This is Prompt No. 83-Choices

The night before she and Anna were scheduled to leave for the north, Mitchie lay in bed, tossing and turning. She knew that Anna had watched her for a long time, a sympathetic look on her face, but Mitchie didn't speak to her, and she finally rolled over with her back facing Mitchie and went to sleep. Mitchie knew that she couldn't back down from her offer now, but questions now haunted her mind, pulling her from the sleep she craved.

"What if everything doesn't go as planned?" she wondered. She bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut. Of course they would! What could go wrong now? Mitchie's trunks were packed, filled with Mitchell's clothes at the bottom and a couple of dresses she had picked out for Anna as a wedding present, and two dresses on the top to complete the deception that all the clothes were really hers. There was nothing that could go wrong there.

"What if we don't make it out of Virginia?" she thought. Of course they would! She knew she was being silly, but it was rather calming to go over every aspect of their plan. She and Anna would leave in the carriage and travel to the edge of town where cotton fields stretched on for miles and no one could see the transformation. Mitchell would meet them there, he and Mitchie would switch places, and then Mitchie would head out to the training camps disguised as her brother. Then, Mitchell and Anna would safely travel to the north and settle somewhere safe, getting in touch with Mitchie somehow later.

"What if someone recognizes me as a girl?" Mitchie wondered, and a new thought sent panic rippling down her spine. Her hair! Her hair was far too long to pass for a boy's. She reached up and fingered the silky locks that she had carefully braided before she went to bed. Mitchie realized that the only option was to cut her hair short. "It'll grow back," she reminded herself gallantly, trying not to think too much bout shearing off her tresses.

"What will I do if they put me through drills?" Mitchie wondered, remembering back to what Mitchell had explained about the training camps. All they really taught was how to load and shoot a rifle and cannon. She could do that, couldn't she? After all, it wasn't like she was actually going to use it in battle, right?

"How will I convince them that I'm sick?" Mitchie questioned herself, moving through her list of calming plans. Easy. She knew exactly where the small bottle of vile tasting liquid was that Anna had slipped into "Mitchell's" bag that would make her quite sick. After five days of fever and vomiting, it would wear off. By that time, Mitchie had guessed, the commanding officers would be tired of caring for her and would send her home.

"Perfect," she thought, and mentally went through her wardrobe in the hopes of putting herself to sleep, but even that could not help her relax and get to sleep.

Mitchie tossed and turned, trying very hard not to wake Anna up. Anna, she knew, would have a hard day tomorrow, and she didn't want to add to the mental stress of being kept up at night. She turned for a moment onto her side so that she could watch her friend sleep. It was slightly unerving to Mitchie that this would be the last night she would ever share a room with her friend. Soon, Anna would be a married woman, and Mitchie would probably be back at the plantation once again, the "repentant" daughter who had made such a tragically misguided mistake.

"Right," Mitchie muttered out loud, rolling her eyes. As if she would ever regret what she was doing for her best friend and her brother!

As she turned over, determined to get to sleep, Mitchie suddenly remembered something. A grin spread across her face and she pushed back the covers, climbing silently out of bed and slipping her robe on. She crept to the door and opened it as quietly as possible. As she looked back at Anna, still sound asleep next to the fireplace, Mitchie smiled again.

There was one last thing she was going to do before she left to become Mitchell Torres.

A/N: Comments? Please? :D