nodded his head as my palms still cupped his cheeks. "It's only been a few weeks at most. I don't know you that much. But what I do know is that you're different. You're kind, caring, and I know that someday you'll make great changes. I-I like you, Chaska," I shuttered. "I'm willing to at least try... what I'm saying is... I want to be with you too, Chaska." His eyes widened in surprise and full of light once more as if all the bad had been washed away and only good and happiness were replaced within seconds. I continued, "Besides, it's not like I got anywhere else to go anytime soon." Chaska arched a brow, and I chuckled.

The weeks that followed after that dreadful day when Chaska was shunned from becoming the next chief were better than I would've thought. He didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, he seemed more relaxed than ever. We've even gotten along pretty well, though we hadn't kissed as yet. I did, however, start to help him instead of sitting around pouting all the time. Everything we did, we did together, well except sleeping together of course.

"Bella?!" I heard Chaska call from outside. He had been out hunting with some of the villagers earlier. Though he'd been shunned, he was still part of the tribe, and his friends, whom he'd grown up with, still remained his friends. His father was the only one who still never spoke to him.

"What is it?" I asked, stepping out of the hut. Chaska stood a few feet away, all bloody from head to toe, a huge grin plastered upon his face as he held onto a dead deer on his shoulder.

He slipped the deer off of his shoulder, throwing it on the ground. "Um... I have dinner," he told me, his eyes full of light, both eyebrows arched, and the childlike grin never leaving his face.