My dearest Annalise, I am writing this for you. For you to learn about my life, for you to learn about what's important. For you to learn about true strength, true love, true friendship and true hope. To you I tell my past. To you I tell my story.
"Have you seen my journal?" I lost my sketchbook and can't find it any where. I keep playing back my day in my mind. I woke up this morning, got dressed and started walking to school. Someone, I think it was the neighbor boy, ran into me and I dropped my bag and all my stuff. I picked it all up with barely any help from that boy. Then I went to school, we didn't have art today, so I didn't get a chance to take my sketchbook out . After school I saw a beautiful bird in Mrs. Spencer's yard, so I stopped to take my sketchbook out and draw it. When I looked in my backpack I discovered it missing. I hurried back to where the neighbor knocked me down and looked all around the yards near. I even stopped to ask a few people if they have seen it. I got home feeling defeated, but determined to find the book. "How in the world did you lose that thing?" My Aunt Ethel asked me, " It is practically connected to you." I started to play the day over again in my head when to doorbell rang. I ran up to get it, thinking it was the babysitter back with Willy. When I opened the door I saw the neighbor boy. Holding my sketchbook. "Hello." He greeted me with a nervous smile. "I believe this is yours." He held out the book straight in front of him."What are you doing with my book?" I nearly yelled at him. "That is mine! Didn't you know it isn't nice to steal." His face cringed after I said steal. I smiled at that. "Why hello!" Aunt Ethel said from behind me. "Who's this?" She said, now directing the question to me now. Before I answered that thief interrupted."Hello,Ma'am." He bowed his head slightly. " I'm Charles.""He stole my sketchbook." I said sternly with a scowl on my face."Oh, so I see that you have found Rosie's book." Aunt Ethel said, not even paying attention to what I just said. "Thank you." She took the book from Charles, but didn't hand it to me. "I was nice meeting you ma'am." Charles nodded again and turned away from us. I slammed the door and stomped back to the dining room. "That is no way to behave to a perfectly nice boy!" My aunt scolded me. "Sorry." I mumbled, but didn't really mean it."If-" Just then the doorbell rang again. I assumed it was the neighbor boy and opened the door saying,"What do you want now!" I glared, then I saw that it wasn't Charles, it was Willy and the babysitter."Sorry Amanda, I thought you were someone else." Just then Willy, my little two year old brother squealed. "Wosie!" He put his hands in front of him and reached for me. Amanda handed him back to me then she walked away. "Aunt Ethel! Willy's back!" I set Willy down so that he could run to Aunt Ethel. "We're you a good boy?" She asked him."Yeah. Yeah. Berry Gwood. Berry Gwood boy." Willy said, Since he was only two he still talked like a baby. "Rosie? Will you go get the newspaper?There is some money in the cookie jar." I really didn't want to walk down the block to the newspaper stand, but there was no way I would be allowed to say no to Aunt Ethel. "Sure Nana. I said." That was what I used to call her when I was little. That was what my parents taught me to call her. Before they left. My father went to go fight in the war and my mother was so torn by his leaving that she forgot to care for herself. When Aunt Ethel, still Nana at the time, started taking care of Will, who was only nine months old, and me my mother was sick. The town doctor only gave her a few months to live and sure enough she was gone a few months later. Now I only call Aunt Ethel Nana sometimes because I always reminds me of my parents and that they both left me.I was so deep in thought that I hadn't even realized that I was already at the paper stand. Guess who was selling the paper? Charles. Without making any eye contact I asked for a paper. Charles didn't realize that I didn't want to talk to him and started talking to me."Hello Rosie. It's nice to see you again." He waited for me to respond, but I just crossed my arms and started walking away with the paper I grabbed. He didn't follow me, knowing that would be rude. I was half running, wanted to get away from that thief. When I was just a few houses away from home I slowed to a walk so that I could calm my heart before Aunt Ethel noticed that I was running. As I walked I started to read the paper and saw the front title. Influenza Hits Hard. I had only heard of Influenza a couple times and all the times I'd heard of it someone died from it. This was the first time that I had heard of it here in Bennington, Oaklahoma. I was sure that the paper was exaggerating. However, I still had to talk to Aunt Ethel about it. As soon as I walked in the house I ran took her holding out the paper. "Look! Look at what this page is about." I held out the paper out in front of her face so that she could read the title."Influenza Hits Hard? Well, isn't that a creative title." She didn't even seem surprised or scared. She wasn't even interested!"Aren't you scared about getting it? Influenza is here in Bennington.""Of course I'm scared about getting Influenza. I just had already heard about it so the shock has