The Petals Falling

Chapter 4

When I start my journey, it is about 9 o’clock and dark outside. I decided to leave this early because it was better on Aika if I left without her having to see me walk away. I decide to head north. Away from the house and towards the village. The village I used to be so excited to go to. The place that caused my life to be changed so suddenly.I don’t think I am too happy about it anymore.

The journey on foot is much worse than I had thought. The darkness does not let me see more than a foot in front of me. The chill has sunk into my clothing and is reaching my skin.I know that once my journey is farther along, I will have to stop during the night but I want to get into down before sunrise. I want to trade some of my things for more food. I didn’t want to take too much. Maybe I will be able to get a bigger satchel to hold more. I hope I can escape without anyone asking questions about why I am not with Father. That’ll just make things more difficult.

By the time I finally make it into town the sun is just coming up. I am exhausted. I know that I must stop, but where? Once people start to figure out what has happened, I will be shunned and nobody will offer be help.

I see shaded area over at the end of the square and I sit down to rest for a little while. I take out some food but I only eat a little bit of it. I know that I must save some but I also need the energy if I have to continue on.

After a short time I see families coming out and setting up their stands. I also see Sadaaki come out of his home and set up a stand with only jewels and valuables. I wonder where he got that stuff from. He probably stole it.

I see him look over at me and I realize I’ve been staring at him for the past few minutes. He smiles and starts to walk over to me.

“Suki? Is that you?” he asks as he gets closer. I take the hood down off my head and look up at him.

“Yes it is me. How are you today Sadaaki?”

“I am doing very well. But what are you doing out here by yourself? Where is you father?”

“He is at home. I have been shunned away because of what happened yesterday. Please do not let the others know. I must make trades in order to survive on my journey.” I stand up as I finish saying this. He looks confused and alarmed.

“Wait, did they banish you because of me? If so I am terribly sorry and I did not mean any harm at all. And where are you going to go? You won’t need to trade, I can give you whatever you need.” He says very quickly so much that he is out of breath by the time he is finished.

“No it was not because of you. My parents aren’t the loving kind. After my brother died they became very cold. They were looking for a reason to send me away. I just wish they would have waited until my little sister was older.. That way she could understand better why I had to leave. You also do not owe me anything. We have just met and I am not sure where I am going. I just know that I do not have anywhere to stay so I guess I must just continue on and see where it takes me.” I look down at my hands. After a few moments he takes them.

“Please stay with me. Your father’s offer yesterday actually had me thinking. I was going to come get you later today anyway. Of course if you wanted to come. I have enough money to offer you anything you will ever need. We can leave this town and go somewhere else if you would like. Tomorrow even. I insist you stay with me. It is not safe for you by yourself and I honestly need to make my conscience less guilty because no matter what you say, I still believe that this is my fault.”

“Well, are you sure I won’t be a bother?” I look up at him to see his reaction. He just smiles.

“Of course you won’t. Now let’s go sell some stuff. I have left over items I’ve picked up through travels and I do not think I need them anymore. If you like any of them though I would be more than happy to keep them for you.” As he talks we walk over to his table he had set up. He pulls over two chairs and I look over the things in front of us. I see things that I know Aika would really like for her dolls. I wish I could give them to her.

Sadaaki sees that I am upset and places his hand over mine.

“Everything will be alright. You can have any of this that you would like. I even have some things you can go trade for food for later. I have some stuff but I am not quite sure what all you like.” I look over and he had a concerned look on his face. I put on a smile and pull out the items I had to trade.

“I will be perfectly fine with whatever food you have. I am not very picky. Also, you can add these to the pile. I was going to trade them for food and other things I would have needed but I guess I won’t be needing them anymore.”

Sadaaki picks up my mother’s necklace and the bracelet I was given when I was younger.

“Are you sure you want to get rid of all of this? These look very valuable.”

“No, I don’t want them.They will only be reminders of my life at home. Let’s do this. Let’s say that this is the beginning of a new life. I am going to leave my family behind and start over instead of dwelling on the past. How does that sound?”

Sadaaki smiles.

