Unshaken

Love Come Back

Liam rode the next day around the town, seeing how things were holding up. He stayed careful not to be seen. He then remembered something crucial that had happened when he was on the streets of Rhodes when he was only thirteen. The Gray and Braithwaite shootout of 1895. He remembered it like it was yesterday.

He was with his best friend and who he thought would be his future lover, Lynne. She also went by Fire Falls, the name given to her by her parents. She was only a few months older than he was. She had long dark hair and piercing amber eyes. Her tan skin had shown her Native American heritage. Her beauty was unmatched to him. Liam fell in love the day he first met her. She was doing the same as him, just trying to survive. Her parents had been killed by the federals because they didn't want to be persecuted up to the Reservations in the Grizzlies. She merely escaped and lived on the streets. Liam would sneak her in some nights and his grandma would scrape up enough food to feed her. They spent almost everyday together. Most days they would run through the backwoods of Lemoyne and play in the bending creeks that would run through. They would stare at the twinkling stars in the night sky and talk about their futures. They laid on the dew-covered grass one summer night. "I wanna leave this place, with you." He told her. She smiled. "Me too." Lynne said planting a kiss on his moonlight-covered cheek.

Every day with her was bliss for him. One day in the blazing summer of 1895, Liam brought her to the general store to buy her a necklace. Her purchased it for five dollars. He'd spent months saving his money. She smiled as he handed it to her in the store. She gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. His face turned the color of a peach. He was in love. They walked out into the street heading to the post office to pick up mail for the veteran who'd lost a leg. As they walked through the streets, a man had screamed. They turned towards the Sheriff's Office to see what was happening. The Braithwaites were surrounding the building. They raised their guns and started to shoot. Liam grabbed her hand and started to run. Grays came from behind the two, shooting at the Braithwaites. As the they ran, Lynne tripped. He went to help her up. She cried out. He knelt down. He went to pull her up when he felt blood. The red started to spread across the dirt road. She rolled to her back. She had been struck in the abdomen by a stray bullet.

She stared up at him. He knew. "It's gonna be okay. We just need to get you somewhere safe." Liam told her. "Liam. We both know I'm not leaving this dirt road." She said in a quiet and strained voice. "I love you." She told him, her eyes welling up with tears. "I love you too, I always have." He told her. His heart was beaten. "You mean everything to me." He softly told her, holding back tears, stroking the hair out of her face amidst the chaos erupting around them. He hoped a bullet would hit him too, so he could be with her. Her eyes closed with her last breath as he held her. The tears came. He wept holding her lifeless body in the middle of Rhodes. The shooting didn't come to a halt.

Nobody cared. With no spirit left to live, he held her and carried her to their favorite spot, overlooking Flat Iron Lake. The body of water they dreamed of crossing one day in search of a new life. He dug a hole all night long with any sticks and rocks he could find. He placed her body in it, along with some Daisies that were nearby. He stared at her body before putting the dirt back on. She looked so beautiful to him. Every scoop of dirt he threw into the grave took a piece of his heart with it. He crafted a wooden cross with both her name and her name from her parents carved into it. He then carved a flame surrounding her name. She was his fire. Bouts of sobbing came periodically. He sat the rest night watching over her grave, not ever wanting to leave.

Liam snapped back to reality. He was back in the present. Tears welled up in his eyes on top of Colter. He quickly rode to the spot where he'd buried her those years ago. He removed the weeds to reveal a beautiful red fern sprouting from the center of the grave. "The sacred Red Fern. You told me only angels could plant it." He said in amazement and sorrow. The clouds shifted and the light from the sun shone through the trees onto the plant. He looked out onto the lake. "I miss you, old friend." He said. He looked over to see a pure black horse neighing and rearing. It's eyes were a piercing amber, just as hers. Liam stared in amazement as the magnificent creature stood between the trees and sunlight. They met eyes, and the beautiful horse trotted off back into the woods. It was her. He just knew it was. "You always believed in that sort of thing." He said to himself, sitting for a while. He then climbed onto Colter and rode off, looking back one last time before heading back to Rhodes.