Destiny Rose Young || A Paul Lahote Love Story

Chapter 1

"Destiny, hon," my doctor spoke to me in the soft calming voice of a mother.

"Yes?" I asked, looking up from the chapter book in my hands. I had just learned silent reading and I was obsessed with it.

"Can I?" My dad asked.

"Of course," the doctor said.

"Dest, you have a really bad disease that's making you really sick," my dad spoke, sitting down and pulling me into his lap.

"Is that why my knee always hurts?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said. "The disease is inside your knee. It's really really bad. The doctor is going to have to cut your leg off so you can get better."

I was pulled from the memory as the final bell for the day of school rang. The memory was from the day I found out about the amputation of the lower part of my left leg. That was eleven years ago.

I slid my book bag onto my shoulder as I stood up and headed out to my brother's truck.

"Hey, beautiful," my ex-boyfriend, Kyle, said.

"Kyle, we talked about this. I broke up with you and I no longer want you to call me beautiful," I said.

"Why not?" He asked, grabbing my arm. I wiggled free and kept walking as I scanned for Alexander's truck. I had rode in with him this morning, but God only knows if the truck is where he parked it.

"Because, you know why," I said, hoping he'd leave me alone. He scared me to no end, but Sam told me I couldn't let him know I was scared and I trusted Sam.

"No, I don't," he said. I silently prayed for something to happen.

"Destiny," Sam's voice yelled for me. Kyle left me alone then, running off to his friends. I don't know what Sam did to him, but Kyle was terrified of Sam.

"What's up?" I asked, walking over to my soon-to-be brother-in-law. He was engaged to my 19 year old sister, Emily.

"Emily asked me to come pick you up. They sent Alex home early from school," he said.

"Well, thanks," I said. I climbed into his beat up old truck and clicked the seat belt securely around my waist.

"Shouldn't you be on your Rez?" I asked as he started the car.

"Your sister and I had to come up here. She'll explain," he said, driving the short distance to my house.

"Emily," I yelled, walking into the house.

"Destiny," she said.

"Wha-?" I asked as I saw my twin brother, Alexander, with tears streaming down his face.

"Mom and Dad were, uhm, were killed in a car accident," she said.

My world came crashing in as the statement settled in the air. Part of me didn't want to believe it, but I knew I had to. For some reason, the air didn't really hang heavier now. It felt like a weight had been lifted and I couldn't figure out why. I still cried. Even though the mood felt lighter and safer, I still bawled my eyes out like a baby. Alex held me carefully, as if I'd break if he held me too long but fall apart if he let go. I had never been more grateful to have my twin brother.

The next few days were Hell. Emily and Sam received custody of my brother and I and Melody, my 18 year old sister, got my parents house to raise Claire. The elders of our tribe wanted us to stay on our reservation, but Sam said he needed to be in La Push after the funeral.

Four days after the accident, we gave my parents a typical Makah funeral. Most of the tribe was in attendance, so I didn't really cry. I wasn't giving any of them that kind of satisfaction. They all hated my father, even if he was an elder. They hated my brother even more, since he was partially open about being gay. He told me and a few close family members, who then told half the tribe, but somehow everyone else thought they knew the best way to "cure" him.

That's part of why being in La Push will be great. He can be himself there without prosecution. No one in La Push cares. They just care about if you're a decent human being or not, and Alex is one of the nicest people I know so he'll be fine.

"Destiny, come on," Sam said, wrapping his arms around my shoulders. The funeral ended twenty minutes ago and everyone else had already left. I knew once we left we we're heading down to the Quileute Rez.

"How are they so okay?" I asked, looking at my four siblings. They were standing just within ear shot, talking about something I wasn't paying attention to.

"Emily," Sam said before motioning the group over to me.

"What's wrong hon?" Emily asked, hugging me gently.

"Em, she never found out. He never hit her. He even told me that he believed the gods were punishing her with cancer so he didn't need to," Alex said.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Dad," Emily started, but couldn't finish the sentence before she collapsed into Sam's arms in tears.

"Dad was abusive," Alex said. "He beat me and, after I came out to him, he, uh, he started to rape me." Alex's words were slow and separate. I could tell he was struggling to tell me what happened.

"Why is this the first time I'm hearing about this?" I asked.

"He used to tell us if we told you guys, he'd beat us then make us watch him rape you," Rebecca, my 21 year old sister, said.

"Bec," I said, hugging her tightly as she started to cry. She wiped away her tears almost as quickly as they formed.

"I have a plane to catch, but I'll be home for Christmas," she said.

"Goodbye, Becca. Love you," I said, hugging her one last time before she said goodbye to our other siblings and left. She was headed back to New York City where she was trying to land a spot on Broadway.