Hey guys! I decided to get it started with me writing a quick story! I really hope you guys like it! XOXO

Separated

ChloeCGS

My heart was in my throat as Jackson and I boarded the train in New York City that April day. A member of the Children's Aid Society led us to our seats and advised us, "Be sure to smile and make a good impression on the people you meet!"

At age thirteen, I thought myself lucky—at least I had my older brother at my side. I still could remember Mama humming as she cooked dinner and my father's smiling face, but they had both died. For months we had lived on the streets until the Children's Aid Society sheltered us. Now they were shipping us on an orphan train to a new home and a new life.

As the train gathered speed, I caught one last glimpse of the city, the only home I had ever known. The next few days blurred together as our train bowered over rivers, lush farmlands, and empty prairies . Where were we going, and what would happen to us? Our destination and future were unclear and unknown.

As I sat in my seat, squeezed next to Jackson, I couldn't keep my mind off of the comments the other 'higher class' passengers on the train were making. Especially, this one family, who kept looking at us and clutching their belongs close for safe keeping. They kept whispering to each other, and I was able to catch a few things they said. While I listened closely, I heard rude comments like, "Those filthy urchins," and, "Who would ever even want them?". People around them would snicker at the comments, most likely agreeing with them.

Jackson must have been listening in on their conversations as well because he stood bolt upright from the seat. Everyone stared in surprise from his suddenness. I tugged on his shirt's sleeve, begging him to sit back down and ignore them. Even so, he violently yanked his arm away from me and marched up to the family of a teenage boy and his parents. They seemed considerably wealthy, I can assume, for their clothing seemed very proper.

"What? Is the little orphan want his mommy?" The boy said.

"Who do you think you are ! Talking about us like that, when you don't even know what this is like! My parents are dead! The least you could do is to show a little respect and sympathy!" Jackson exploded.

"My name is Charles Davidson. You should call me Mr. Davidson though, considering I am better than you." Charles retorted.

"You better watch your mouth. All you are doing is making this worse for yourself." Jackson growled.

"Jack. That's enough." I whisper, once again tugging on his sleeve.

"You sister has some sense, boy. You should take notes." Charles sneered.

"Come, Charlie. There ain't no use tryin' to talk any sense into people like them." Charles' father said in a heavy southern accent.

Jackson reluctantly sat back down next to me. He continued to glare viciously at the family. The look on his face was able to be clearly read. He wanted those people gone. He hated them with all his guts.

The train continued to trudge along, stopping every once and a while for coal or wood to fuel the train. The persistent rocking and the soft rumbling of the train eventually rocked me to sleep. For once, since my brother and I had left the city, I actually had a half decent sleep without many disturbances.

I finally woke up to Jackson shaking my shoulders. I shot up from the sudden jerking. Jackson didn't say anything. All he did was pointed out the windows. I blinked the grogginess out of my still sleepy eyes and looked out a window into the bright sunlight. My first thought was that we were slowing down.

The train screeched to a stop at the station. The station was filled with people of all types; tall, short, pudgy, thin, old, young, poor, and rich. The other passengers hustled off the train with the orphans following close behind. Jackson and I were some of the last to finally exit the train. We stayed as close as possible to each other as we went holding hands for reassurance, that, at that moment, both of us needed.

"Come on children! Quickly now, quickly." One of the chaperones from the train called over the crowd of orphans, beckoning us forward.

We all walked down the streets of the small town. As we passed people stared at us with very different expressions. Some looked at us like the last cookie in the jar, while some even looked at us like equal beings. I saw young children asking their parents what was happening.

Everyone crammed into a small church in the center of the town. All of the orphans are seated up on a stage on small wooden benches in the front of the room. The oldest of us were put standing up behind the benches and the shortest knelt or sat on the floor in the front of the benches.

Since Jackson was tall, he had to stand in the back, but since I didn't want to be separated from him, I stood with him. I might be young, but I am still not much shorter than my fifteen-year-old brother.

The church benches facing the stage full of orphans slowly started to fill with strange faces. It seemed as if at least half of the people were looking at us like we were property, sorting out the seemingly 'most fit'. The rest were creating an exciting atmosphere that made me anxious. Once the room was just about full, a man wearing expensive clothing started introducing us with a weary-looking smile.

Closer to the end of the introduction, I heard the man say, "In the back is Jackson and Amelia LaRue of ages fifteen and thirteen. As you can see, they are siblings." My heart picked up speed instantly at the sound of our names being announced. The man continued and finally finished introduction.

