Kristine looked out the car window, watching everything go by. She sighed. "Something the matter, Kristine?" asked her father.
"No. Nothing's the matter. I'm fine." She lied and continued to look out the window and up at the sky. It looked the same as ever. Clear and blue with some white puffy clouds. She then looked to the other side and saw her black bag sitting beside her. The dairy was in there, but she didn't dare take it out. She wanted to be perfectly alone when opening it.

When she finally got home, Kristine told her parents she was going to go to her room. The long drive home was a good hour and she didn't sleep at all.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Her dad asked again.
"Yes. I'm fine. I just stayed up late reading. That's all." Her father nodded his head and walked inside the house before her. |
As Kristine slowly walked to her room she looked behind herself to see if anyone was coming.
When no one was coming, Kristine walked into her room and locked the door. She flopped on her bed, pulled out the diary from the bag and opened it. "C'mon! Take me back. Please!" She shut her eyes, whispering to herself like a crazy person. "Please!" She repeated.
Nothing happened.
She was even more upset now than ever. Maybe this was all just some kind of dream. If it was it was certainly a very good one. But it all seemed too real to be just a dream. She flipped through the pages, hoping something would happen, but nothing did. No matter what she did or said. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
"Kristine?" It was her mom.
"Yes?"
"Your dad and I will be out for a while. We're going to do some grocery shopping. Want to come along? It's okay if you don't want to since you're still tired from the drive."
"No thanks. I'm going to take a nap."
"Alright. See you in a bit."
Kristine listened to her mother's footsteps walk away until she could no longer hear her. She also waited to hear for the car to start up and leave. This would give her a good two hours. At least.
She opened up the diary again. "Thomas..." She said quietly. "Thomas..."
No reply. She couldn't give up now. Not yet! She wanted to go back there more than anything. Again, she closed the diary and held it close to her chest. There she laid on her bed in complete silence. And then, she started to feel warm and looked down at the diary. It felt hot like it was on fire or something. Kristine could feel herself getting dizzy, and soon she passed out.

Kristine woke up filling out of place. She also had to close her eyes because of the bright light. It felt hard where she lay too.
When her eyes adjusted to the light she finally sat up. A certain thrill of excitement ran through her. She was back in the 1700s' again.
She stood up fast but fell back on her bum because she got dizzy from getting up too fast. This time, as she got up, she went slower.
As she looked around, nothing was familiar.
Just then, she started to hear guns firing and men yelling and screaming. She also heard some cannon balls go off.
Kristine looked around the area and up above a hill she saw smoke. A battle was being fought.

Quickly, Kristine ran in the other direction as fast as she could but it was not enough. The battle was catching up to her. And sure enough, it did. A few men in blue coats came running past you.
"Miss it's not safe here! Run!" Yelled one of them.
All She could do was keep running right behind them. There was no other place for her to go.
She felt completely and utterly alone even though there were American soldiers in front of her.
Just then, a man on her left was shot and fell hard to the ground. A few more men came running as well, but now it was a mix of British and American Soldiers. Kristine was even more scared now.
She suddenly tripped over something and fell and her hands and knees. She tried not to make a sound and stayed there, huddling to the ground but someone picked her up by the arm. It was an American soldier.
"Run!" He yelled. "You'll die if you stay here!"
Kristine knew now that nowhere was safe, but the thought of Thomas and Gabriel and the whole Martin family kept her going. Just then, the man dragging her along was shot. His blood splattered everywhere on her, causing Kristine to screech.
Then, a British soldier pointed his rifle at her but an American Soldier shot him before he could do anything more. The British soldier's blood splattered on her as well. The white dress she was wearing was almost covered in blood. Her face had some blood spots as well. Same with her arms and legs.

For a moment, Kristine's mind went blank and she just started to run anywhere she possibly could to get away. Everything seemed like a big blur as she ran, her strength finally giving way and she fell to her knees again. As her mind started to clear up she could hear running water and looked up. Sure enough, there was a nice clear stream, but it wasn't the one she and Thomas loved so much.
Within seconds, bodies came floating down the stream, but she couldn't see very well with the tall grass in her face because she was bent down and too tired to stand.

Then, a few familiar voices started to talk. It was Benjamin and his children. Kristine looked up some and called out to them, but something was wrong. She touched your throat. It hurt and her voice was all raspy. She watched helplessly as the Martins walked away. Kristine knew she to get needed up and keep going.
She took her chances of being seen and pushed herself forward and into the water to cross the stream.
The dead bodies came at her more than one at a time and even pushed her under a few times. She gasped for air, pushing forward; she had to survive, she had to save Thomas and Gabriel.

