Anne

Chapter 3: The lie

                                                                                          1861

Anne is now 13 and has grown to 5'4. It was known about the Civil War going on. People talked about the war, and multiple of Miller's children signed up for the war. There were limited nurses in her local area, which left there being posters around town, begging for volunteers. Anne wanted to be one, to help and she thought about it and decided she would. Anne read so she could know what would be needed and made up a plan to pretend to be 16 years old and would go under her old last name of Foy. She took some stuff and told her parents that she would get herself a job, which was alright with them as this is 1861, and child labor was normal.

Anne took her stuff and went to volunteer as a 16-year-old Anne Foy. They asked if she knew how to and she told them what she knew and they just led her to a tent because they needed nurses just as much as they needed soldiers. She took care of the soldiers and prayed with them. Nobody ever questioned Anne as she did a better job than many male and female nurses and kept a good attitude. She went with the army during the war and did a good job of making sure her job was done. It made it sad but she felt like she was helping. She would stay during the full war. She kept up her work and would write letters to loved ones of fallen soldiers or soldiers that were wounded so much that they needed to go home.

She soon started to have to go out in the field. It was quite scary to be one inch from being hit while trying to help people or pray with them or put in cannonballs. She had her hair in as best of a bun and wore a hat and dark clothes so blood would not be easy to notice. She wore nothing fancy, which she did not expect as it would be ridiculous to dress fancy while trying to help people dying of sickness or shock.

Anne was not a stranger to soldiers yelling and hooting at her or trying to touch her while she was working or cleaning up wounds. She did not let her upset her as it was normal. A certain soldier would hoot at her all the time and flirt. His name is Darrick Lennon but everybody called him Darry. He was a 14-year-old soldier with red hair and handsome hazel eyes. He liked to flirt with the nurses or any women who came by the camp and had a tendency to wander off while hunting. He loved causing a big ruckus. One day while they were eating by the fire, the boys were talking about who they liked.

"Frank, where is your girl?" David asks with a big smile on his face.

"My girl is at home, she is a work of art. I love her with all my heart." Frank says, showing a photograph of his fiance, "I am going to marry her after the war. She sends me letters every month, So what about you, Darrick?"

"I do not have a girl, I'm thinking of making that nurse girl mine. She's a stunner and I am going to make her mine," Darry tells him.

"Dude, I believe in you. You go get her!" Another dude says, pointing her out as she walks to her tent to write home. He runs to go to her tent.

"Hello miss, how are you?" He smiles at her.

"What you'd guess, how are you?" Anne says, looking exhausted and sitting down.

"I am good, I'd like to tell you that I like you."

Anne smiles a bit at him, "That is sweet." she says.

He then kneeled next to her before uttering, "One day I will ensure you never have to worry."

"Oh?" Anne asks, sitting and writing. She looks at him.

"You are so beautiful. Your green eyes are like gems that only the rich could own." Darrick tells her, sitting down next to her.

Anne did not know what to say but she found him very charming. She would slowly fall for him.

Darrick just talks to her and they end up talking for hours. By the morning, they both were asleep. They get woken up in the morning to do their stuff. Anne put letters with other letters that need to be sent. She continued to do her job. They had to move soon for the sake of battle and set up a nurse tent to take care of people.

They would continue this every day. After battles, soldiers did their drills and got mail, which put joy in the camps. Darry liked to visit Anne before and while she was in her tent. After she washed her hands, she went with him to her tent and he gave her a piece of banana bread his parents sent him. They ate some of the bread and spent time together. People made jokes that they were a couple and he suggested that they should be. They decided that would be a bad idea as they would get too attached, and what if something happened to one of them? They wrote each other love poems over the weeks and months.