The Yankee Captain

Destiny Calls

Today was the day. I looked at myself in the mirror as I began to brush me teeth.  Today was the day I was going to be able to see the actual places I have been so obsessed with since I was sixteen; since the dreams started.

I remember it clearly, I had just turned sixteen and I had the most vivid dream. I was always in a white dress that was so long it touched my feet. I knew it wasn't from this time; I wasn't in the present in my dream but in the past. 

The dream was foggy and I would start to walk forward hoping for it to clear up. I couldn't see the ground but I could tell it was grass; until I would hit the first body. A dead soldier in a grey uniform lay on the ground, he had a missing leg and his abdomen was torn open. 

I covered my mouth so I wouldn't cry out at the sight. I knew I needed to keep walking to end this nightmare so I stepped over the body and continued on. Barely a foot from the first body was another then I realized they were everywhere. The fog cleared and I could see a battlefield as plain as day. Fires were scattered along with broken cannons and shredded flags. 

I would try and move forward but I would just sink into a hole in the ground. Hands from the darkness would pulling me down further and further into the ground. I started to scream as I grabbed anything that would keep me above ground but there were so many hands.

My head was below the ground now but I wouldn't give up. I kept screaming for help as I tried to use the outstretched hands as steps but the light was disappearing as I fell deeper.

I slipped further into the hole and all I could feel was the cold. I let out one last scream and reached for the top, a hand reached out for mine. The difference in this hand was that it was attached to a person who was still breathing.

I held onto that hand with all my might as it pulled me towards the light. I was almost out of the darkness when I saw the most electrifying blue eyes. I started to fall into those eyes as I ascended from the dark chasm. But before I made it to the man who saved me, I would wake up.

 I had this dream once or twice a week for the last seven years. After the first time I looked up the uniforms from my dream and realized that the soldiers were from the Civil War. I then spent my free time researching the Civil War; I wanted to find those eyes.

 I made my obsession a career and now I work for the National History Institute in the 19th century department. I specialize in the 1860s and I love every minute of it. I didn't realize I still wanted more until I got the best phone call I have ever had from the well-known scientist, Dr. James Taylor.

Dr. Taylor has won many awards on his time-travel theories and for the last ten years has been funded by some very wealthy people in order for his theories to become reality. Dr. Taylor has finally done it and he has asked me to lead this expedition into the past.

I continued to brush my teeth and get lost in the excitement of the pre-travel jitters. I began to go over what all Dr. Taylor had said to me on the phone. He said three others would be joining me and that I would meet them when I arrived at the lab.

 I am glad that I would not be traveling alone but I couldn't help but wonder about the others. They, of course, needed an extended knowledge on the time we would be traveling to, which is the Civil War era. But I haven't heard of any colleagues enlisted in this journey and there aren't many specialist of this particular war.

I sighed as I spit toothpaste into the sink. I just needed to stop worrying about things and trust that the good doctor knows what he is doing.