whaddup everybody this is a pretty quick update since it's been less than a month since the last one LMAO
this is where we start getting into the REAL adventure and realize what's really at stake here so suffice it to say i'm very excited to finally really dive into the world of 1860s america
that being said, i'm also not american so forgive me if something is wrong lol. the civil war and antebellum era have long been an interest of mine but i'm not an expert :P
The train ride was uneventful. The walk to town had been as well, the two girls walking as quickly as they could to catch as much of the waning daylight as possible. Max had exchanged her overalls for the set of clothes El had provided her with. From what she remembered learning about the era, she'd been expecting a big skirt and having to wear a corset, but El only gave her underclothes and a dress printed with tiny flowers, and then a bonnet for her head.
"Hoops are for ladies who don't have a farm to run," El had explained when Max asked. "The missus keeps one for special occasions. And I don't have a corset that would fit you, so your… bra will have to do."
The dress was quite nice, if a little long as El was taller than her, but Max was comfortable and she was glad that she could blend in. No one had looked twice at them on the train ride. The man at the ticket counter had seemed a squick mystified as to why two young ladies were buying tickets for the night train to the city unaccompanied, but he didn't stop them either.
On the ride over, El explained her plan. She knew a friend of the Wheeler family that had moved to the city a few years prior who would let them stay with her. El had visited the inn she ran with Mike after the move, as one of the sons had been his best friend. From there they could ask around about soldiers returning home.
Unfortunately, by the time they arrived in Indianapolis, it was the dead of night. It would be too dark and dangerous for the two of them to walk to their destination alone, so they decided to wait out the night at the station. At least inside the building there was some form of security. The girls picked a corner in view of both the ticket stand and the doors and El lay down to get some sleep while Max kept watch for them.
While El slept, Max looked around and thought about the situation. It was absolutely insane. How had she let herself come all the way here, to Indianapolis of 120 years past? She felt so far removed from her life, as if this was a fairytale or she was watching a movie. Union Station wasn't even a train station anymore in 1987! But it was all real; her hands on the dusty ground and her head against the hard wall told her so. Strangely, she didn't feel out of place. She felt that same sense of peace she'd felt in her dream about Dustin in the field, as if she was meant to be where she was.
She turned her thoughts to where they would be headed in the morning. She wasn't sure where soldiers would have enlisted, but she vaguely remembered something about camps in the city- had one of them been a prisoner of war camp? Max thought there was something to do with Fountain Square as well, because she'd lived near there and could recall learning about something to do with that. How she wished she'd paid more attention in history class… if only Dustin was here, or even Lucas. They'd know. Either way, she felt reasonably confident that she'd be able to navigate, even if this was the 1860s.
They switched places throughout the night, and when the morning sun rose El roused Max and the two of them made for the doors. The moment Max stepped outside into the light of dawn, the reality hit her again. Nothing was familiar. She'd forgotten that horrible, nauseous, twisting feeling she'd had the very first time she'd visited the past and realized she didn't recognize her town. The street outside was packed dirt and there were horse carriages lining up down the block, ready to ferry passengers to and from the trains. This was a street from another time; El's time, Mike's, and their family's. Not hers. This wasn't the Indianapolis she knew.
Max stood still on the steps, feeling dizzy and like everything around her was muffled. This wasn't supposed to be like this. She was supposed to know what to do, where to go. The city was her turf.
"Max?" Came El's voice. "Max, we've got to go. Are you alright?"
Max swallowed around the lump in her throat as she let the older girl take her arm and lead her down the steps. She couldn't let on to El how scared she was, not when this whole thing had been her idea. El would still be safe at home on the farm if not for her.
As they walked, neither girl spoke. El was leading the way to their destination and Max simply took in their surroundings, trying to tamp down her nausea. The feeling of being in a dream had completely disappeared. Why she had expected to see familiar, twentieth-century city streets, she didn't know, but she had. Maybe it was because so far everything had been either vaguely familiar or just somewhere she'd never seen the way it was now, like Union Station. She felt cold and lost, and only El's arm looped through hers kept her grounded. She only started to feel better when El stopped in front of a welcoming-looking building and announced their arrival.
Byers Inn, read the sign, and Max followed El through the door into a dusty entryway, dappled with sunlight. There was a desk with a bell on it, but no one was around. El reached for the bell and rang it quickly, stepping back as someone stumbled through another doorway. The person was a slight woman, thin and not any taller than Max herself, with her hair falling out of the bun it was supposed to be in.
