Rivals | Teen Ink

Rivals

December 16, 2009
By Jon-Paul Oliver BRONZE, Scottsville, Kentucky
Jon-Paul Oliver BRONZE, Scottsville, Kentucky
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

“Aiden, I’m sorry but…it seems your parents…are dead.”
“What?! What are you talking about?” Aiden asked. He sat there in silence with a horrified look on his face. His parents couldn’t be dead. They were the only family he had.
“Yes Aiden, they’re dead. We found them this morning. They were shot, execution style. Do you know of anyone who wanted your parents dead?”
Aiden couldn’t think straight. He didn’t see why anyone would want his parents dead. His father had been the head of his tribe until he married Aiden’s mother. His father was from the Wolf Tribe, a strong tribe located in the forest. His mother on the other hand, was from the Hawk Tribe. Marrying outside of your tribe was forbidden to the Wolf Tribe, so they had kicked his father out.
“Aiden?” The officer asked. “Do you know of anyone?”
“No sir.” He replied.
“You do know you’ll have to find someone else to take care of you.”
“Yes sir.” He answered nervously.
“Well, you’re lucky. We found your grandparents. They’d be happy to take you in.”
“Okay…” Aiden answered.
Aiden had never met his grandparents before. He had always figured they were dead. He stood on their front porch, afraid to ring their doorbell. He was about to ring it when a small woman opened the door. She was petite, about five foot two. She had dark caramel colored skin, with long ebony hair. She looked like any other native woman except for her eyes. She had large almond shaped eyes that were gold colored, resembling a wolf. She gazed at Aiden intently, until she finally pulled him into a hug.
“Aiden, it’s been so long…” She said.
“Yeah, I guess.” He replied confused.
“Oh, I’m sorry honey, you must not remember me. I’m your grandmother, Layla.”
“Oh yeah, hi.” He replied.
“I’m so sorry about your parents. It broke my heart when I heard. I know it may not have seemed like it, but we loved your father. I know he was kicked out of the tribe, but he was our son.” She mourned.
Aiden wasn’t paying any attention to her. His eyes were scanning the walls looking at all the paintings and drawings of wolves. He knew these were his father’s parents.
“So this is him?” He heard a low male voice ask.
“Yes, this is your grandson. Come and meet him.” Layla commanded.
A large man came to the door. He was tall, about 6’3”. His skin was the same color as Layla’s, but his hair was lighter, a dark brown. He looked strong and intimidating. The characteristic they both seemed to share was their eyes. They were both gold, almond shaped, and slightly narrowed. They looked like they could cut you with a single glance.
“Well, let the boy in.” He said in a husky tone.
Aiden stepped inside. It was warm and inviting, reminding him of his own home.
“Sorry to be rude, my name is Ashton. I’m guessing by now you know that I’m your grandfather.”
“Yes sir, I’m Aiden.” He answered.
“All right Aiden, your room is upstairs. You can go get settled in.”
Aiden followed his commands and went upstairs. He walked into his room and sat his stuff down. He lay down on his bed and drifted into a light sleep. He was almost fully asleep when he heard a voice call his name.
“Aiden!” it said again, louder. Aiden looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. All he found was a wolf sitting in his doorway. Aiden rubbed his head; he must’ve been dreaming he thought. A wolf can’t talk. “I’m dreaming…” He mumbled.
“No you’re not, you’re fully awake.” The voice replied.
Aiden’s eyes got huge. “You…you can talk?!?” He asked, shocked.
“Yes I can.” The wolf replied wagging his tail.
“Okay, I’m crazy. I must be crazy.”
“No silly, you’re just special.”
“Yeah, being able to talk to a wolf is real special.”
“It is you’re the only one in the tribe that can do it.”
“Yeah sure I am.”
“I’m not kidding, you’re the chosen one.”
“Yeah, yeah, chosen one, blah, blah, blah.”
“You are!” It yelled. “You’re chosen to create peace between the tribes.”
“Yeah, peace, love, and prosperity. How am I going to do that?” He asked confused.
“Use your gift to convince everyone to get along. If they don’t, I think a war will break out.”
“Yeah okay…I’ll see what I can do, Wolfy.”
“You must… It’s your destiny!” Wolfy exclaimed.
Aiden went downstairs. He was still confused about the whole wolf thing.
“Did you get settled in?” Layla asked.
“Um, yeah, why do we have a wolf” He asked.
“Oh, that’s just Wolfy. He’s like a pet to us. He seems to have taken a liking to you.” Layla said loveably.
“Yeah about that…can he talk?” Aiden asked confusedly.
“Not that I’m aware of…?” She replied looking very confused.
“Well he was telling me how it’s my destiny to create peace among the tribes or something?”
“Yeah, sorry we didn’t tell you about that earlier. You’re kind of the chosen one.”
“Okay? What am I supposed to do?”
“Create peace among the tribes. I don’t know how you’ll do that, but you have to try. The big tribal meeting is this weekend so you’ll have to think of something to say.” She explained.
“Okay…” Aiden mumbled as he walked off.

Aiden spent the next few days moping around the house.

“You really should cheer up…it’s not good for someone your age to be this stressed.” Wolfy said as he climbed up on Aiden’s bed.

“Yeah, easy for you to say, all you have to do all day is hunt and sleep. It isn’t your destiny to create peace.”
“Well I can help you. It won’t be that hard to convince them not to start a war.” He offered.
“Yeah sure, they kicked my father out of the tribe just because he married my mom.”
“See, maybe you could convince them to stop enforcing that law!” He protested.
“Okay, I’ll try, when is the meeting?” He questioned.
“Tomorrow morning…” Wolfy informed.
“What?!” He jumped up. “Great that gives me enough time to write a speech!”
“You don’t have to write a speech, just say what’s from the heart.”
“Yeah okay, I’ll try. I’m going to bed. Night, Wolfy.”
“Goodnight.” Wolfy replied perching upon Aiden’s feet.
The next morning arrived too fast. Layla got Aiden up and dressed him in his ceremonial meeting clothes. Aiden stood looking at himself in the mirror. The animal skin clothes clung to his body; his short brown hair was tasseled and looked messy. His caramel skin glistened in the sunlight while his almond shaped eyes narrowed as he was deep in thought.
“You’ll be fine.” Layla said trying to encourage him.
He shrugged and left the house; Wolfy at his side. Aiden arrived at the center of the village. He had never seen so many tribes in one place. The mood was tense and you cold feel the tension from everyone.
Aiden saw his grandfather rise and start to walk up to his podium. As his grandfather began talking, Aiden’s eyes began to wander. He looked at all the different tribes. They all shared the same dark skin and dark hair. What set them apart from each other were their eyes. The Wolfe Tribe all shared the golden colored eyes and the people from the Shake Tribe all shared a bright green color.
“Aiden…pay attention. You need to get up there and talk.” Wolf said, snapping Aiden out of his trance. Aiden jumped up and ran up to the podium.
“People, you should listen to me. What you’re doing is wrong. If we continue this we’re going to start a war. We shouldn’t be kicking people out just because they fall in love with someone else form another tribe. It’s very ignorant. We should all live and peace and be happy, not the way we’re living now.” Aiden exclaimed. He was shocked at what he had said. It had came from the heart just like Wolfy had said.
“Aiden’s right…we should change…” agreed a man from the Hawk Tribe. After much discussion a new set of rules was established for all the tribes. That is how Aiden established peace among the tribes of the Wolves.


The author's comments:
A book insoired to write this book.

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