The Secret of Craigmoor Cave

Chapter 2

It is the year 1878, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Byron Sully with his dog, Wolf and his son, Brian Cooper have been out hunting and decided to take a break. They choose to take shelter in the cave that is just a few miles from their homestead. This cave is all too familiar to them, it has been used quite often through the years. They dismount their horses, and grab their canteens, lanterns, blankets, and the food they brought.

The three of them approach the cave and walk inside. As soon as they are inside the cave, Wolf decides to start exploring the cave. He sometimes finds some interesting things and brings them to Sully or Brian. Sully and Brian leave Wolf to explore as they turn on the lanterns. The light coming from the lanterns leaves different shadows on the walls of the cave. Sully spreads the blanket out and lays it on the floor of the cave as Brian sets down the basket of food. Just as they sit down to begin eating, they hear Wolf whining quite loudly. It's so loud, it's echoing through the cave. Sully and Brian give each other looks of confusion as they get up, grab a lantern, and follow the sounds of Wolf's whines.

Before long, they find Wolf, his whines have quieted some when he sees that they have arrived. Sully approaches Wolf and scratches his ears.

"What is it boy? What did you find?" Sully asks him. Wolf whines in response.

"What did Wolf find, Sully?" Brian asks.

"I'm not sure, Brian." Sully replies as he steps closer to whatever it is Wolf has found.

Once Sully has gotten close enough, he realizes that it's the body of a person. They are lying on their stomach, their body twisted in a very unnatural way. There is some type of strange looking bag lying near them, and some kind of funny looking device clutched in their hand.

Sully proceeds with caution as he rolls them over onto their back. He gets a good look at them and realizes that it's a female. With the clothes they were wearing, and they way they were laying, he didn't realize that they were female. She's wearing clothes that he's never seen before.

"Who is that, Sully?" Brian asks.

"I'm not sure, Brian. But she's hurt, so we need to take her to the clinic so your ma can take a look at her and hopefully figure out who she is and where she came from."

Brian nods.

"I'll go gather up the blanket and the basket of food, so we can go."

Sully nods before responding.

"Good idea. I'll meet you outside by the horses."

Brian nods as he leaves to take care of the food and blanket. Sully very carefully picks up the girl and carries her out to the waiting horses.

Since it will prove too difficult to put her on the horse with him, Sully decides to carry her, while Brian guides the horses. Wolf walks ahead of them, leading the way.

Meanwhile at the clinic…

Dr. Michaela Quinn sits at her desk at her clinic finishing up some patient files before closing for the day. Her four-year-old son, Joseph is asleep upstairs, her 6-year-old daughter, Katie is still in school, but will soon be done for the day and will be coming to the clinic afterwards. This pregnancy has been incredibly hard on her, mostly due to her age. This will be her last pregnancy and last child, with her being 44 years old. She couldn't handle another pregnancy after this, let alone childbirth. After she gave birth to Joey, she wasn't expecting to get pregnant again, but apparently God had other plans. Michaela believes that God blessed her with this pregnancy to make up for the miscarriage she had before getting pregnant with Joey. That miscarriage was devastating for both she and Sully, but thankfully they were able to work through their emotions and deal with their loss.

Suddenly the silence is broken when Katherine Elizabeth Sully bursts in the door, slamming it behind her.

"Hi, mama!" Katie greets her mother cheerfully.

Michaela smiles at her daughter briefly before admonishing her.

"Please keep it down, your brother is upstairs asleep."

Katie acknowledges her mother with a nod as she sits down on the bench next to her mother's desk.

"So how was school today?" Michaela asks her daughter.

"It was good, mama. Mrs. Slicker had us learn some arithmetic today."

Michaela smiles at her daughter.

"That's wonderful, Katie. Do you have any homework?"

Katie shakes her head.

"No, not this time but Mrs. Slicker said she will probably give us homework tomorrow."

Michaela nods as she finishes up the last of the patient files. She stands up, stretches, rubs her stiff neck, and then runs her hands across her swollen abdomen.

Katie happens to notice this.

"Is the baby kicking you, mama?" she asks.

Michaela looks down at Katie and nods.

"Yes, the baby is kicking up a storm right now, but I think it's because I haven't eaten in a while. I'm sure the baby is hungry as am I."

"Do you wanna go get something to eat at Grace's, mama?" Katie asks.

Michaela nods and smiles.

"Sure, just let me run upstairs and get your brother and then we can go get something to eat."

Katie nods as Michaela goes upstairs to grab her son.

Meanwhile…

Sully and Brian finally make it into town. Brian takes the horses over to Robert E.'s as Sully takes the stranger over to the clinic.

Sully opens the door to the clinic and enters. He closes the door behind him and then immediately sees his daughter Katie.

Katie jumps up at the sight of her father.

"Hi, papa!"

"Hi, Katie! Where's your ma?" he asks.

"She's upstairs getting Joey so we can go get something to eat at Aunt Grace's. Who is that you are carrying in your arms, papa?"

"It's a girl that me and Brian found in the cave near the homestead."

Sully gently places the girl on the examining table.

"Michaela?!" Sully hollers.

