DISCLAIMER: I only own the new family, and the plot twists, however many there may be. I DO NOT OWN any original characters or any music, or famous people or events you may see in the chapter. Read on. :)

Genevieve Point Of View ~ Chicago, Illinois ~Summer of 1918 ~ Ten Years Of Age

I sighed as I woke up, looking up at the ceiling. I suppose I couldn't put it off anymore. I'd have to go visit them today. Father already passed away and it was only a matter of time before mother… or even my brother did as well. I sat up in my bed, and looked out at the quickly approaching dawn. It just wasn't fair. They all got sick just before my birthday, and we didn't even get to celebrate it before they fell deathly ill. I pulled my legs to my chest and hugged them close.

A child like me shouldn't be having such grown thoughts like these. Yet here I am. Forced to grow up because I was faced with the impending gloom of becoming an orphan. A few tears escaped and I quickly wiped them away as the woman that owned the halfway house, Amelia, the same one that had been looking after me, came up the stairs to my room. She opened the door. "Genevieve? Oh you're awake. Good. Get dressed and come down to help with breakfast. The postman came round with news last night. Said that your mother was awake and talking. Asked for you. Thing is it may have been old news, he said the doctors gave him the note to give out yesterday, but his brother, the normal postman fell ill and he couldn't bring the post around. We'll leave as soon as breakfast is over." I nodded vigorously and she closed the door, descending the stairs quickly.

A bit later we were seated in her horse and buggy, a doll in my lap, my heart somewhere around my feet. If mama was asking for me, she was probably near her end. It had only been a week since my last visit, and her doctor said that I shouldn't visit too often, in fear of me catching the influenza as well. As I teared up, my gaze turned to the doll she made me, laying across my lap. As I fingered the soft yarn hair I sighed. Mama wouldn't want me sad. She would want me to be thankful that I hadn't fallen sick. I carefully dried the tears with my fingertips and looked to my right, out the gap where the window was. We were nearly to the hospital already. I cleared my head as no not let mama catch on that I was worried about her. Though I wasn't sure about my brother's wellbeing, or grasp on reality. Amelia, the house woman, said that there was no report on him.

The buggy came to a sudden stop, and I stepped out after her. We went inside the building and very quickly you could sense the desolate and hopeless atmosphere. A nurse standing just inside handed us cloth face masks to tie over our nose and mouths. Amelia did hers first and then helped me with mine. I clutched the doll close to me as we followed the nurse down the hall, and Amelia explained who I was. They talked, but I wasn't really paying attention to them. I saw through several doors… I pretty much saw death. Dead people, or people close to death. People deteriorating, coughing, feverish. In comas. You name it, they were filling the beds of the hospital. I felt a hand take mine and I looked up to see Amelia, saddened eyes, for a reason I don't know. She pulled my hand until I was in step beside her again.

"Genevieve. Your family is in this large room here. The nurse said that they had to be moved from the smaller room once your father passed, which I don't think is true. The small rooms are meant for families, and it's still a family. Given it's your mother and brother after all." She paused in front of a doorway. "I'll be in these seats here. You yell if anything happens, alright?" I nod and fix my dress, and then push the curtain in the doorway aside, to go see them, for what I know may be the last time.

Avoiding the many beds and faces in the room, I look telltale signs of my family, their hair familiar hair. Realizing that I can't find her, I ask a nurse. "Can you tell me where Elizabeth and Edward Masen are, please? " She pauses as she wipes a man's brow. "Masens?" "Yes ma'am." "I believe they died overnight. First her then the son. The influenza wiped out the whole family if I heard correctly. Real shame." I stood speechless, tears dewed in my eyes and running down my cheeks. The nurse finally turned, realizing that I was quiet. "Ma'am… Oh… You're young… You didn't say who you were sweetie, why were you looking for them anyway, were you a relative?" I just whimper in response… and then shake… "I was…her daughter." She gasps, almost clasping her hand to her mouth, then realizing where she is as she goes pale. "Oh my… is there anyone with you sweetie?" I nod blankly as I point towards the door and slowly shuffle towards where there are two beds empty in the room, the only two in the room in fact.