kind of gone away." She said calmly again."You knew and you didn't tell me? Why did you keep it from me?" I nearly yelled at her. "Do not raise you voice at me young lady!" Her cheeks started turned red as she started to scold me. "I thought you would react just like this so I decided that you didn't need to know yet." I was going to find out about it anyway. Why did she have to keep it from me? Even though I was still furious I apologized any way."I'm sorry Aunt Ethel. I didn't mean to yell or make you mad." She hugged me and then I left. Over the next few weeks six of the kids in my class got sick and many small businesses on my street and the ones around me have been shut down. Also the teachers are talking about stopping school until Influenza dies down. Some of the kids in my class are excited for school to close, I wish school wouldn't close. It's not like I'm someone who always wants to be at school, but not that they are closing school, it just makes this all feel more real. Things were starting to get really bad, many of our neighbor's moved out, or they moved away to somewhere without the disease. One day Aunt Ethel pulled me aside, " Rosie. Do you remember that boy Charles, out neighbor." That's when I realized that her eyes were watering and she had red rims around them."Oh, no! What happened!" I was afraid that he had died, I didn't really like him that much, but I had been awfully mean to him since the day with the sketchbook. Now I felt terrible about my behavior."Well, his father had left him when he was a little boy, and his mother has gotten sick." She paused there, I think she was expecting me to say something, but I didn't' know what to say, so I just nodded slightly. "His mother doesn't think that it is safe for him to be around her, with her catching the flu and all, but she doesn't know what to do with him." Oh no. I started to realize where this was going. "I offered for him to move in." She continued, and before I could respond she said more, "It doesn't look like she will live much longer, and she doesn't want to put him with someone that she doesn't know. So we agreed that I would take care of him for now.""What! I yelled. Why would you do that! You know I can't stand him! What-" Aunt Ethel cut me off."It's not permanent, just until someone else will take him." She said calmly. I stormed up to my room, I was irritated with her! Why would she do this! Why would she offer that! I was ready to go back downstairs and try to convince her to change her mind, but then Willy started crying. Both my aunt and I ran into the kitchen to where Willy was crying. He didn't look hurt but he was sweating really badly, and he was crying so loudly that I had to cover my ears. "Willy, honey. Tell me what's wrong with you?" My Aunt still had a small sweet voice, however, her face looked terrified."Tummy.Tummy." He just kept repeating the same word over and over again. Aunt Ethel started to pick him up, just as he was in her arms he hurled. Puke was all down Aunt Ethel's whole back, and on the floor behind her too. "Oh, no." She said. She rushed to lay Willy down in his bedroom, and then she rushed to the kitchen to grab a cool, wet cloth. the whole time I just stood there watching in shock. As Aunt Ethel asked passed me again she said, "Rosie can you go run and get the doctor." As I grabbed my coat and opened the door she added, "Oh, and cover your nose and mouth with something."I grabbed a scarf hanging in the closet and wrapped it around my face, only leaving my eyes exposed. When I got to the doctor's house he wasn't home, but his daughter, who sometimes helped her father with his appointments, left a note saying where she was and came with me to see it she could at least diagnose Willy. When we finally got to the house, she only took one look at Willy and was positive that he had it. He had Influenza, and he had it really bad. She said that Willy was still so young so it would be hard to cure him, plus he was one of the worse cases she had ever seen. "I'm sorry Miss, I wish there was more I could do." The doctor told us when he got to our house. The worst part was that I couldn't see Willy. I couldn't go near him, to tell him that it was going to be ok. I couldn't hug him or kiss him or tell him I loved him. The doctors and Aunt ethel were too worried that I would get sick with influenza. I just didn't understand, if Aunt Ethel could talk to and touch Willy, why couldn't I?The days continued to be miserable, and each day Willy got worse and worse. After nine days passed, he couldn't handle it any more, and so he let go. The preacher came to our house to bless Willy and say the final goodbyes for a while, until we see him in heaven again. Nowadays funerals were quick and easy, so many people were afraid of this disease, and so nobody came to funerals, and so many people were dying that the preacher had to wrap stuff up quick to go to the next funeral."William John Lester was a sweet gentle boy. He was still innocent, and he had only lived in this sinful world for two years. He will be missed, but he has given hope to us, hope that we will see him again in heaven one day." That is how the pastor concluded his funeral. Willy was much more than what the pastor said, Willy was too many word to describe. Willy died too young. The next