Jeremy Laszlo - The Choosing

Sara waged a silent war within her mind that first night. Lying still, eyes closed she pretended to sleep. Wishing and praying that Seth would join her on the blanket, yet unsure if it was what she really wanted. She was torn. Once, several years ago, when she was barely a teenager, her mother died. Not knowing where else to go, Sara had stayed where her mom had lived, in the brothel. It was not the nicest place to live, and Sara had many times witnessed John, the owner’s, anger. But for a while John was different. After Sara’s mother was gone he had been very nice to Sara. Making sure she was fed and had clean clothes. That had lasted for some time until Sara had told him of her intentions to find the only relative that her mother had told her about. Sara had an aunt, in a town somewhere to the south, between Stone Haven and the capitol. This brought John once again to anger. He told her then of her mother’s debt to him, for living under his roof, eating his food. Her work, he explained to her, had not been enough to pay off her debt and so it fell to Sara to pay. Sara refused to work for John, if you could really even call it work. It just seemed wrong, seemed dirty. John assured her that she could not leave him, not while in his debt, and he also assured her that someday soon he would be putting her to “work”. This is what made Sara unsure of Seth. She did not know if he was being nice to her because he wanted something from her in return. Or perhaps he was giving her nice things to put her in his debt, though he had assured her she owed him nothing. She cared for Seth already. She knew she did, but was afraid to openly admit it, even to herself, for fear it was a trap. She couldn’t allow herself to be overwhelmed with him, she must make herself wait. Make herself watch him to be sure his intentions were good and that he truly cared for her like he had said. She hoped he shared the same feelings she had for him, though thought it unlikely. He was charming, strong, and even brave. She was a scared, worthless orphan. She didn’t deserve him, but she could hope that by some strange chance of fate that he would turn out to be exactly what she hoped, and would choose her over any other girl. Sara decided then that she couldn’t just wait and watch Seth, looking for some sort of sign. He had already proved he was willing to protect her, he had also proven that he was willing to take care of her, even sacrificing his own comfort to do so. Now she just needed to see how much he cared for her, or if he just wanted something else, something almost all men wanted, something she had yet to give to anyone. Coming to this conclusion, to test Seth, she smiled into the dark, still pretending to sleep. She heard Seth approach, heard him lay down, though not as close as she had secretly hoped. She then felt the blanket she laid upon being lifted and pulled over her to keep her warm. Keeping very still, keeping her eyes closed, she listened to Seth slowly drift off to sleep, all the while wondering what he would dream about. He had not taken her invitation to share the blanket, though now she wasn’t sure if this was a point for him or against him. She contemplated how she might test his feelings for her, and realized it would be very difficult. She too, slowly drifted off to sleep where her dreams would uncontrollably focus on Seth.

The next morning all four companions woke early. Seth had been the first to wake, and he waited patiently, watching Sara sleep, for the rest to wake as well. Garret was up next, and seeing that his brother was also awake, motioned for Seth to join him a slight distance away from the others. Seth rose and walked the short distance to where Garret waited, looking at him questioningly.

“So what’s the deal?” Garret asked.

“The deal with what?” Responded Seth unsure of what his twin wanted.

“Sara.” Garret stated. “Are you two a couple or what? Can I refer to her as my sister yet?” He added jokingly.

“I don’t really know bro.” Seth replied. “I mean, sure I like her, and I think she likes me, but until I’m absolutely sure, I really don’t know what to do or say.”

Garret nodded solemnly, his face bunching up in thought, and then he smiled.

“What is it?” Seth asked already expecting the worst from his brother.

“If you’re not sure how she feels, why don’t you go crawl into that blanket with her and make a man out of yourself.” Garret stated trying to contain a laugh.

“I don’t think that’s what she wants from me.” Seth replied, giving his brother a slug to the shoulder. “At least not yet in any case.” He quickly added winking to his twin.

They walked back to where Ashton and Sara slept, Garret was rubbing his shoulder, and Seth approached the sleeping girl. He knelt down beside her peaceful angelic face, and carefully pushed her hair back from her face with his fingertips. Kneeling closer, he whispered in her ear.

“Wake up beautiful.” Seth said the word as softly as he could manage, half hoping she wouldn’t hear him.

Sara did hear him however and her eyes opened slightly, peering up at him, she smiled. Seth stroked her cheek with the back of his hand, returning her smile.

“Am I still dreaming?” Sara asked him

Seth shook his head smiling still, realizing that if she thought she was still dreaming, then she had dreamed of him. He bent down, slowly, carefully, and pressed his lips against her forehead. Pulling back from the kiss he again whispered to her.

“I’m sorry, but you need to get up, we have a long day ahead of us.” Seth found himself lost in her deep amber eyes, and smiled again.

Sara nodded her understanding to him, and rolled to her back and sat up. She ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to untangle it, and losing the battle, decided again to tie it behind her head with the strap. Seth simply watched her. She moved like liquid, always graceful, always precise. Sara moved as if to stand, and Seth held his hand out to her to assist her. She gladly took it, smiling at him in thanks. He lifted her gingerly from the ground, and watched her as she smoothed out her clothing. As Sara stretched her muscles, and sat again on the nearby root to put her boots on, Seth rolled up the blanket he had given her and returned it to his pack. Ashton was awake now as well, following a playful kick to his ribs from Garret. The four of them broke down their little camp, and sat to eat a quick breakfast before heading out. They decided to ration their food a bit, knowing the trip would take a little longer than originally anticipated. This came as a surprise to Sara, though she knew too well the reason behind the miscalculation. She vowed to herself that today she would keep up.

Gone now were the rocky hills surrounding Stone haven, replaced by gently rolling fields of tall weeds and wild flowers still struggling to bloom in the oncoming chill of fall. bees and other flying insects buzzed around the fields and from time to time a flock of birds would rise up from some undisclosed location in the distance just to float lazily on the wind a while before settling back down in the fields.

Sara did in fact do much better their second day of travel. She tried her best to keep pace with the boys, who only had to slow a little for her today. Also they only stopped a hand full of times to let her rest, each time she assured them she was ready to continue. About mid day, during one of their rest stops, Sara removed her boots and asked Ashton to heal the blisters that formed again on her feet. They were not nearly as bad this day as they had been the previous day. Her boots were finally starting to break in. The end of the day came quickly with all four of them talking and telling stories. Sara spoke the least, not having much to tell, and wanting to learn all she could about Seth. As the sun began to set, they foraged around for a good place to make camp. Sara was the first to notice a small stand of young trees a short way off the trail, and pointing it out, the group changed direction angling towards the trees. It was a small stand of birches, in a rough circle with a decent opening at their heart. In the opening, at the very center there lay a ring of stones encompassing a pile of charred wood and ash, marking this as a place someone else had made camp recently. The rest of the night went much the same as the last, with Seth declining Sara’s silent invitation and instead covering her with the remainder of the blanket.