Posted in Posted by Lois Walfrid Johnson

Hey guys!!!!! Sorry this took so long to get up here!!!!! Life has been rather hectic here!!! Hope you like it!! All Nature Sings and Amutas are going to be posted this weekend (hopefully!) :-D!!!!! Just as a warning to anybody who is reading this chapter first (I don't know why anyone would) IT WILL NOT MAKE ANY SENSE IF YOU DON'T READ THE FIRST TWO CHAPTERS!!! :-D
                                  CHAPTER 3
    I froze. I had practiced what I would do if I saw him. I had
practiced yelling and screaming "You killed my brother." and
"You killed my father" but all the words died in my throat. I
helped him up. His piercing blue eyes were cold, as if the only
reason he wanted to live was to hurt other people, as if he had
a terrible hurt and the only way he felt better was to kill. The
look in his eyes almost made me cry. You may have seen it
before, the look of unspeakable sadness mixed with fiery wrath.
    "What happened?" I looked around to see who had
spoken. I knew it couldn't be me. I looked at Kami and pointed
to myself, asking with my eyes if I had said that. My fears were
confirmed, she nodded. I turned back to him.
    "What do you mean?" I recognized that voice. It flashed
back again. "What are you standing around for? Kill them!"
    I felt the hotness of tears streaming down my face as I
said again. "What happened? Your eyes are so...cold. What hurt
did you go through? I want to help you." Again I looked around.
Did I say that? Did I say I wanted to help the man who had
killed my father and brother?
    The man jumped back as if he had been slapped, a
shocked look on his face, "No one has ever wanted to help me."
He paused for a moment then suddenly, he grabbed my hand,
mumbling, "Come with me."  A smidgen of fear sprung up inside
me. I looked back to see Tom and Mattie start to come after
me. I shook my head and mouthed, "I'll be okay." Mattie had
been very protective of me ever since he had been the one to
find me knocked out and burned at the church. Unlike other
girls, who for some reason, see their brother wanting to take
care of them as their brother treating them as a little kid, I
enjoy it. I enjoy being young, time goes too fast not to.
    Anyway, back to the man, he took me down a few alleys
until we came to the back of a saloon. I wasn't allowed in there
and I started to say so but he pulled my arm and I had to go in.
He took me up some steps to a beautiful apartment.
    "Is this yours?" I asked
    "Yes. Let me see your arms." He answered bluntly
    "A please would be nice and why do you want to see
them?" I said in my teacher voice.(I was a teacher before all the
children left)
    "Please." I giggled at this in spite of the tears still on my
cheeks. It was funny to see a man as big as him saying please
like a begging puppy. Then I suddenly stopped laughing,
realizing how good looking he was. He must have been over six
feet tall with black hair, a true black, blacker than coal. And
those eyes! Even in spite of the sadness and anger they shone
out brighter than liquid sapphires. His shoulders were broad
and he was very muscular.
    "Could I just see your arms?" I held out my arms with my
sleeves pushes up.
    "You are you!" He said with almost a sound of joy.
    "Of course I'm me who did you think I'd be? George
Washington?!" I said starting to get upset at this strange man.
    "You were the one at the church three years ago." He said
this time sounding sorry for what he had done.
    My anger came back in a rush, "Oh do you keep a record
of all the people you have caused pain. Do you memorize the
families you left fatherless. Do you-"
    "STOP!" He said. It wasn't said angrily. More...sorrowfully
"I know what I have done and I regret it every minute of every
day I live. Could you just be quiet and listen? Please?" Then
seeing my mouth go closed, "Thank you." I noticed his eyes no
longer had the anger, but more of the sadness. A sob caught in
my throat. I was so angry at him for causing me pain when it
was evident his was so much greater.
    "My mother, father, two of my brothers and one of my
sisters were killed when I was nine. By Christians."