Chapter 11 - Happenings
"Wow..." Aleu said. She had just heard the extremely long story that her father had told her about Steele turning over a new leaf. "I never thought that this could happen."
"Aleu, everyone can change... it's just that some need more effort and help than others."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," she said, sending a small smile over to Steele. He returned the favor.
"So... now what are we gonna do?" Steele asked. Aleu and Balto exchanged confused looks.
"I'm really not sure..." Balto said. Aleu and Steele twisted their mouths, a bit disappointed.
"We're gonna be stuck out here forever, aren't we?" Aleu said, starting to panic. "I wanna go home... I miss mom, Saint, and Boris. Hey! Boris! Where is he?"
Balto and Steele looked at each other sadly. Balto looked at his daughter with a sympathetic expression and told her what happened to him.
"Aleu, honey... he's... dead."
Aleu's mouth dropped open and her eyes filled with tears. "What do you mean he's dead? He can't be dead! We didn't even get a chance to hang out together!" She dropped down in the snow and covered her face with her paws and began to weep mercilessly. Balto laid down beside her and put a paw around her, trying to comfort her. She buried her face in his fur, drying a fraction of the tears that rolled down her face.
Steele looked at Aleu and was faced with the fact that it was he who had done this. He didn't know what to do. If he told her, he would surely get ripped to shreds... physically and emotionally. But if he didn't tell her...
"Aleu?" he said, trying to get her attention. She looked up, her puffy eyes and tear-stained face making Steele feel even more guilty. "I... it was me. I did it."
Balto's eyes grew wide as saucers; he couldn't believe that Steele had actually told her that he had done it.
"YOU did it?" she asked. Steele sadly nodded his head. "But... why? What did he ever do to you?"
Steele sighed and said, "It was before you helped me realize that I wasn't living my life to the fullest; before I turned over my new leaf. I was dragging him through the snow and then I realized that it was no way to get Jenna to fall for me. So I left him there all alone in the snow... he froze to death. I'm so sorry, Aleu..." Then, a small, slow tear ran down his face as well; but it was no match to Aleu's previous waterworks.
Aleu sighed and more tears ran down her face; until she recalled something he had said in his "I did it" sentence. "Wait... did you say I was the one that turned over your new leaf?"
Steele was sitting, waiting for the worst to happen; but it didn't. He was surprised that Aleu hadn't gone all-out on him. "Yes... yes, it was you."
"How?" she said suddenly. Steele couldn't help but crack a grin.
"Well... remember when we were in that cave together, and you gave me that whole think about it speech? Well... it worked."
Aleu looked down at the snow and gave him a small grin. She curled one paw under her to try to keep warm and then said, "Wow... I didn't think it would. To me, it always seemed that you were so hard to get through to."
"Yeah, well... surprisingly, I'm not... at least most of the time."
Aleu laughed and Balto did the same. Then, Balto, after a few minutes, spoke up. "Well... it looks like we should be heading back to the cabin now. We need to see if Jenna made it home yet."
"Yeah, good idea," Steele said, getting up, using his paw as leverage. Aleu stood up as well, and they began following Balto whichever way he was going.
End of Chapter 11
Review! Sorry it was kinda short... but I hope you still liked it as good as any old update lol.