Michaela runs down the stairs at the sound of her name being called. She enters the room where Sully and Katie are.

"Sully, what is it?" she asks as she puts Joey down.

"Me and Brian found this girl lying in the floor of the cave near the homestead. We brought her here as soon as we could."

Michaela grabs her stethoscope and begins examining the girl. She listens to her heart and hears a slow but steady heartbeat. She then opens each one of her eyes and her pupils are dilated, she then opens her mouth and looks at her throat and in doing so, Michaela notices something very strange.

She stands up and steps away from the girl. Sully notices this and his curiosity is piqued.

"What is it, Michaela? What's wrong?" he asks as he picks up Joey.

Michaela looks at Sully with a concerned and worried look on her face.

"Sully, there's something very strange going on here."

Sully looks at her confused.

"What are you talking about? What do you mean, strange?" he asks.

"Did you notice anything different about this girl when you found her?"

Sully nods.

"Well yes as a matter of fact. I noticed her clothes; they look very different from anything I have seen, and I didn't even realize it was a girl until I turned her over onto her back."

Michaela shakes her head.

"When I was looking inside her mouth just now, I noticed that she has metal brackets on some of her back teeth. We don't use metal brackets on teeth, Sully. Not in 1878. We must figure out what's going on and where she came from. We need to get some answers."

Sully just stands there quietly in disbelief. He doesn't know what to think or say because nothing like this has ever happened before.

Michaela finishes examining the girl and assesses all of her injuries and tends to them properly. Once she has done that, they decide to leave the girl alone and let her rest while they go to Grace's to get something to eat. Hopefully they will get all the answers they need once she wakes up.

A short time later…

Sully, Michaela, Brian, Katie, and Joey have finished eating and have made their way back to the clinic. Once inside, Michaela checks on the girl and she still hasn't woken up. This has Michaela concerned because her pupils were dilated when she checked them earlier, which means the girl has suffered a serious concussion. Michaela is worried that the girl won't wake up. She decides to check her eyes again and when doing so, the girl starts to wake up.

Michaela gets Sully's attention.

"Sully she's waking up, she's opening her eyes. "Sully comes over to stand beside Michaela to watch the girl open her eyes.

I felt someone trying to force my eyelids open, but my eyes didn't want to cooperate. I can feel myself slowly entering consciousness but can't quite get my eyes to open. I keep telling myself to open my eyes, to wake up. I'm in the state between awake and asleep but my brain isn't quite getting the message. I suddenly feel someone once again trying to force my eyelids open, but they are unsuccessful. I finally manage to slowly open my eyes, but things are blurry as I blink my eyes a few times to try to get my eyes to focus. As my eyes open more and more, things start to become clearer, I notice two people standing above me, a man and a woman, two people I don't recognize. These people are strangers to me, they aren't my parents or anyone else in my family. Once my eyes are completely open, the man and woman smile at me.

"Hi, there. I'm Dr. Michaela Quinn and this is my husband, Sully. He and my son found you and brought you here. I'm going to take care of you and help you find out who you are and where you came from."

I look at her with confusion, but understanding because her smile is so genuine, and I know I can trust her. I nod my head and smile back at her. I try to say something, but I can't seem to find my voice quite yet. My throat is sore, and my mouth is dry, I lick my dry lips. The man that she called Sully took the hint and brought me a glass of water. The doctor put the glass to my lips and held the back of my head to help me drink the water. The cool liquid felt amazing as it hit my dry lips and tongue and soothed my sore throat. I felt the water as it hit my stomach. She pulled the glass away from my lips and I nodded my thanks to her.

Sully took the glass from the doctor as she looked back down at me with two different colored eyes. I hadn't noticed that before. She then spoke to me.

"Are you in any pain? If you are I can give you something."

I nodded.

My head was pounding, my sides hurt, my legs hurt, and my throat was sore. She smiles and nods as she steps away to go get the pain reliever for me. Sully steps away for a moment to tend to a little boy who I am assuming was his son. I smile as I watch them for a few moments and then a little girl steps up to my bed. She smiles at me. I smile back at her.

"Hi, I'm Katie. That is my papa, my brother Brian, my little brother Joey, and the doctor is my mama." she tells me as she points to each person.

I nod and smile at her.

The doctor brings me something in a glass and helps me drink it. I'm not sure what it is, and I give her a look of confusion after I have drank it. She notices my look of confusion.

"It's laudanum, a liquid painkiller. It will help ease the pain you are feeling." she explains.

I've never heard of this laudanum before but I'm in pain, she's the doctor and I trust her.

After a short time, the pain has subsided somewhat, and I am able to sit up and get a better look at my surroundings. I look around and I can't believe what I am seeing. I notice the clothes that everyone is wearing, the furniture, the walls, the ceiling, the wood burning stove in the corner, and the gas lanterns on the walls. I'm finally able to speak.

"Where am I and what year is it?" I croak.

Sully, the doctor and Brian all look over at me.

The doctor approaches me, takes my hand in both of hers, and looks me in the eyes before answering.

"You are in Colorado Springs, Colorado in the year 1878."

To be continued…