That bit about the Pony Express was found on Wikipedia.
My first Being Human fic, and since the latest episode had Aiden 'devoted' to Bishop and the cause (okay so that's how I saw it) I kind of figured Aiden was on Bishop's side about turning people.
The past is not a package one can lay away. ~Emily Dickinson
I was almost seventeen years old when Bishop turned me. The year was 1861 and I had a job with the Pony Express. They were reluctant to hire me since I was a female and they were looking for young boys who were willing to face death but somehow my father convinced them to give me the job. He had a saloon in Colorado but didn't like me 'mixing' with all the bandits that would drop by, add that to the fact I'd spent fourteen years riding horses and could handle a gun and he suggested I join the PE.
Since I was a girl, I didn't work the main routes. My job was to go to surrounding towns off of where a station was and pick up letters, then take them to a station and hand them to whoever was riding.
I was in St. Joseph, Missouri, handing off a stack of letters when I literally ran into a man with black hair and another man with reddish colored hair. Apologizing, the black haired man helped me gather my dropped letters and they introduced themselves.
"I'm Aiden and this is Bishop." the black haired man said with a smile.
"Kate." I said, stuffing the letters into a pouch that hung from my shoulder and down onto my waist. "Sorry for bumpin' into you-"
Bishop stepped in, "No, no, it was our fault." He glanced at my bag, "So you're with the Express?"
I nodded, a bit cheerful, "Yes, sir. Which reminds me, I need to get going."
"They say the Express is shutting down soon."
It was true. Someone had invented a way of transmitting letters-Morse code. It was out doing the PE and people were switching to that method. The Express had only been running for less than two years and it was coming to an end quickly. I sighed, "Yeah." My cheerfulness had evaporated with the reminder. "Folks are keepin' up to date, using Morse code instead of the Express."
"So what are you going to do?" Bishop raised an eyebrow.
I told him the truth: "I honestly don't know."
Aiden and Bishop shared a look before Aiden said, "Well...we might have a solution."
And a week later I became a vampire. I know what you're thinking, 'What the hell?' But you've got to understand-I was a teenage girl, unmarried, and had no promising future. I never talked to my father again, but I did attend his funeral. I didn't want to put him at risk so I kept away, which was encouraged by the vampire family I'd recently joined.
Aiden and Bishop gave me an answer to my problem and for a while it worked. But when you spend over a hundred years with the same people they begin to grate on your nerves. I owe them everything, though. Am I happy with my choice to join the dead...er, undead? Not exactly. Would I make the choice again? Probably. But put yourself in my shoes at the time.
I can be a sentimental person when the time's right. For example, my father gave me a bandana just before I joined the Express, I've still got it. It was kind of a joke between us. Several shops in town had been robbed by some kids with bandanas covering their faces and therefore their identities and Pop thought it'd be funny if I started keeping one on me, "To keep those other towns on their feet, Katie." he'd said. The thing's got a few holes in it but I take it everywhere.
The point is, sometimes people tell us to forget the past. But when you don't age, don't move forward, the only thing you have is the past.
So I saw the latest episode of Being Human (America) and my thoughts began producing Katelyn Miller. At first she belonged to a family in Charles Towne during the American Revolution (today it's Charleston) but then I realized Aiden was from that war. So I went to the Old West and saw something mention the Pony Express.