"Mrs. Byers!" Greeted El, smiling.
Mrs. Byers blinked, looking between the two girls, and then seemed to recognize El. "Oh, Eleanora! It's been so long since I've seen you, dear. How are you?" She said, reaching out to pull El into a hug.
"I'm alright, all things considered," sighed El. Her voice sounded strained, and Max knew instantly it was a lie. Not just because the entire reason that they were here was that El was very much not alright; Max could tell that there was a lot on her mind. "This is my friend Max," she added, moving back.
Mrs. Byers smiled warmly at her. "It's wonderful to meet you," she said, proffering her hand to shake.
"You as well," Max returned, shaking the woman's hand.
Mrs. Byers looked between them again before clapping her hands. "Why don't you girls come into the kitchen? Did you come on the night train? You must be hungry." She kept talking as she led them down a hall toward the back of the building, turning left at the end to enter the kitchen.
"This is my son, Jonathan," Mrs. Byers introduced the man sitting at the table. He was leaning over a plate of scrambled eggs, scooping them up one handed. His other arm was wrapped in bandages. El had mentioned on the way over that he was only a few years older than them, but he looked much older than that. His face was tired and haggard, and from his arm Max could guess that he'd been a soldier sent home due to injury. He nodded at them in greeting, turning back to his eggs as they sat at the table. Mrs. Byers slid two more plates of eggs in front of them, each accompanied by a thick slice of bread.
Everyone ate in silence for a few minutes until Mrs. Byers frowned at the ceiling. "Where's Nancy?" She asked, turning to Jonathan, who was getting up to deposit his plate on the counter.
He shrugged. "She said she was tired. Might be down soon, but I'll go check." He left the room near silently, his footsteps quickly disappearing up the stairs.
"I suppose you're here to visit her?" Mrs. Byers asked the girls, turning back to them. "I would have thought Karen would come herself, being her mother."
El quickly shook her head, and Max realized she had missed something. She didn't even know who Nancy was, but evidently Mike had another sister. Either El had forgotten to mention her or Max had zoned out when she did.
"We're not here for Nancy," supplied El, tearing a chunk off of her bread. "Although I'd love to see her," she added brightly. "The babe will come soon, won't it?" El's voice sounded tight.
Mrs. Byers nodded. "Soon, yes. She's near always sleeping, tired as she is. Poor thing."
The three of them sat in silence for a moment longer before Max decided to speak. "We're looking for her brother, actually. El's worried because he hasn't come home or sent word yet."
"Have you heard from Will at all?" Asked El.
Mrs. Byers' face twisted anxiously. "No," she said quietly. "He never wrote much."
"Well, that's why we're here," Max continued, avoiding looking at the older woman and pushing her eggs around the plate. El was still tearing her bread to pieces. "We want to look for them."
Mrs. Byers didn't say anything for a moment, but then got up and started to slice the rest of the loaf of bread that was lying on the counter. "You girls should go home," she said, facing the wall. "You might be able to get some information at the camp, but I'd rather you send word to the boys and then be on your way."
Max met El's eyes from across the table, and they silently came to the agreement that their final decision would depend on what information they were able to find.
"Where might the camp be?" Questioned El.
Mrs. Byers was giving them directions to a place called Camp Sullivan near the centre of the city when Jonathan reentered the kitchen, awkwardly giving one-armed support to the heavily pregnant young woman Max guessed was Nancy. He'd hardly helped her settle onto the bench when El was already up and hugging her.
Giving them space, Max left the table and got Mrs. Byers to repeat her instructions so she could write them down. Upon realizing what the plan was, Jonathan immediately volunteered himself.
"I'll go up and speak with them," he said. "More likely as they'll help me than you."
"You will do no such thing," said his mother, exactly as Nancy said "Absolutely not!"
They all turned to look at her. She was glaring at Jonathan as she spoke. "You are injured and you need to rest. Especially when our child is this near coming."
Jonathan scowled. "My brother is at stake here-"
Mrs. Byers covered her eyes with a hand before turning back to the counter to ladle the soup she'd taken off the fire a few minutes earlier into bowls.
"So is mine," retorted Nancy. "El and Max can handle visiting the camp to ask questions, Jonathan, they aren't going into battle. You're staying here."