few weeks were hard on Aunt Ethel and me. However, it got even worse for me when Charles moved in. Charles moved in to Willy's old room. It was like he was here to replace Willy. Willy was just a stand in until Charles could move in. I promised to myself I would try to be nice, but with the timing it just made things harder. Then, as if I was getting punished for something, I was sent away to live somewhere else with Charles. What happened was that a week after Charles moved in, the doctor showed up at our door and told us Charles' mom, Margaret, had passed away. Charles was devastated and didn't talk to anyone, besides his normal manners, for three weeks. Just as Charles was starting to be normal again, we got a call from my Aunt Ethel's message from my Aunt Ethel's best friend Ruthie. Ruthie too had caught influenza, and it has gotten bad enough that she is on her death bed. That was what snapped Aunt Ethel."That's enough of this!" She yelled. I had never heard her yell like that before. "I have saved some money for you two." She took a deep, shaky breath and continued, "I want the two of you to go. Go away from this place, get away from this disease."She nearly pushed us out the door, she already had bags packed and she handed us our coats and lots of money. "Nana, what are you doing?" I was shocked, she was sending us away? What did we do wrong. Then she said, like she had read my mind, "It wasn't anything you did. It's just not safe for you here. Your mama told me to do whatever it takes to keep you safe, and this is what is best for you."She then kissed both Charles and my forehead, "I love you both." she said, "I love you so much. Be good, use the money wisely and don't come back until this disease is gone."What about you?" Charles asked her. "Are you coming with us?""No. I'm staying here. Wrap your faces before you go and stay safe. I love you. Goodbye." Then she shut the door on us and we ran as fast as we could. We ran to the train station where they tested up for Influenza, then helped us onto the train towards Missouri."Rosie? Are you ok?" Charles looked at me with worried eyes. I hadn't even realized that I was crying until he wiped my wet cheeks."Really, how can I be ok? We were just kicked out of the house. Don't you care about Aunt Ethel? What will happen to her. She sent us together so we could protect each other, but what about her? Who will protect her?" I started sobbing then. He hugged me and I wasn't even awake enough to push him away. I was too tired. I was too upset.When I woke up I felt horrible. I was shaken away by Charles, since it was out stop to get off. "Is she ok?" Someone asked. I couldn't see who, it suddenly got hard to keep my eyes open. I felt strange and hot and light headed. All I could manage to say was, "Char-" Then everything went black. I felt cold arms wrap around me and drifted into a sleep."Shh. I think she's waking up!" A whispered voice said, "Go get a her doctor. He's going to want to know she's awake."When my eyes fluttered open I didn't recognise where I was. I was in some off white room with a big curtain wall around my bed. "Where am I?" I asked the unfamiliar lady standing in front of me. My voice sounded raspy. "You are at Children's Mercy Hospital in Missouri." A male's voice said. There was a doctor behind the lady, he must have answered my question.Why am I at a Hospital? Suddenly I remembered it all. "Where's Charles?" I asked in a panicked voice. "Is he ok? Am I sick? Do I have influenza? Does he have influenza? Why am I here?What-""Calm down." The male's commanding voice said, "We don't know who you're talking about. We were called you pick you up at the train station. The train driver thought you had Influenza. You don't. Has something tragic happened to you lately, because in the results that we concluded, all it shows is that you are perfectly healthy, you just were overwhelmed and so you fainted." He told what happened to me, but what happened to Charles?"Was there someone on the train with you?" He asked me. I hadn't even noticed, but the lady nurse left, I wished she stayed though, because she looked less scary."Umm. No, sorry my bad I thought there was but there wasn't" I answered him. If Charles had left me, then he probably didn't want me any way. "So were you traveling alone?" The doctor looked worried, but suspicious. "Yes. I was trying to get away from Influenza." I lied again. I really hope Charles is ok, but if he doesn't care about me, why should I care for him?"Ok. Do you want to tell me where you live?" "Umm. No thank you." Aunt Ethel said to not come back until the disease is gone. "Ok.Then here's what we'll have to do." He took a deep breath, "We'll send you to the German Protestant Orphan Home in Kansas City. I heard it is a great place and the owner is a real sweet lady. We'll buy you some clothes first, and then you'll be there by tomorrow evening."I was startled. There was no I way I could go to an orphan home, I still had Aunt Ethel, I just can't be with her right now. And Charles, I know I didn't like me anymore, but still maybe I could do something to change that.I must have had a panicked look on my face because then the doctor said, "How about I let you process this for a little while. It is a big change, maybe you should get some fresh air. Just