•Tombstone• Brothers Under The Sun

Chapter 31

𝓘𝓽 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓭𝓮𝓬𝓲𝓭𝓮. 𝓣𝓸 𝓵𝓲𝓿𝓮, 𝓸𝓻 𝓽𝓸 𝓭𝓲𝓮.

Everything was still. The air was warm and inviting. The sun shined down of the grass. The sound of birds chirping filled the air, they flew to trees that stood nearby. Opening her eyes, her face glowing in the sun light.

She wasn't sure how long she had been lying on the grass, watching the clouds roll by, making shapes from their fluffy exterior. Sitting up she looked around and put her hands through the grass, as if it were hair. Pulling a few pieces she heard a horse approach the grasses plains.

Turning, she saw a horse. On the horse was him. He smiled down at her as he jumped off the horse.

Ellanora stood up from the grass and watched him walk closer to her.

"Henry." She gasped.

"Elle." He grinned at her and looked her up and down.

Ellanora, overwhelmed with emotions, lunged forward and embraced him as tight as she could. The smell of hay and wood filled her senses. Henry wrapped his arms around her, engulfing her with his body.

They both stood in the grassy field, holding each other.

Henry pulled Elle off and looked down to see her crying. Her eyes puffy red with emotions.

"Why are you crying?" Henry asked softly.

Elle sniffed and gestured to him, "You're here. You're alive."

Henry frowned at the girl. "I'm gone my love. You know that."

Elle took a step back and wiped her tears away. "I know but," she looked around the field, "how are you here."

"I'm here because of you." He smiled.

"Me? What did I do?"

Henry stepped toward her and grabbed her hands. They were bigger then Ellanora's, and very warm. "Your dying."

"Dying?" Elle questioned.

Suddenly the grasses plains faded away and both her and Henry were in a hotel room. Laying on the ground was a cowboy with a knife in his hand, ready to attack Elle.

The whole scene played out, the knife in her leg, the cut on her cheek, her shoulder. Elle stabbed the cowboy in the chest. She then stumbled back and feel unconscious.

"I'm dying." Ellanora whispered to herself as she looked at her unconscious body.

They were suddenly transported to an empty void. Everything was white, no grass, no blood, no sun, no birds. Just emptiness.

"This is a critical moment."

"What do you mean?" She asked Henry who stood next to her.

"This is the moment where you decide if you want to live, or die." Henry watched Elle as her brain fumbled with his words.

"How do I choose?" She looked up at him.

"With you life."

Flashes of Ellanora's life came into view. A memory of going into town with her father played. She was maybe seven years old. A toothy smile escaped on her lips as her father put her on his horse. They rode the streets and watched people pass by.

Another memory of her mother chatting Eliza, Elle 13, she looked at the ladies in the fancy dresses. They walked with their head up high and Eliza told her to never grow up like them, her mother shaking her head at Eliza.

When she first met Henry caught her attention. She was 19, he was 24. Henry was just hired by her father to help with the cattle farm. He was alone and wanted to make a living. Elle stood on the field, brushing the horses, in the distance Henry was introduced to Ellanora's mother. He looked over to the field and saw the young Ellanora brushing the horses. Her cheeks flushed red and she turned away from his gaze. Henry chuckled and walked with her father to help fetch the cows in the field.

Suddenly the memory she dreaded came. The day they all died. Elle sat next to three crosses, covered in dirt and a shovel next to her. She had just buried her mother, father and lover. Ellanora was only 23.

Her many travels came next, from parts of Mexico, to closer to the star of California. But mostly in Arizona. Her many games of poker and keeping her head down, avoiding the local people.

Her meeting Virgil appeared, a younger Virgil. His kind eyes and smile, greeting her with open arms. Elle turning him down and running.

Tombstone was next. Ellanora was now 26. She saw Fred White, his kindness and gentle heart. He was with Morgan. His boyish charm still lingered at that time. Next was Wyatt and Virgil. The three Earp brothers laughing and chatting with Ellanora.

Doc Holliday came into view. His charm and ego as big as ever. But his kind caring side showed throughout their time together. The time she stayed with him, when he himself was on deaths door. Their walk in the dark after the show, their many conversations in the Oriental.

The shooting at the O.K Corral haunted her memories, following it was the death of Fred White and Morgan Earp. Their bodies now six feet under. Her friends.

The Earp ride, the reckoning. The many men they killed in the name of the ones they lost from the cowboys. Everything they lost. The bond she had created with Texas Jack, Turkey Creek, McMaster's, Wyatt, and Doc.

Ellanora was snapped back to herself and watched as Henry walked in front of her.

"Did you have to make this decision yourself?" Ellanora's voice cracked.

Henry looked down at his hands, "I did."

She let his words sink in for a moment, "You left me." Elle begged as tears feel down her face. "You left me all alone!"

"Because I knew you could be something more then what I could have given you." He said to her.

Elle looked down to the ground in anger. Henry stepped forward and lifted her head up, seeing the anger and sadness cloud her face.

"I still love you. I always will." He said smiling weakly to her.

Elle leaned into his touch, feeling everything in her break into pieces. Her heart crying.

"I don't want to leave you." She cried.

"I know." Henry said hugging her again.

Pulling away, Elle saw they were back on the grassy field. The sun still shining and the grass still green as ever. The birds sang their songs as Ellanora watched Henry walk back to his horse.

He climbed the horse and looked back at Elle who stood there crying.

"It's time to choose." He said putting his hand out for her to take. "To live the rest of you life, or stay with me."

Ellanora looked at his hand, the offering to climb on the horse and run away. Looking behind her she saw Ash, her own horse, waiting for her to live. Looking back at Henry, his hand was held out to her.

The chance to be with him, was right there.