Damian King 1 year ago

@damian-king 6 min read Write a comment #short-stories

My Name Is Cain

Chapter 4 I met my father, standing at the entrance of the house. He was looking so wearied and tired. He probably was worried about me. So from a distance, I waved at him to see me. “CAIN? Is that you, my son?” he shouted. “Father! It’s me.” “Come to me, my son.” He said, shedding tears. I ran to him and gave him a very big hug. I needed it too. “Where have you been?’ “I’m sorry, father. I offended mother, so I had to run.” I cried. “Welcome back, son. Welcome home!” “Please forgive me, father.”

Mother heard I had returned, and she immediately came for me.“CAIN, come over now!” she echoed. I ran to hide behind my father to save me from her. “I need you to explain to me why you hit your little brother.” “Mother, I didn’t mean to. It wasn’t intentional; I’m sorry.” For the first time, my mother was willing to pardon me. That has never happened before.

“Whenever you do something wrong against someone, you don’t run away… you should run to the person and apologize.” She said. “Yes, mother,” I responded. They saw how life was almost gone out of me; I journeyed another three days back home. I was super exhausted and hungry. Mother quickly brought some water for me to wash my feet and also some milk to refresh myself while Dad went to the livestock farm to get a lamb, so he would prepare it for us to feast for my return. But my brother, Abel, was still angry at me.

 He saw his father selecting a lamb from the animals, and he became agitated. “Father, you cannot kill any of my lambs.” “Abel, your elder brother, just returned, and he needs to eat something nourishing to get him back on his feet.” “Father, I don’t care. He did that to himself. He slapped me!” “This is your brother we are talking about here. Your elder brother. When did you become this cold against your own brother?” father yelled at him.“Father, look at my face. He did this to me.”

I know I should have thought of what would happen to his face before hitting him. I left a minor and permanent scar on his face. Of course, he could not dictate to his father what to do, so he went to meet his mother to help change his father’s mind about killing a lamb because of me. To his greatest surprise, he saw my mother and me discussing. “Mother? Not you too.” He yelled. I must admit, Cain, my brother, was a very handsome boy. His smiles were warm; his eyes color was really attractive compared to mine; he had very light and soft skin, which made him more special than I was. I guess he was made with cheerful muscles; when he tries to frown, he smiles. I was so much jealous of his dimples.

“Abel, come!” mother called him. He was reluctant at first. I know he was waiting for me to apologize to him for what I did, even though he caused it. And besides, he never apologized to me for eating my own food. “Mother, why will father want to kill one of my lambs?” “Abel, my son. I don’t know you to be this cold. Your brother has apologized for what he did. He’s very sorry!” “But mother, let him say it to me.” Really? I found that disrespectful. He’s my little brother; I bathed that little boy, carried him on my back when mother wasn’t around, helped him dress his wound when he injured himself, and then, he wants me to apologize to him.

It was tough for a mother to make the next decision because she knew I was never going to apologize to my little brother, and Abel wasn’t going to stop demanding it. “Cain!” Mother tried blackmailing me with her puppy eyes. There is no way I was falling for that.“Mother, No way! I….I… He’s me… ” I stirred up.“Please, just say it.” She pleaded.“Apologize to my little brother?” Her eyes were killing me. These remind me of the exact ones on the painting. For some seconds, the thought of what life was like to her in the beautiful garden came filling my head. I could imagine her smiling and joyfully doing nothing. I just could not disobey her. It was too early, plus the fact that she had just pardoned me for what I did.

“Abel, I am sorry for what I did!” Those words were really simple but difficult to let them escape from our mouths, especially when you feel you are not at fault. He smiled and ran to hug me.“Welcome, brother, I’ve missed you.” he confessed. I know I should probably feel a mixture of sadness and happiness for hearing that from him, but the truth is, I was still not happy I told him sorry for doing something bad to me. I hugged him back. “I’ve missed you too.”

Night came for us to have the celebration feast for my return; father had made the meat already, and mother baked bread with hot porridge. It was a night of happiness, but I wanted to feel it. I was scared of what I heard when I was away. I should probably tell them about it.