ask for Dr. Herish if you need anything and I'll be right there."I took a walk outside, I hadn't seen a clock yet, but I was pretty sure that it was getting close to the evening. I decided to sit and rest by a tree near the woods. I had only been there for a few minutes when I heard him."So, what are we going to do now." Charles asked me. I was surprised to see him here, but acted like I knew it all along so that he wouldn't make fun of me. I told him about the orphanage and what the doctors planned to do. After I finished, we sat there in silence for quite a while, until all of a sudden Charles jumped up. "I have a plan!" he nearly shouted. "Shh! Do you want people to notice you!" I scolded him. I pulled him back down to sit down to me again. "I have a plan" He repeated, but in a whisper this time. He then leaned closer to me so that he was whispering in my ear. "Ok. So I will fake to be sick or hurt or something, and you will bring me into the hospital after 'finding' me in trouble. They will find out that I am ok, and then ask me where my parents are. I will tell them that I don't have a home or parents and then they will send me and you both to the orphanage.Finally we will escape the orphanage and travel until we can go back home." By the time he was finished he was almost shouting again, he was filled with excitement about this plan.I didn't see any flaws in his plan so I agreed to do it. Before I could ask when to do it Dr. Herish yelled for me, telling me that it was time to come in. The Doctor scarred Charles and he jumped up to fast that he wasn't careful and hit his head on a tree branch, he fell to the ground unconscious. "Dr. Herish, help!" I screamed as I realized that Charles wasn't faking. Dr. Herish rushed over to my side, "What's wrong?" He asked me with a startled voice. I couldn't find my voice, being scared to death about losing Charles, so I just pointed frantically toward Charles. "Oh!" He exclaimed and then called for help.Charles was rushed into the hospital and I followed the doctors in untill they wouldn't let me go further. Dr. Herish asked one of the nurses to escort my to my bed so that I could rest. "You have a big day tomorrow." He said and winked, reminding me about the orphanage. By the time that I was settled, it was dark outside and the stars were shining bright. The nurses tries to get me to eat, but I was too worried about Charles and how our plan would work now. That night I had a restless sleep, if you could even call it sleep, every time my eyes were starting to close I remembered how Charles looked unconscious startled awake again. By morning I had gotten only about two hours of sleep. However, as soon as I saw light coming in through the window, I jumped out of bed. I asked a nurse, who had watched me throughout the night, about Charles, but she said I had to talk to Dr.Herish about it. When I asked her where Dr. Herish was, she gave me a book and told me to wait patiently for him on my bed. I could tell this was going to take a while. When Dr. Herish finally came, he told me that Charles was asking for me. When I asked about Charles' condition, he said that all Charles has is a really ugly bump on his head. When I got to Charles bed, I ran up and hugged him. Charles and the doctor both were surprised at this, I never really had hugged Charles before, and the doctor didn't know that we know each other. Charles recovered from his surprise quickly. "Rosie! I am so glad to see you!"Then the doctor recovered from his surprise, "Exactly how do you two know each other?""Well," Charles started, "We were traveling together, then she got sick and I wasn't allowed to come here with her. I did secretly follow her here and then when I saw her outside I went to talk to her. That's when I hit my head on a tree branch and got knocked out."Dr. Herish's eyebrows scrunched in confusion, "Where are your parents then?" He asked both of us, probably assuming that we were siblings. "We don't have any." Charles pretended to be sad. "They died a few years ago and we ran away so that we couldn't be put in an orphanage.""I'm very sorry, about your parents, but I have to send you guys to an orphanage.""I know. I just kind of hoped you wouldn't." Charles said with a sad, shaky voice."We planned to take Rosie down to the German Protestant Orphan House, Kansas City this afternoon and it looks like you are well enough to go this afternoon too. I'll go find you both some cleaner clothes" Then he left the room. "How are you feeling?" I asked Charles."I'm fine. My head barely hurts any more." He assured me. "Plus," He continued, "now our plan is really going to work, we just have to change up a few things." I spent the rest of the of the morning with Charles, playing games or taking walks.Then I went back to my bed to eat and get ready for the orphanage. Charles took my bag with him when he went to follow me to the hospital so we told the doctor that we didn't need him to find us any clothes.Once we got to the orphanage Charles and I were separated. Charles stayed with all the boys in one room and I stayed with all the girls in another room. We were told to unpack our bags and put our belongings in the dresser shared with our roommates. Then we were called down for dinner at five o'clock. After dinner we had free time until