A/N: Hi all, I'm going to take a stab at an Outlander fanfic. Please let me know your thoughts! Thank you!
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Background Information:
Cassidy Alexandra Fraser was a resident of the Boys & Girls Homes in Wilmington, NC. She had been living there on and off for 6 years, since she was 5 years old. She had never met her parents. Her mother had passed from childbirth complications and her father died from a gray death when Cassidy's mother was pregnant. She was raised by her great grandmother until she passed when Cassidy was 5 years old. Cassidy was a beautiful child with long, wavy red hair and green eyes. However, she was also described as strong willed and challenging, and because of these characteristics, she was in and out of several foster homes throughout the years. All the families complained that she was too difficult to care for.
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Cassidy woke up abruptly, covered in sweat. She took a deep breath and scanned the darkness of the room that she shared with her roommates, Heather, Amy, and Jane.
"Cass, you ok down there?" questioned Heather, whom shared the bunk above her.
"Yeah, just a dream," sighed Cassidy as she sat upright and ran her fingers through her sweaty hair. She had been having the same exact dream for the last two weeks.
She was in the middle of what looked like the ruins of a church and the hot sun was blazing down on her and sweat saturated her body. Only the brick walls were standing and they looked as if they had been burned. Cassidy was always fascinated by the structure and wanted to know more about its history. A beautiful carving of a cross always caught her eye and she approached the design during each dream. When she reached out to touch it, she was always shocked when her hand didn't stop and always appeared to go through the brick wall. She could always hear a clattering noise from the other side. Every time she tried to enter more of her body, she woke up in a panic.
Cassidy wanted to know more. What was beyond that brick wall and why was she so drawn to it?
The alarm blared throughout the bedroom at 6:30am the next morning. The girls dragged themselves out of bed to start their daily routine. The children all attended Thomas Academy for school and after school, Cassidy worked at the on-site horse stable.
"So what was the dream about last night?" Heather asked as they waited outside for the school bus. Heather tossed her long, blonde hair behind her shoulder. She was tall for her age and almost 3 years older than Cassidy.
"Same dream," Cassidy replied. "But it seems so real every time. I don't know...maybe I'm supposed to find this old church."
"Oh come on," huffed Heather, "Probably just some stupid place you visited when you were a child."
"Maybe," Cassidy replied. She couldn't help but think there was more to it. The bus squealed to a stop in front of them. As Cassidy boarded the bus, she remembered that she had in school suspension for the next two days for smoking in the girls room. The principal had threatened to expel her the next time she was found smoking on school property. Cassidy rolled her eyes as she thought about the incident. She didn't even like smoking. She had just done it to distract the school bully from tormenting another student. She took the seat next to Heather. "I think I'm going to skip school today," she mentioned to her friend.
"You're crazy," Heather snapped.
"Can you cover for me? Can you let the office know I'm absent?" Cassidy asked.
"And you think they're going to believe that?" Heather laughed out loud. "Haven't you already missed like ten days?" Cassidy shrugged her shoulders in response. "Sheesh kid...when are you going to start following the rules? Doesn't it get old...acting out all the time?"
"Doesn't it get old following the rules all the time?" Cassidy shot back.
"Maybe...but if I keep my nose clean, hopefully I'll find myself a foster home," Heather replied.
"Foster homes are overrated," Cassidy replied. "I hope I never get placed again."
"With your record, I think you might be safe," Heather teased. Cassidy smiled slightly and twirled a few strands of her hair into ringlets. Heather felt bad as she glanced over at her young friend. "But yeah, I'll do my best to cover for ya. Where are you headed?"
"I think the library," Cassidy replied. "I want to do some research."
"You might want to change out of your uniform so you don't look so suspicious," Heather mentioned.
"I got that covered," Cassidy smiled as she pat her backpack. "I brought my gym clothes today." The bus squealed to a stop outside their school. As the students exited, Cassidy slipped away to the back of the bus and dashed across the street. She ran down three blocks until she was on Main St. She could see the library in the distance and hurried to her destination. Once inside, she quickly changed out of her plaid jumper and into her blue sweatpants and gray t-shirt. She settled on a computer in the far corner of the library and began researching churches that had burned down. She figured she would start the search in North Carolina since that's where she was born. She was immediately greeted with a picture that resembled the ruins in her dreams. Her heart raced with excitement. It was a picture of the ruins of St. Philip's Church in the Brunswick Town Historic District which wasn't too far from her. It stated the church was destroyed in 1776 by the British. As Cassidy studied the pictures and read through the history, she knew she had to get there. She knew there was something significant about that church and maybe if she could see it in person, she would remember.