Jonathan didn't look pleased but he didn't argue any further, and El and Max's plans were set. Mrs. Byers told them to take their bags to the attic and started setting the bowls out, urging them to get going before all the guests started coming down for breakfast and crowding the kitchen. As they left, Nancy stopped them for a word.
"You'll find him," she said to El, who only nodded. "And thank you for helping," she added to Max, giving both girls' hands a squeeze before turning back to her breakfast with a sour expression.
They had nearly a half hour's walk ahead of them, as the camp was even further west of Union Station where they'd departed that morning. From the directions Mrs. Byers had given, Max had deduced that the place they were going was Military Park in her time. She'd been there before, and it made her feel a little more confident, but she didn't let her expectations rise. After all, it was currently a military camp, not the public park she knew it as.
El was quiet most of the way, only speaking when they ran across intersections and when Max asked her a question.
"Nancy knows?"
El looked at her curiously. "Nancy knows what?"
Max shrugged, wishing her dress had pockets she could hide her hands in. "The way she said, 'you'll find him' made it sound like she knows about… whatever's between you and Mike."
The brunette sighed. "Nancy has always known," she said, motioning for Max to step into the street after her as they crossed it. "She used to tell me that all he ever did was talk about me, before I started working for them. She teased us from the day I started until the day she married Jonathan and moved away."
Max didn't say anything, waiting for El to continue. A smile was growing on the other girl's face, making Max smile too.
"We were only twelve at the time," she continued, before shaking her head. "Well, I was twelve. He was thirteen."
"What a big difference," remarked Max dryly.
El let out a short laugh. "You're right. We were both children. I always felt something for him, and I thought he felt for me too, but I never said as much until we were older. After we met you, in fact."
"I remember," said Max. "I thought there was something going on with you two, and then when I went to town with him I asked him if you guys were together and he said you weren't. But then he went and bought you a bonnet ribbon," she finished, teasing.
El reached up to her chin and tugged on the ribbon tied underneath it. "It's this one," she said softly. "I've not changed it since he left."
Just like that, the mood was sombre again, as if clouds had rolled in overhead when in fact the sun was shining.
"You really miss him, don't you?"
El nodded, and Max thought she looked ready to cry. "I love him, Max," she confessed. "More than anyone else in this world. I don't know what I'll do if he's-"
"Hey, no," Max interrupted, steering them away from that possibility. "We're not going into this assuming the worst, okay?"
El nodded again, and Max took her hand as a gesture of comfort. They didn't say much else until arriving at the camp. At the gate stood a man in the blue uniform of the Union, who stood to attention when they approached.
"Ladies," he greeted, removing his hat for a moment in deference. He put it back on as he continued. "How may I be of service?"
El seemed unable to speak for the moment, so Max took over. "We're looking to find out whether our cousin is returning home soon, sir," she lied. It'd likely be easier to get information if they said they were family. "We haven't heard from him in some time."
The man frowned. "Which regiment was he in?"
Max looked to El for help, but she only shook her head. "He enlisted in the city, but I don't remember, sir."
He seemed to hesitate for a moment before turning to open the gate behind him. "I'll get you to speak with our commandin' officer. He'll have the enlisted names, and such."
He led them through the grounds, motioning for them to wait outside of a building that stood towards the back end of the camp. As they waited, Max looked around. There were few men remaining, but those who were there all looked incredibly drawn and tired, just as Jonathan did. Max had never seen the toll of war with her own eyes before. She knew people who had, of course, Lucas had told her his father was a Vietnam veteran, and she knew Neil was as well. But it was completely different to see it herself. The Civil War had been the bloodiest war ever fought on American soil, and it was obvious all these men still inside the camp resented being here. They should have gone home.
The man from the gate returned with another man, the commanding officer he'd mentioned. "Good day, ladies," said the officer cordially, even though he looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. "How may I assist you?"
The first man returned to his post as Max explained their situation once again, and then the officer led them inside. "When did your cousin enlist, miss?" He asked, opening a drawer in a cabinet behind the lone desk that sat in the room.
Max looked to El again, unsure.
"January of this year, sir," supplied El. "He signed up with his friend, as well."
The man hummed, withdrawing a stack of paper from the drawer and sitting down in the chair at the desk. "Name?"