As Kristine neared the other end of the stream she pulled herself up out of the water and could see the Martin house rooftop slightly above the cornfield. She looked down at her dress that was now just stained red. It stuck her skin, showing parts of her body but she didn't care, the weather was warmer and she needed to keep going.

Kristine ran through the cornfield, making lots of noise. And as she came to the end she saw three people sitting down, putting things in a basket. The one sitting in the middle had a hat on.
"Thomas..." Her voice was still raspy and dry. She walked closer to the three people.
One of the black men heard her and turned to look. His face was filled with shock. The middle one then turned.
It was Thomas. "Kristine!" He got up quickly, almost tripping over himself, and ran to her side.
Kristine felt too weak and finally just gave in, letting Thomas catch her. "Father!" He yelled. "Father, come quickly!"
Benjamin had just come back with the children when Thomas was yelling for him. When he saw Kristine he started to run. He took one look at Kristine and told Thomas to get her inside the house.

Thomas carried her up to the bedroom. It felt good being on something so soft.
Benjamin then yelled for Abigail to get some wet rags and some bandages.
Thomas looked over her carefully. "Will she be alright?" asked Thomas.
His father said nothing.
The younger children then came in but told them to go away. They moved back uneasily, not wanting to go.
Abigail then came in the wet rags and bandages. "Thomas, you leave as well."
"But father!"
"Now, Thomas."
Thomas looked at him clearly upset but he had no choice and walked out, feeling frustrated.
"Abigale, I want you to clean her up as best as you can. When you are done come get me. There are a few questions she must answer to me." Benjamin then walked away leaving only Kristine and Abigail together.

When Abigale was finished fixing her up, she only found a few scratches here and there.
"Water..." Kristine said forcefully.
"What was that?"
"Water...please..."
"Oh! Of course!" After Abigail finished up she ran to the kitchen to get Kristine some water. When she came back Kristine slowly sat up with some pain shooting through her body.
Abigail also had a clean dress for her to put on. It was a cream colored dress with little beads on the top of it. She handed Kristine the water and waited as she drank every last drop there was.
"If you could stand up, please," she said holding the dress in her hands. Abigail skipped the corset and just put on an extra shift to cover her up. It was a good thing too. Kristine's ribs hurt from falling all over the place.
As she slowly worked at getting it on, Abigail tied the back for her in a nice big bow.
"Thank you, Abigail."
"Oh, no need to say thank you, miss. I am happy to help you," she said with a smile.
She lied back down on the bed. "Abigail?"
"Yes, dear?"
"If you ever need any help, just let me know."
Abigail smiled. "Will do, dear. Now get some rest. supper will be done in a few hours."
Kristine rested her dizzy head on her pillow and tried not to worry about anything. She closed her eyes, no longer having to fight sleep.

Before she could fall asleep. she jolted forward after hearing a sudden knock at the door. "Come in."
It was Benjamin.
"Hi, Mr. Martin. Thank you for earlier."
He smiled a bit and pulled up a chair next to the bed. "Kristine, I have a few more questions I would like to ask you."
"Go ahead."
He cleared his throat. "Are you fighting for the British?"
Kristine's mouth dropped. How could he say such a thing? "What?" It was all she could say.
"Are you with the British?" He repeated.
"No! No, I'm not!"
Benjamin shook his head. "I'm sorry, but you must understand that if you are, you are putting everyone here in danger."
"I swear to you! I'm not with them. You must believe me!" Kristine said quite forcefully.
"Okay, okay. I trust you. Just one more question," He took a breath before he talking again. "Why do you keep disappearing?"
Kristine was stumped on what to say. She had nothing to answer him with. "...I..."
"Yes...?"
Kristine stayed quiet.
"Thomas told me the last time he saw you, you went out to the outhouse. Is that true?"
"Yes, yes. That's true." She went along with Thomas's lie.
"What happened after that?"
"I...I was taken from two British soldiers." She lied.
Benjamin looked convinced enough and told her that supper was now ready. "Do you feel well enough to eat with us?"
She nodded. "Sure. I will eat with the family."
He helped her stand up at first but then she told him that she felt well enough to walk the rest of the way.

As Kristine made her way to the dining room to eat with everyone else, she spotted Thomas sitting at the table, saving a seat for her. She took the seat and smiled at Thomas and then at everyone else at the table. They all seemed relieved to see that she was okay.
Kristine was now somewhat part of the family for staying with them for so long also. She then felt someone grab her hand and looked over at Thomas. He was looking straight ahead.
To not cause any suspicion, Kristine slowly looked down and saw that Thomas was holding her hand. She blushed a little.
Thomas was crazy to love her because not only did he believe she was from the future, but he had lied for her too.