She almost runs out, no doubtedly to tell and retrieve Amelia as I sit on one of the beds. This was where one of them laid their final days. Either Edward, my dear brother, or Elizabeth, my mother … I finally broke down in tears, sobbing uncontrollably as I curled up in a ball on the bed. I touched the pillow and I heard the crinkle of paper. I lifted it and pulled out a small piece, barely the size of my hand. I recognized my mother's handwriting.

I love you my son and daughter. Live on for me.

I hid it quickly, underneath my dolls dress and rebuttoned it so it would stay in place. I looked about and stifled a whimper when I recognized Edward's baseball mitt, just lying on the floor under his bed. He must've had it with him when they were admitted, because when they came we all thought they weren't very sick. I stood up and grabbed it just as Amelia and the nurse reappeared, Amelia's face ashen and tear stained, the nurse looking shell shocked. Amelia simply takes my hand and we leave the dark place, now holding only death and despair for me as well.

Sometime later finds me on the porch swing at Amelia's Boarding Home, fingering the soft leather of Edward's mitt, remembering when Father bought it for him. It was before a White Sox game… and Father told him that he wanted to catch a ball. I remember Mother just laughed and laughed at him before we left. How Edward ran and dove for every ball that went towards the stands, and eventually actually caught one. And the surprised look on Mother's face as Edward walked home proudly with it, and Father had me on his shoulders, bouncing me every once in a while, making me laugh.

A breeze picks up my hair and I look up to it. Mourning is eminent I suppose, but death is as well. Mother said to live on in her note, and since Edward's not here to do it, I shall do it for both of them, and for Father as well. Eventually I'll go home and get some belongings, like more clothing, and a trunk will be needed I know. Maybe some books. And I'll probably go to live at the orphanage. I know I can't live at Amelia's forever, though she's a nice enough person, there's really not enough room for me here. The swing continues to move slowly as I look out off the porch quietly. So much for me to know, and think about. I suppose I should go to the Masen house tomorrow, and get my things from my room… and maybe a necklace of mothers. Just so I have a thing of each of my family to remember them by… And maybe Father's bible… I nod. Nothing too valuable. Nothing that would be noticed that would be missing. The sun sets in the distance and I rise to go to supper. Soon I probably wouldn't even have this freedom. I hear orphanage life isn't all that pleasant.

I pull my trunk to the bed assigned to me and sit on it. To my right sits cross-legged a blonde girl on a bed, and to my left a book case with a small window over it. "Hello there, what's your name?" Genevieve, what's yours?" "Nellie." "So how come you're here? My parents were killed in a steamboat accident." … "My parents and older brother died of the Spanish influenza." I slowly pushed my trunk to the foot of my bed and then fixed my bow in my hair, at the base of my neck. She frowns. "When did it happen?" "About a week ago now… Yes, I think. The funeral was three days ago." She frowns even more, then shakes her head, causing her braids to shake. "I'm sorry Genev… Can I call you Gen?" I chuckle, for the first time in a long while. "Yea, I know it's a strange name to say at first." We both smile and she moves to sit on my bed. She was ten, like me, and she'd been here for about three months. Apparently some of the kids here got sick, which is why it was pretty empty, but I didn't mind it. There were a few kids, but it wasn't crowded. She said there were chores but I didn't mind that. There was a girls dorm room, which we were in, and there was a boys dorm, across from ours. All of the girl's beds were in one room, and I'm sure it was the same dor the boys. I didn't mind that either. Maybe because most of them weren't occupied at the moment, I wasn't sure. She went to a trunk eventually and pulled out a photo of her parents, and I did the same, a family photo. We traded and showed each other the past that we left behind. And in each other found a future that could potentially turn out bright, like a flickering candle in the night.

A/N: Weren't expecting that, were ya?... Well if you were, darn, lol. At least hopefully I surprised you with the POV change and the time travel? Yes? YAY! :D By the way… You guys should review. -bats eyes- It shows us authors that you like the story. Even if it's a HEY DIS IS GOOD. :P Just saying. It makes us want to write more, you know? The more reviews I get, the longer the chapter. :) xoxo, Tiffany