“That sounds like an amazing idea. I would be so pleased to be able to spend this time with you and get to know you better.”

He smiles and turns away as someone comes by to look at our table. It is a woman and her young daughter. They take a look at the jewels that Sadaaki had first put out. The young girl keeps pointing to my mother’s necklace.

“What would you like for the necklace?” The women asks.

“You take it. She really likes it.” The little girl smiles as I say this and she grabs the necklace and ask Sadaaki to help her put it on. He agrees and the mother tries to get me to take some grains for it.

“Please no, you keep it. It is our treat to your daughter. I know it will make her very happy and that is enough payment for me.” I tell her as I take her hand.

“Thank you so much. I will make sure she keeps it safe and doesn’t lose it.” she smiles and the both of them walk to another booth.

“That was very sweet of you. You did not have to do that and yet you gave it away for no price at all. You amaze me.”

“Like I told you, it was a piece of my past. I’m glad it’s gone and it was for a good cause. That little girl will be happy and that will always be enough for me.”

I look over and he is just staring at me. Not in a bad way but in a very calming way. I realize now that I will always be safe with him. I know I have just met him but there is something inside that calms me and make me think that everything will actually be okay even considering the circumstances. Maybe it is fate that I had to leave home. Maybe Sadaaki was supposed to run into me. Maybe I will never find out.

Sadaaki ends up helping the rest of the people who come up to the stand while I sit back and relax. I did not realize how tired I was but just sitting there I had to wake myself up every few minutes. As the day continues, I start looking around and I do not see Father. In the back of my mind I had hoped that I would not see him. I do not want any more backlash than I already have gotten from him so far. I know he would not like seeing me here, especially not with Sadaaki.

But maybe I do want him to see me. Maybe I want to show him that even though he knocked me down, I got back up and I am doing just fine. It has been less than a few hours and they probably do not know that I’m gone but I can at least hope that Aika is alright and that she found my note and didn’t just wake up and get upset that I am not there.

“Are you ready to go?” Sadaaki asks. He had packed everything up and I hadn’t even noticed.

“Oh, yes I am. I’m sorry I didn’t help clean up. You should have told me and I would have helped you.” I get up and put my chair back against the wall where the others are.

“You seemed to peaceful. You were just looking out into the field. You were just lost in thought. It only took me a minute or two anyway.”

“Well next time tell me. I feel bad.” I grab my bag up and follow him back into his house.

“This is the house. You know where my room was. You can sleep in there if you want. I can bring in another mattress and we can both sleep in there or I can sleep in another room. Whatever you are comfortable with.” We go into a side room.

“You can put your stuff in this room. I keep all of my clothing in this dresser over here and we can go and get you one tomorrow. That is if we are staying in this town. Again, whatever you are comfortable with is perfectly fine with me.” He smiles and starts walking out of the room.

“I will start making dinner. You make yourself at home. The bathroom is right through that door”. He points to a wooden door that is over to the right of me. He nods and walks out of the room.

I take a look around the room. The walls are a light orange color. Like a sunset. And the dresser and door are made of a dark wood. There’s a candle over by the window that is heavily used. The wax melted multiple times. The window it sits in front of overlooks a field. It looks like it goes on forever. I had never even seen this side of town. I had always been told to stay on my side. The house and the middle of the town are the only things I have ever known. I know there are other things out there but they seemed like on fantasies.

“Hey dinner is ready. What are you looking at?” Sadaaki says as he walks into the room.

“I want to leave here. Let’s go explore. Show me where you’ve been and we will make new stories and memories. Just us two. What do you say?”

He gives me a big smile before picking me up into his arms. He spins me around a few times before setting me down.

"Yes. I say yes Suki. I'd love nothing more than to spend the rest of my days with you. We can explore and go on our own little adventures. Maybe start a family. I know I'm not the best person to be around sometimes but I really will do whatever it is to take care of you. Whatever you want or need I will give to you no matter what. You want the moon? I get it. Anything Suki. Thank you" he sets me down and places his forehead against mine. We both close our eyes and just listen to each others breaths. The next chapter of my life is something I am greatly looking forward to.