Yes, Tom was sure Mary Louise was watching over him even more closely now than she ever did when she was alive. Hours have pasted sinced Tom had placed the letter into the drawer. Almost as it was a compulsion he checked very often to see if any letters had been returned from Louise. Sure enough, his long wait had come to an end. Tom opened the letter almost as fast as a child opens his presents at Christmas time.
As hard as it may seem to both you and I, there is truth in Mary Louise's stories. I was born the oldestout of three children to my mother, Mary Louise McCloud. All of us were orphaned after she had died. I was the oldest and had my heart set on making a life for the three of us. Soon after we were placed in the mission, I had left bound and determined to make my way in the world and to get Jeremiah and Teresa out of there.
I had a couple of odd jobs to begin with, that was accompanied by trouble along the way. It was a man's world out there and a young woman without her ma or pa could never survive in that kind of life.
So that is when I decided to cut my hair and start dressing like a man. It wasn't as bad as it sounded, infact it was probably the best time of my life.
When I first saw that sign, "Wanted Orphans," it opened my eyes to a new world. It didn't take me too long to sign on with the Pony Express. I was scared at first...maybe more thinking what they would do to me if they found out that I was a girl.
However, the hours and the pay was good...and that was the only way I could ever get my brother and sister out of the orphanage.
Yes, that was the best time of my life...riding for the Pony Express. It made me feel like I was doing something important.
I remember my first ride like it was yesterday. I had arrived at the station in order to trade the mail pouch off to another rider. I had looked around thinking that he was just late saddlin' up. But it was when I found his body over by the wood pile that made me think otherwise.
I was still mounted on my horse, when I heard the men come out of the shed. I knew right then and there that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
My heart was pounding for me to get the hell out of there...and that is when I was shot.
I'm afraid I don't remember much of that part of the story...but what happened next changed my life forever.
Yes, this next part is certainly unforgetable! I will continue this story for next time. You are probably tired of hearing about my life by now.
I will eagerly await for your next letter, and along with it more about your life.
Until then, ride safe.
Louise
Tom was hesitant to write Louise back. He kept comparing plain and simple life to hers, which was filled with exitement and action. Tom didn't know how he could ever compare.
He didn't want to sound selfish, but there was so much to ask Louise and knew that this would be his only chance to do so.
Louise's husband, who she calls "Kid," was fighting in the Civil War. When Tom thought more into that scenario, he was looking towards Louise's future thinking, "She has no idea what lies ahead."
He could only imagine what would happen to Louise if Kid were to die in that war. Tom could only think about how his life is without Mary Louise.
It had been so lonely staying at the old house in which he grew up in. Talking to Louise sure was a good way to make the time pass.
Still it hurt Tom to think about Louise who was carrying a child that may not get the chance to see his father. Considering Tom had lost his parents at an early age, he was weakend by the thought of another child living without one of his parents.
He had debated to tell her all about the future, but didn't want to take the chance in frightening her. Of course there were such things as the assassination of President Lincoln that had changed the entire course of history.
Tom thought that telling her information like that would put her in a total state of shock, and with Louise in delicate condition he thought about that idea twice.
Tom sat impatiently at the desk continuously tapping his pencil. He remembers back to when he was in the third grade and had to write an essay on the person in history you would like to meet the most.
"If only it were that easy," Tom thought to himself. He never in his life imagined that he would actually get to do it.
He got up out of that old wooden chair, and walked over to peer outside the window. Tom got an eerie feeling as though Louise could be looking out that same window at the same moment.
It was a powerful feeling almost as if he could turn around and expect to see her standing there.
The wind was picking up outside blowing the leaves off the trees.
"It looks as though a storm is heading in." Tom opened the old window to get in some fresh air. The weather was a bit cool for a July evening. Tom had the notion that maybe he could think better with the breeze coming through.
He thought his nose was playing tricks on him when he thought he smelled purfume. It was a light smell that the breeze picked up and carried through the room. The sweet and intoxicating smell gave him chills that went clear up his spine.
"Louise?" The wind blew harder outside as he was quite sure it was a reassurance that it was her speaking to him. "I have to lay down for a bit or I'm going to lose my mind."
Tom made it over to the bed that was on the other side of the room. "I'll just lay down for a bit to clear my mind. Maybe that will prevent me from losing it!" he said jokingly.
Louise's presence has been surrounding him ever since he came back to the old house. One would think that the house would be haunted, but Tom saw otherwise. Louise was a beautiful both inside and out. In a strange sense, it was like she was contacting him for something...but what?
Tom shut his eyes, and his brief nap turned into a long, frustrating, cold sweat.
It was like a nightmare. He invisioned a black, smokey battlefield with thousands of men shouting for help. Only he couldn't reach them. Guns were firing and he couldn't save any one of them.
Tom fidgeted around, shaking his head trying to escape this terrible place. Everywhere he looked there was bloodshed. He tried to run but he couldn't move. It was like his whole entire body was paralyzed.
Tom began to cough as the intoxicating smell of gunpowder began to fill his lungs. He tried once again to escape the battlefield, but once again, was unable to move...until there was one last shot.
This shot made time stand still. Tom was still in his deep state of dreaming, but his senses were working overtime. Tom was hit from behind. Only it wasn't by a bullet, it was by a man. When Tom turned around to see what had knocked him down, he saw the body.
There was no movement. No gunfire. No shouting. No smoke. And it appeared like there was no life.
Tom stood there looking down at the man, wondering if he was still alive. He knelt down to see if he could identify any sign of life in the young man.
What happened next stopped Tom in his tracks. He turned the man over in hopes that he was still alive.
But seeing the man's face was enough to make Tom awake from his sleep.
He awoke with a screem. "NOOOOOO!!!!!"
It took him a minute to figure out he was in a safe place and that he had only been dreaming.
"Its him!!!!" He exclaimed. "Its him!!!" "NO!!!!!!!" "Ohhh, noooo!!!"