eight, which was our bedtime. During our free time Charles and I met up in the girls room because all the girls liked to meet downstairs and talk to all the boys, but Charles and I wanted to be separate. "So, what the plan?" I asked Charles, he was better at making plans than I was. He mad the last plan and it worked just fine. "Let's stay tomorrow so that way we can see what the schedule is like so that we can know when it would be a good idea to leave."I didn't really like that plan because that would mean that we had to stay here longer. However, I couldn't object before there was a knock on the door. "Umm, come in." Charles answered to the knock. When Miss. Keller, the orphanage director, walked in with a surprised face."Oh! Charles! I didn't expect to see you in here." She paused and waited for an explanation for Charles being in the girl's room. When we didn't give her one she continued, "Well, that just makes my job easier now I don't' have to find both of you I can just talk to you both at the same time." She handed us each two pieces of paper. One was a schedule and the other sheet of paper was a list of rules. The first rule was highlighted brightly. NO BOYS IN THE GIRL'S ROOM AND NO GIRLS IN THE BOY'S ROOM. "Sorry. I didn't know about the rule." Charles apologized and left quickly. Miss. Keller left right behind him. Then a few minutes later, after reading the rest of the rules, I came up with a plan and ran to go find Charles. Once I got downstairs I saw Charles sitting on a chair in the corner playing what looked like truth or dare with the other boys and girls. He waved me over, and so I walked over slowly and kneeled by his chair. "This is Rosie." Charles introduced me. "We traveled here together."Everyone looked curious, but no one spoke except one girl with thick orange curls on her head. "It's nice to meet you Rosie, I'm Janalise." The girl held out her hand to shake mine and smiled politely. I shook her hand and said, "It's nice to meet you too." As soon as I said that the game resumed and the loud talking continued. I really didn't pay attention much to the game. The game continued for about ten more minutes before people were starting to get bored and went to get ready for bed, even though there was still half an hour until we really had to go to bed. Charles bent down and whispered in my ear, "Let's go over in other living room and talk." I nodded in agreement, not forgetting why I came down here in the first place. Charles stood and excused himself and I followed him to the other room. "I have a plan." We both said at the same time. "You go first." Charles said, always being polite. I would have said no and made him go first, but I was really excited about this plan. "We should leave early in the morning tomorrow. Miss. Keller's schedule says that she wakes up and has midnight snacks ready at eleven for if someone is hungry or can't sleep. We both should go to get a snack at around twelve twenty and bring our bags with us. Then we should sneak out when we say that we are going back up to bed. The only reason that we can't do it before that is that people might not be asleep and might notice us leaving." When I finished my plan I smiled, feeling accomplished for actually coming up with a plan that might work. "That was exactly my plan." Charles said with a smile. "It's perfect."We sat there, working out the final details of our plan. Finally Miss. Keller announced that it was time for everyone to go to bed, so we said goodnight and went to our separate rooms. That night I was so excited to leave that I didn't get any sleep at all. When I saw that the clock in the girl's room said twelve twenty I jumped out of bed, and nearly ran downstairs. When I got downstairs I saw Charles, Thomas, Janalise, and Mrs. Keller all sitting at the table eating cookies and milk."Why hello Rosie." Jennalise greeted me. "What woke you up?" Thomas asked me, he looked suspicious."I had a bad dream." I lied, I hoped my face looked like I had a bad dream."Are you ok?"Charles asked me. He was such a good actor that I actually thought that he might have been worried. "Yeah. I just had to take a walk to shake the memory away." I answered. Then I walked over to Charles and sat down across from him."Well kids, I'm going to go back to bed. Just make sure that you put the milk away in the fridge. Or I'll just do that now, if anyone else comes downstairs then you can give them some, but don't forget to put it away."I'm going to go back to bed too." Thomas said. When he walked up the stairs he tripped three times, sleep taking him over. "Why are you guys up?" I asked mainly Jennalise."I always wake up to help Miss. Keller take out the milk and cookies." She answered and smiled again. "I heard Thomas wake up and followed him down." Charles lied again. He was a really good liar, but I didn't know if that was bad or good. "Alright,I think I'm going to bed too. Have a nice night.""You too." Charles said.Once Jennalise was upstairs Charles and I got ready to go. We grabbed our bags that we stashed under the dresser next to the stairs and snuck out the window. Surprisingly it was an easy escape. We snuck out without anyone noticing, but ran until we couldn't see the house anymore. The rest of the early morning we slept under the stars and trees. It was