The mailman was an older fellow who had been delivering mail at Nettie's for ten years. He knew that she had taken in a hoard of children that would always rush him every time they saw him. Always looking for a letter without a return address.

He stopped his little car at the end of her driveway and watched as the little boy who always was the first to arrive came up to him.

They're just as lively as the dogs that chase me for mail. He mused.

Vin ran up to him and asked out of breath, if there was a letter without a return address.

Before Vin could even finish however, the mailman produced an envelope.

Vin took it from his hands and ran back.

The mailman sighed and put the rest of the mail in the mailbox.

"Guys, there's a letter!" Vin called to the others.

Buck was the first to turn up and grabbed the letter from the younger boy's hands.

"Hey, I had it first, Bucklin!" cried Vin as he reached for it.

"Well I have it now."

The two fought over the letter till Josiah came and took it from the both of them.

The others finally arrived except for Ezra who was absent.

"Can you read it outloud?" asked Nathan.

Josiah began.

Hey everyone,

I hope all is well and that you're having a good time with Nettie. It's been over a year since I last saw you all and I miss seeing you guys and hearing your voices.

I'm good over here. I have a nice family that I was staying with while I saved money. They call this place Purgatory which I think suits me a little. They keep calling me Didi, which I don't quite understand. There hispanic and speak spanish mostly so maybe Inez knows what that means.

The weather will be changing soon. Almost Thanksgiving. Probably will be by the time you receive this letter. Makes me miss you guys even more.

Have a good rest of your day and I'll write soon.

P.S. I have a private message for Buck at the bottom of this letter.

Buck snatched the letter from Josiah and eagerly read his personal note. The smile he had on his face fell. The color almost draining from his face before he bolted from the group without saying a word.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Vin.

"Do you know what it said?" asked Nathan to Josiah.

"All I could glance at before he took it was the name 'Sarah' and 'Adam'."

"Sarah." Vin said thoughtfully.

"That was the girl that Chris liked!" said JD, remembering for the group.

"Who?" asked Inez who didn't hear the story before.

"Chris really liked this girl named Sarah back at home and accidently got her pregnant. That's why he was sent away." JD explained.

"You remember some things way too well than others. How come you forget to do your homework each night?"

"I don't think it's all that important." JD shrugged.

"But who's Adam then?" asked Inez.

JD closed his eyes as if it helped him to remember.

"It was the name they had chosen for the baby if it was a boy if I remember correctly." said Nathan.

"So Sarah had the baby and it's a boy!" JD said happily, bouncing up and down. "That's great. Another Larabee!"

"Then why did Buck look distressed." Josiah said thoughtfully.

The others stopped their enthusiasm.

"Do you think something is wrong with the baby?" Vin said finally.

"Only one way to find out."

They all went looking for Buck who had hidden himself in the stable.

"Hey Buck, Sarah finally had her baby. That's great right?" JD asked.

Buck shook his head.

"No, it isn't great or no she didn't have the baby?" Nathan asked for clarification.

"There's no baby." Buck said in a low voice.

"But the letter said Adam right? Wasn't that supposed to be the son's name?"

"There were complications."

"Like what? Was the baby born prematurely?"

"No! The letter didn't say, ok!" Buck shouted as his eyes welled up with tears.

"What happened, Buck?" asked Josiah softly.

"Sarah's dead and they couldn't save the baby. Sarah, poor sweet thing. She wasn't even in high school. She never got to go to a school dance. Never went to a school game. She never got to experience life." Buck let the tears run as he kept talking. "Poor Chris is by himself. Probably blaming himself for their death."

"I'm sorry, Buck."

The others tried to comfort their distressed friend but he kept going on about how Chris would need it more than him and he was by himself.

Vin and Inez stood back from the others since it was already crowded.

"I think we should tell Ezra what happened since he wasn't here." Vin suggested.

"He's with Mr Travis so they should be calling later on tonight."

Ezra stretched his aching limbs and yawned. He'd been sleeping the whole journey to Denver and now he was sore.

For the past year, Mr Travis would take Ezra out to search for his family. He'd first started out looking for his mother, but then decided that looking for an aunt or uncle would work just as well. Perhaps one of them would even know where she was.

They were going to stop in Denver and then move on to Dodge City, Kansas in the morning.

Traveling made him a little faint and he'd either pass out or feel sick for the entire journey.

That was probably why his mother didn't take to bringing him on every trip she took.

Ezra sighed and set his little backpack down on the bed. He crawled over it to the phone and dialed Netties.

He'd promised the others that he'd call once they made it to the hotel.

The phone rang twice before it was picked up.

"Greeti-"

"Ezra is that you?"

Ezra shook his head, same old Vin.

"Yes it is indeed. Did your letter finally come in from our Mr Larabee?"

"Yes."

Ezra slumped. He wanted to be there to hear what was written.

"What did he say? Did he say where he was?"

"No, but there's some bad news."

"What?" Ezra asked even though he was unsure if he wanted to know the answer.

Vin read the letter over the phone to Ezra and explained his concerns about parts that Ezra didn't understand.

Ezra thought over the letter he was read. Vin's lack of skill in reading made it harder to concentrate on, but the younger boy explained it well enough afterwards for him to understand what was going on.

To his prior experience in situations like this, he knew that Chris was trying to not cause worry for the others while he wrote at the end what was eating away at him.

It was like when he had to do cons with his mother and pretend to be something he wasn't.

Vin went on to say that Buck didn't think Chris was doing to well after hearing the news.

"That maybe Vin, but it's not like we can just go and get him. We have no idea where he is."

The speaker changed and Inez spoke.

"Ezra, I know you're out searching for your family, but could you keep an eye out for Chris."

"I always do, but I don't exactly have anything to go on to give me a place to start. Has he ever mentioned any landscapes or names of buildings in his letters?"

"He did mention a place called Purgatory in his letter if you remember."

"That could be a nickname or anything." Ezra said as he ran a hand over his face.

"Can't you narrow it down? He's staying with a hispanic people in a place called Purgatory and received the name Didi."

"What does Didi have anything to do with it?"

"Didi means 'warrior of the people'. He must be getting into a lot of fights with a lot of bad people."

"It also sounds very feminine." the boy chuckled.

"It was probably a girl who gave it to him."

"I guess I can look up places that have places called Purgatory with a lot of gangs and violence that is in a hispanic populated area."

"Thank you."

"Is that all then?"

The speaker changed once again and it was Buck speaking, "If you do find Chris, please tell him it wasn't his fault."

"Will do, Buck. See ya'll later."

He waited to hear everyone's goodbyes before hanging up the phone.

Laying down he thought over all the information he'd been given.

"How are your friends?" asked Travis.

He'd been in the bathroom during the call.

"They're well, but a bit distressed. Perhaps you don't mind if we switch our traveling destination a bit?"

"Where did you have in mind?"

Ezra pulled the little map that he kept in his backpack and unfolded it.

He looked over places in the Colorado area and hoped that he'd get lucky. He wasn't disappointed.

"Here." he pointed at a spot on the map, "Colorado Springs."

"What's in Colorado Springs?" frowned Travis.

"Purgatory." Ezra grinned as he circled the spot with a marker.

A/N: I feel pretty proud of myself for actually coming across a place in Colorado with a street named Purgatory Dr. Sorry these chapters are so short. They'll pick up and get longer soon i hope.