"Michael Wheeler, sir," El continued. "And the friend is William Byers. We're here on behalf of his mother as well."
Max started to feel antsy as they stood there watching the officer flip through the list of names. She really didn't want to consider the worst outcome, but what if-
"Ah, here," said the officer, pointing out a pair of names in the middle of a page. "Mustered in together in March, 144th infantry." He frowned. "Now, let me see…"
El suddenly gripped Max's hand tightly, and Max squeezed back in reassurance. At least they had something now. The officer was digging through a pile of correspondence Max could see on the desk.
"Those boys have come and gone," he said. "They're still in service for a while yet. But you'll have to give me a moment, I'll search the recent list for you."
It seemed as though the entire camp held its breath while the girls waited for the officer to finish his search, and when he looked up with a disappointed expression, his bright blue eyes downcast, Max felt like her stomach had fallen out.
"I'm afraid neither of those names is here, ladies," he told them.
El had paled and covered her mouth with her hand, looking as thought she might vomit as she turned away from Max. The officer looked sympathetically at her.
"Are they- are they dead?" Asked Max tentatively.
The officer sighed. "Most likely," he said, and then flinched when El let out an ungodly noise and ran out the door. He sounded like he'd said the same thing a thousand times already. "There's no way to be sure besides going to Washington."
"What's in Washington?"
"Arlington," he answered, and Max remembered that name. It was the cemetery where a lot of casualties of the Civil War had been buried. "Or you can check the field hospitals, there's a lot of 'em. But you might have better luck searching for a grave."
"Thank you," Max said tightly, following El outside. Who said the boys were dead? If there was a possibility of them being alive, they were going to take it. How dare that officer be so hopeless after watching El nearly break down in front of him?
The brunette was leaning against the wall of the building, her face glistening with tears, and she sobbed as Max took her arm and led her back to the entrance.
"Max!" She cried. "I can't, I can't-"
"Let's go somewhere else," Max said, nodding to the man at the gate before taking El with her across the street. There was a grassy bank there, where she sat El down before sinking to her knees beside her.
"El, listen," she started, taking El's hands. Her heart hurt for her, knowing exactly what her pain felt like. It wasn't something she liked to revisit. "They might not be-"
"Dead, Max! He said most likely!" She wailed. "I can't go on without him, Max, I can't!"
Max frowned, unsure how to console her friend. She was never very good at addressing feelings. "El, you can. It's not easy but you'd live."
That was clearly the wrong thing to say as El only sobbed louder. "No!"
"El-"
"You don't understand, Max," she said tearfully. "I'm ruined! No man will ever take me as a wife now!"
Max couldn't think of why not for a moment (who wouldn't want a girl as lovely as El for a wife?) before it clicked. Ruined. Her eyes widened. "You guys slept together?"
A fresh round of sobs came out of El as she nodded, taking her hands out of Max's to hide her face in shame. Max scooted closer to wrap her arms around El's shaking shoulders.
"It's okay," she assured. "You love each other, you don't need to be ashamed of being together. And I don't think we should give up hope."
El didn't respond, so Max continued talking. "The officer said there's no way to know for sure unless we go to Washington, alright? We can go to Washington and look there. He said there's a lot of field hospitals."
A few minutes later, El had settled enough to speak again. "We can go to Washington?"
"Yeah," said Max quickly. "In fact, let's go check the train station right now and see what the fastest way is."
With that reassurance, El allowed Max to hoist her back to her feet, and they started on their way to Union Station again.
"Not giving up," said El, and Max shook her head.
"Not until we find them." Dead or alive, she thought, but not until we find them.
what do you think?
so Camp Sullivan was actually a military camp in Indianapolis in what is today known as Military Park, but it took me FOREVER to find out about it bc the internet didn't want to cooperate with me. my search history probably looks weird af rn lmao. the 144th Indiana Infantry was also a real regiment that mustered in in March 1865 and out in August 1865, which is why the officer says they're still in service. however i have no idea whether they went back to Indianapolis at any point, that was creative license
i also wanted to have a whole bit about Max describing how it feels to wear the historical clothing she's in, but then i remembered she and El likely don't have the same measurements and El probably wouldn't have had more than one corset anyway. this would have been purely for my own satisfaction because i LOVE historical dress and corsets are not actually a deathtrap, but it didn't fit so :(
anyway, i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and hopefully you'll be seeing the next one soon!