perfect whether for a camp out anyway. It reminded me of camping with my friends when I was younger, and the few times I camped with Willy. I still can't grasp the idea that Willy is gone. He was such a little boy and his life was taken too quickly. "Are you ok?" I heard Charles ask, I guess I was crying, but I hadn't even noticed until I wiped my cheeks."Yeah, I was just thinking about Willy. We have done so much since that happened that I haven't had much peaceful time to think about it. I think part of it is that I miss home. I hate that this disease took over, and I hate that we were sent away.""Well," Charles said with a smile. "Guess what I found! I found a newspaper that said Influenza has left our town! We can go home." "We can go home?!" I exclaimed. "We are going home!" I was so excited that when Charles was talking about how we are getting home, I just kept repeating that we were going home over and over again."Rosie? Are you listening?" Charles asked, shaking my shoulders. "If you want to get home quicker, than we have to get to the train station now. I counted our money, and we have just enough to get two train ride ticket back home, and a little extra for food.""But we're going home, we really are going home?" I asked, still super excited that I was getting to see Aunt Ethel again."Yes Rosie, we're going home." I jumped up and hugged Charles. We ran to the train station-which took about an hour- and when we got there we stopped at one of the food markets near us and bought food for the rest of the trip. We counted the money that we had carefully and bought four apples, and enough bread for us to each for two days. "Let me see your tickets." The train conductor said."Here you go, sir." Charles responded, handing the tickets to the man. "You may aboard the train." The conductor helped me into the train and since we were the last ones, he walked to the front of the train and got to his place to start going. Charles and I sat next to each other in the the train. As soon as I sat down, I realized how tired I really was from that walk to the train station. I turned my head to see if Charles looked as tired as I was feeling, but when I looked at Charles next to me, he was fast asleep. I rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes to fall asleep too.I was startled awake when hunger took over me. Charles was asleep, but there was a apple core in his hand, so I assumed that he woke up and ate. I grabbed an apple out of the bag and ate it, it soothed my hunger almost immediately. Just as I started to drift off to sleep again, the train conductor called off our stop."Charles, Charles wake up!""Rosie...what is it?" Charles barely mumbled, still half asleep."Charles! We're home!" I exclaimed shaking Charles."What! We're Home?" Charles said, suddenly awake. "Let's go!" Charles and I ran as fast as we could off the train, then when we got off the train we looked through the crowds of people, seeing if we could find someone that we recognized. I didn't see my Aunt Ethel, but I did see my old teacher, Mr. Lumkee. "Mr. Lumkee! Do you know where my aunt is?" I yelled once we got to Mr. Lumkee. "I can't find her anywhere.""Rosie? Is that you?" He looked extremely surprised to see me."Yes, it's me Mr. Lumkee! Can you tell me where my aunt is?" I asked him in a yelling voice because the crowd was so loud."I'm sorry, Rosie." A tear slipped from his face, "So many were lost, so many were killed from the disease, your aunt was one of the last one that were taken over by it. I am truly sorry Rosie.""Aunt Ethel is gone....she's dead?" Now it was me who has tears running down my face, there were so many tears that I couldn't see anymore."I'm sorry." Mr. Lumkee said, and then he turned and left. I tried to walk, but the tears were uncontrollable, I couldn't see anything. Charles picked me up and ran to my old home. Once we got there, you could tell no one had lived there for a while. The door was unlocked, though, and so Charles brought me into the house and sat me down on the one couch in the living room. Then he sat next to me and hugged me. "I'm so sorry." He said, his voice was shaky, I turned to look at his face and saw that he was crying. I hugged him tighter. "We can get through this." He said looking at me. "We will do this together."
And so, Annalise, that is how your grandpa and I got close. That was just beginning of our relationship. When we got home from that journey, I was seventeen and he was eighteen. We lived in that house together, we got jobs and made money. We weren't rich, but we survived. Life was hard after I lost my family, but a few years after I lost my family, I got a new member, your grandpa Charles. We got married on June 17, 1921 and your mother was born three years later. We couldn't have been happier of how life turned out for us. I hope that in my story you did found out about my life, about what's important, about true strength, true love, true friendship and true hope. Love, Grandma Rosie and Grandpa Charles
YOU ARE READING
Influenza Hits Hard
Historical FictionMy dearest Annalise, I am writing this for you. For you to learn about my life, for you to learn about what's important. For you to learn about true strength, true love, true friendship and true hope. To you I tell my past. To you I tell my story.
