The War I Chose To Live

Chapter 3 (Nicolás/Anacaona)

Wow. She has a name. Anacaona. Golden flower...Wow...No, no, to think such things are a betrayal. I mustn't.

No matter how hard I tried to forget Anacaona, my mind buzzed with excitement for our next meeting.

Over the next couple of days, Anacaona and I continuously met in the hallways of the temple. We would talk about our lives, and even though she didn't understand much about Spain, she seemed to enjoy listening to me speak about home. She ended up telling me a lot about the city, Tenochtitlán, it was called. I enjoyed listening, especially because she was so obviously devoted to her city. I learned a few of their customs, and even though I found their thing with sacrifice a little weird, I didn't say anything about it. I didn't want to risk offending the one person that was willing to talk to me.

Eventually, I had learned most of her language, taught her some of my languages.

And, somewhere, in between our secrets, our laughter, our conversations, our smiles...

We fell for each other.

We knew that it was dangerous, and what the risks were if we were caught.

She might be killed, by her father or Cortés.

And I would suffer the same fate.

Still, we soon became consumed with each other and started meeting more and more.

It was wonderful but scary at the same time.

We knew we had to be careful, but it was hard keeping our secret.

We started coming up with any kind of excuse to see one another.

It was a reckless, dangerous kind of love, the kind that threatened to destroy everything, but we held on to it. We shouldn't have.

But, time took its course, and soon, we were one.

We had kissed.

We should have never met each other. We should have stayed far, far away from each other.

But we didn't, and now we will both suffer because of it.

(Anacaona's P.O.V.

Him. Nicolás.

That's all I thought about these days.

He wasn't mine, and I knew I shouldn't love him.

But I did, and now there was no going back.