The Hybrid Fateful Sorrow

Our Home

Amid the snowy wilderness resides the secluded life of a father and his two daughters in a small cottage.

Returning from her regular stamina training and nearing into her cottage, a 15-year-old Amelia enters the house. The door creaks as she opens like it is aching from a back pain.

‘It is certainly an old house.’ She thought.

But it is their home, and it is where she grew up, ever since that fateful day five years ago.

Ten-year-old Emily and her family were traveling the road on their caravan. Unexpectedly a ferocious large grizzly bear killed her family. Before her family perished, they hid their daughter Emily in the large barrel. She stayed inside, then the crying stopped, then the growling stopped. Emily stayed until Galiet found the gruesome scene.

“I could hear a hint of whimper?” Galiet said.

Galiet continues to look around the caravan for survivors.

“I can smell you child, and the cloudberries… everything is fine now,” Galiet uttered.

He stands near that barrel once filled with cloudberries.

Poor Emily eventually gets out from the barrel; as she steps out, Galiet catches him as she was about to fall from the numbness in her legs.

“I think my mother — and father is dead,” young Emily uttered.

“Don’t worry about it now, child. I promise you are safe. What is your name?” Galiet said.

“Emily,” she said.

“Well Emily, do you want to meet my daughter Elisabeth?” Galiet said.

Emily’s gazes back at her family’s caravan, a deceased body on the ground that resembles her mother.

“I want,” Emily mumbled.

—

Inside her home, her father quickly greeted her. Galiet smiled at his daughter as he spoke.

“Here’s my strong girl, did you finish up your training?”

“Yes, father I have, I didn’t happen upon any wolves today on my way home though I would wish to try and speak to them just like how you do. Where is Elise?” She said.

“She’s in her room having a nap, also I don’t just speak to them, I command them and it’s something already with me, I’m not sure how but hoping I’ll discover a way to pass it down to you when the time is right.” He responded.

Galiet pulled her to her shoulders and gazed at her eyes, “You are strong, don’t ever forget that.” he said.

Glancing at his father’s eyes, she can glimpse for a few seconds the unknown resentment, or is it guilt, and she cannot comprehend for now.

She nods to his father’s words and hugs him, “As long as you are with me, father.”

“Grab your wooden sword, let’s see how much you have improved,” Galiet said.

Amelia eagerly pulls her wooden sword, reminiscing the first time she wields it. The day of her first training began like it was just yesterday, but it was not just yesterday. It was years that have passed ever since.

She has been training and striving for days, weeks, months, and years like she is being prepared for something dangerous, something she does not truly understand, but one thing has been troubling her; she felt like something is missing, a recollection of a man.

Galiet saw her worrying face; he gave Amelia a decent attack expecting to get her attention.

“Focus Amelia! Stop daydreaming and show me what you got.”

She instinctively managed to block, but it was strong enough to get her concentration back. With that, she thought of surprising her father on how tough she had become, even knowing her father was holding back.

Positioning herself into an attack, she strongly grips her wooden sword with all the workout she had; she swiftly shifted and attacked her father in the side. It was quick enough to hit his father nearly, but he managed to thwart and repel the assault, and a continuation of the attack was delivered to her from above her head.

She managed to step back and evade her father’s front attack without pause; she brought her foot to step, closing into her father’s open body. She instantly went for a counter with another quick attack, and she assumed this is it and would manage to hit him.

With incredible speed, his father shut off and repelled her assault. It was strong enough almost to stagger her grounds and lose her stance. With quick thinking, she strode her foot back before his father could initiate a counter-attack and resuming her fighting stance.

Exhibiting all her hard work from her training only to end up with their fight continuing and ending without Amelia obtaining a clean strike to her father, she was a bit dissatisfied with the outcome of their spar.

“You did outstanding, Amelia, and I wasn’t holding back in this fight we had.” He said while smiling to cheer his daughter on.

Amelia smiled happily, but that smile shifted in seconds when she saw her father suddenly and violently cough.

Coughing in pain, but the only thing in his mind is that he does not prefer his daughter to see this state he is in. He attempts as much as he can to restrain it and only to fail and tumble to his knees, making it worse.

With that, his daughter was reminded that his father’s health is deteriorating. He is weakening day by day, and his skinny body cannot even match his muscular voice.

“Father, are you okay!” Amelia said with her worrying look.

His father looked him in the eye with a bit of embarrassment, he chuckled, but he ended up coughing once more!

“Father!” As the only answer she received was a chuckle and another cough, it did not help to calm her.

“Don’t cry now lady, a proper lady always makes herself look decent in any situation.” He said and gave his daughter a calm smile, “Now, assist me to get up,” he added.

As she assisted his father in getting up and supported him inside their home, she pleaded.

“Please, Can we go to the village and ask for help?” A bit calmer to see his father smile.

She helped her father get inside and assisted him in sitting on the chair, waiting for a response. She stands diligently in front of him.

“I am mistaken, you are not just a strong lady, you have also grown into a lovely young lady,” Galiet said.

He smirked, cherishing this moment while he gave a good look to his daughter Amelia.

“One day, you’ll understand that I’m doing this solely to protect you and Elise,” he continued.

As this circumstance has been occurring a lot recently, Amelia understands how stubborn her father can be. Disheartened by his excuse once again, she remains quiet.

Galiet understood to himself that he cannot just explain to his daughter that the reason for this secluded life was simply because of a witch that he encountered years before while Elise is still an infant wrapped in a worn-out cloth, providing her a slight amount of warmth against the cold brought by the winter wind.

Did he actually meet a witch, or was it all simply in his mind? Even so, the words that the witch left to him are still intact in his mind. He will not dismiss her warning and decide to live and call the cottage his home.

As the sound of the night comes, he is back into the present. He stares at his daughter who is still concerned about his health.

“You did great today, and I am feeling better now. Wake Elise up and get some soup and eat, I will take my rest, and tomorrow we will hunt,” Galiet said

When she heard the word hunt, that changed Amelia’s feeling, and excitement came to her. She walked to get her sister Elise for some dinner and decided to let her father rest.

“There’s rabbit meat!?” Elise’s voice was heard yelling.

Galiet lightly laughed upon hearing her excitement.

“Caught him sneaking nearby, they can’t hide from my nose,” Galiet said in a loud voice.

Galiet prepared himself to rest as he slowly blew the candlelit, engulfing him with darkness.

Amelia watches her father in the dark where he is sitting, and she can only see his father’s gaze; it is a raging red glimmering lights; he blinks, and it turns into the blue like a moonlight before slowly fading into the void. He closes his eyes and rests.

“There are a lot of things I don’t know about my father,” she thought.