Chapter 13: Fear and Worthy
Three months later, Amber was sitting outside with Amy in her lap. The little girl could speak well for her age. Knowing how to say a few words or at least she tried. Jay was sitting next to her and they were watching little Bray, Lottie, and Brady play. "Stay away from those trees," Amber instructed. Lottie led the younger children from the trees and they kept playing with their ball. Bray came over and sat by them.
"Hey," he greeted.
"Hi," Amber and Jay greeted back.
Amber let Bray take the little girl in his arms and he started playing with her. "How's Trudy doing?" She asked.
"She's doing better. Her fever's gone down. She should be better in a few days," he replied.
Amber nodded and then she looked over towards the children. Just then, Lottie ran over to her. "Amber, little Bray's gone," she informed. Amber stood up.
"What do you mean he's gone?" She asked.
"I don't know what happened. I just turned my back for a second and when I looked back over at them, little Bray was gone and Brady told me that he went to get the ball," Lottie replied.
Amber then took Amy from Bray and placed her into Lottie's arms. "Take Amy and Brady inside. Get everyone else together so we can start searching for him," she instructed. Lottie nodded before she hurried inside. Amber then started to panic. Jay placed his hands on her shoulders.
"Amber, calm down, he couldn't have gone far," he assured her.
"We don't know that, Jay, he's a fast runner."
She watched as Bray hurried into the woods. "BRAY, WAIT!" She shouted. Once everyone else came out, they started searching for the boy.
Bray kept searching for his son. Fear welled up in his heart when he couldn't find him. He could hear his friends calling for him. "Bray, where are you?" He whispered. He kept searching and then night started to fall.
Hours later, they went back. It was getting too dark to keep searching for the boy. Everyone else was back, but then they noticed that Bray wasn't with them. "Do you think he's still out there?" Ellie asked.
"That's the only option," Jack replied.
Amber sat down and Jay tried comforting her. The fear of losing her son was too much for her.
Bray kept searching for little Bray. He wasn't going to give up, he was going to keep searching until he found the boy. "BRAY, BRAY! ANSWER ME IF YOU CAN HEAR ME!" He shouted. He realized that he wouldn't be able to find his son in pitch blackness. He grabbed a thick stick and wrapped some cloth around it. He was able to light it and kept on with his search.
Lottie was leaning against the door and watched as Jay ran circles on Amber's back. Amber had cried herself to sleep and Lottie felt terrible for turning her back. "Jay," she called. Jay pulled a blanket over Amber and stood up. He escorted Lottie out of the room and closed the door behind him.
They stood in the hallway and Jay looked at her. "Any word?" He asked. Lottie shook her head. "It's been six hours where," he whispered.
"Jay, I wanted to say that I'm sorry for losing him," she apologized.
"You better be sorry," Lex put in.
Jay looked at Lex. "Not now, Lex," Jay insisted. Lex was leaning against the wall glaring at Lottie.
"What? It's her fault the kid's gone. Not only that, now Bray's gone. For all we know he could've found the kid and then just leave with him," Lex stated.
"Lex, stop it," Salene interjected.
"What, it's not my fault the kid's gone," Lex stated.
"But blaming Lottie isn't fair," Jay commented.
"She was supposed to be watching them," Ebony agreed.
"It was a mistake that any of could've made. We can dump all of the blame on Lottie," Ruby stated.
She placed her hands on Lottie's shoulders. "I have faith that Bray will come back once he finds the boy. He knows how much the boy means to Amber," May pointed out.
"Leaving with the kid now would kill her," Ellie agreed.
"Does Trudy know?" Jay asked.
"I didn't think that we should wake her, she's just getting over her illness," Ruby replied.
Jay nodded and leaned against the wall. "We should've kicked Bray out when we had the chance," Lex stated. Jay looked at him with a glare.
"Why would you say something like that?" Jay asked.
"Because, we can't trust the guy ever since he stabbed you. All of a sudden the day we were going to kick him out you were talking about proving himself worthy," Ebony replied.
"Bray deserves a chance. Ram got his chance now he has our trust," Jay pointed out.
"Bray nearly killed you," Lottie pointed out.
"Listen everyone, we have to stop putting the blame on somebody. It wasn't Lottie's fault and it wasn't Bray's fault. Little Bray will be found. I trust that Bray will bring him back once he finds him," Jay stated.
"If he finds him. We don't know how far out that kid went to," Slade stated.
"He could be miles away," Gel agreed.
"We just have to have faith that the boy's okay and that he'll be found," Jay finished.
He then went back into the room and closed the door quietly behind him.
Bray kept searching the forest trying to find the boy. "BRAY!" He shouted. All of a sudden he heard a whimper behind the bushes. He pulled the bushes back and sighed in relief. "Bray," he whispered. Little Bray looked at him in fear.
"Uncle Bray?" He asked.
"I'm here, come on," Bray replied.
He wrapped his jacket around the boy and he went back to the tribe.
It must've been midnight and Amber was awake again. She was lying on her side tracing the designs on the blanket she was lying on. Jay was running circles on her back with a sigh. Just then, the door burst open and little Bray jumped on the bed. "MOMMY, DADDY!" He exclaimed. Amber sat up and quickly took the boy into her arms. Jay wrapped his arms around Amber and little Bray. Bray stood in the doorway watching with a smile on his face. Jay looked at Bray and Amber looked up with a smile.
"Thank you, Bray," she told him.
"I'd do anything for you guys," Bray assured her.
Jay nodded and thanked him before going back to his family.
The next day, Amber was sitting down with the rest of the tribe. Bray was standing in the of the circle waiting for Jay to speak. "Bray, you had the chance to leave with the boy once you found him, why didn't you?" Lex asked.
"Because I wouldn't betray Amber or Jay for that matter," Bray replied.
"Bray, we gave you the chance to prove yourself worthy to stay in the tribe. Last night after bringing little Bray home, it should that you are worthy to be in the tribe," Jay explained.
Amber then stood up. "We put it to a vote. Who here wants Bray to leave the tribe?" She asked. No one raised their hands.
"All opposed?" Jay asked.
Everyone raised their hands. "Congratulations, Bray, you're now officially apart of the tribe," Jay announced. Bray was relieved that he had finally proved himself worthy to be part of the tribe.
That night, Jay came into the room to find Amber rocking Amy to sleep. "How is she doing?" He asked.
"She's teething, but she's okay," Amber replied.
She placed the baby into the crib and looked at Jay. Jay smiled and wrapped his arms around her. "I love you," he whispered.
"I love you too," she answered.
Then they got into bed and fell asleep in each other's arms. A long hard road and they were finally together. Bray was watching them with a grin. His and Jay's fight was over and he could continue on with his future. He then walked away knowing that letting Amber go was the only way he could live with his life and he did let her go.
Two years later, Amber and Jay welcomed their son, Jedrek, into the world. Their goals were fulfilled and they were happy. That's all they could ask for.
