Guys I have had this idea in my head for a long time and so here it is...I'm only playing around with it. And I might make it a full story... But tell me if you think it should be more than a one shot, or if you like it just the way it is. Oh well here you go...it's my oneshot.

It was not the knocking against my door that woke me.

The soft clicking of shoes echoes against the corridor outside my room makes me sit up in the darkness. My dreams wake me up more often than not and tonight I woke from another startling vision. One where the crows from our fields plowed into my body and tore at my flesh. A light knock comes from my door, who would be up at this hour? I stand and pull open the curtains to let moonlight into my room, giving me a ghost like pale pallor. My two young cousins are asleep at the other end of the bed in deep slumber.

My hand grasps the door knob, cool to my skin. The door opens only a sliver before I cast my glance to Caleb. "What are you doing awake?"

He smiles, "Beatrice, I am leaving."

"Where?" I open my door wider and pull him into our bedroom. "Where could you possibly be going?"

"To the colonies, Beatrice."

I arch my eyebrows, "and what, pray tell me, is in the colonies?" Despite my efforts to sound aloof, I sound not only curious but wanting as well.

"The future, Beatrice. A whole new world is in the colonies, the way they think and things they do. The world is progressing and the colonies are leading the way."

"When are you going?" I take in his garb, my insides twist. Caleb is fully dressed, he will be leaving me soon.

"Tonight, Beatrice." He smiles and pulls me into a warm embrace, "will you come with me, sister?"

I lift my eyes to his, the moonlight casting an eerie shadow upon Caleb's face. "What of mother and father? What will they do without us to help reap the crops?"

"They will continue on fine without us, they have all of our cousins to help. After their parents died, mother and father are all they have left of parents. We are two less mouths to feed, two less bodies to clothes. They have one less son to give a yearly allowance and one less daughter to marry to a respectable suitor. They won't have to give you a dowry Beatrice, consider how much that will help them." Caleb tilts my chin up, "you and I both know we were not meant to live this life here in England. Mother and father love it, they love slaving away for the betterment of the Crown, but we are different. You and I have a life waiting for us outside of this small cottage."

Caleb is speaking many truths, but the thought of leaving my parents terrifies me. "Pray think of mother and father."

"Beatrice, we must think of our family. But we must also think of ourselves." He searches my eyes, "will you come with me?"

I chew at my lip, a trait my father constantly reminds me is not proper. My head is spinning, but I must choose. My family or my future? Caleb and I had never discussed going to the colonies, discussed living life outside of the small town we were trapped in. I always believed my brother was going to be the perfect son to my parents, I was the one who would leave them. It had been my dream to go somewhere new and untamed like the colonies. It was simply not an offer I could let slip from my fingers. "I will go."

Caleb's smile widens, "then it is settled. Change your clothes and take only a few small items. Meet me in front of the house and we will ride into town." He leaves me alone and I take a glance at my two sleeping cousins. They will understand, they know I do not fit into the society like they will. They will know that the choice I made will allow them a larger dowry when it comes time for them to marry. I am helping them.

I dress as quickly as possible and take the only other dress I own, stuffing it into a small bag. My cloak should be enough to keep me warm through the night. I press a soft kiss to my cousins forehead and whisper my goodbyes before writing a note for my parents and leaving it on the bedside table of my room. Shutting the door softly behind me, I make my way past the other two bedrooms and out the front door. Caleb is tightening the straps of his horse and fits to the saddle. "Go ahead, Beatrice."

I fit my foot to the stirrup and pull myself into the saddle of the horse. Caleb takes the reigns and I wrap my arms around him, "we are going to the colonies then?"

"Yes, Beatrice. Although I hear the colonies have begun to refer to themselves as America."

America. I repeat the word in my mind, it sounds like home.