As soon as the man left the center of the room and walked to one of the sides of the room to talk to a man that looked like he might be the priest in this church, the room broke out into loud discussion. Numerous people were shouting across the room and pointing at certain orphans. I myself were pointed out at least 3 times. Every time Jackson would be pointed out, I would suddenly start clutching onto him, making people look away.

I suddenly felt a hand tap on my shoulder, and I turned to see who it was. While I was looking away, I loosened my grip on Jackson and he was torn away from my grasp and led to the far side of the room. My eyes, burning with fresh tears, followed him longingly as a strong grasp held me back.

"Miss Amelia LaRue? This is Daniel and Mary Hemmings." An elderly woman's voice started as I swiftly turned around. "They would like to adopt you."

My heart stopped. Adopt me? I thought frantically.

"Hello Amelia! You look like a beautiful young lady. My name is Mary. Nice to meet you." An overly anxious young woman said. She stuck out her hand for me to shake.

"By any chance would you be to adopt my older brother too?" I squeak, afraid of her answer.

"We would if we could, Sweety. But we can adopt you, so we will. Is that fine?" Mary asks me, but I assume that I have no choice in the matter anyway.

"Okay, fine..." I mutter reluctantly. "I just want to say goodbye to my brother."

"Great! And sure, but first, give him this." Mary rips a piece of paper off of a bigger piece on a bench, for the first time I notice a little girl of about three years old hiding behind Mary's skirt. I decided not to say anything and ask later.. "It's our address so you and your brother can still talk."

I snatch the paper from her hands, a bit rudely out of habit from living on the streets of New York. Cantering over to the back of the room, I see Jackson smiling at a young couple that he was talking to.

"Jack!" I yell to him. He turns to me, surprised, and I jump up and wrap my limbs around is tall and strong figure. "I am going to miss you so much!" I begin to sob into his shirt.

He pulls me back from him, so he can wipe my tears away and look me straight in the eyes. "Don't cry, Am. I promise you, we will meet again someday."

I hand him the paper with the address on it. "It's going to be my new address. Using it, we can talk to each other." I sniffle.

He rips off the bottom of the paper I gave him where it was blank, and he scribbles something quickly on the bottom. "This will be my address. Learn to write like I have and send me a letter. I will then answer you after that. Got it?" I nod slowly.

"Do you like your new family?" I mumble, barely audible in the loud room.

"Them seem nice enough. Their names are John and Agatha Merrell. They once had a son named Denny, but they lost him. They wanted to adopt me as their new son, considering Denny would be about my age by now." Jackson explains and the couple behind him wave to me smiling merrily.

"That's good." I say, slightly disappointed that he will be leaving me. "My new family has a daughter, I think. I don't know her name, but her parents are Daniel and Mary Hemmings. They seem really happy to be having me."

"Fantastic." Jackson says.

Behind me, a familiar voice says, "Amelia, it's time to go. It takes a long time time to get from here, home." I glance at Mary then jump back on Jackson again and continue to sob.

When I look up into Jackson's eyes, I notice that he is also crying, silently though. He wants to be strong for me when I can't be. He kisses my forehead, put me down, and tells me, all too harshly, to go. He says it'll be fine, when truthfully nothing is when I am not with him. I turn away from him and wipe my tears away the best I can.

This will be the last time I see him, possibly ever. With that thought, I take one last savoring glance back at Jackson, who, to my surprise, was already gone with his new family and new life. I let out a small sob. He is gone.

Mary grabs my hand, and together we walk outside to an awaiting carriage. I get in the back with the younger girl I had seen earlier. Mary and Daniel got into the front to drive the two large horses in the front.

As we started off down the bumped dirt road to my new home, the young girl introduced herself as Jennifer. She confirmed my ideas that see was just three years old as well.

"Jennifer-" I start, but she cuts me off.

"Call me 'Jen'!" She exclaims happily.

"Okay, then. Jen, what is the house like?" I ask.

"It is beautiful!" She says sounding mesmerized. "It's is a huge, white mansion! Then next to it, we also own a big animal farm! I love to feed the baby piglets!"

"Wow! Really? I honestly can't wait to get there!" I say, astonished. This won't be that bad after all, I think to myself.

About an hour later, I heard the galloping of horses approaching rapidly from behind the carriage. A loud booming voice orders us to stop the carriage. I listen to what they are saying up front as a man uses the barrel of his gun to look into the carriage where Jennifer and I are. He grabs us by our hair and pulls us out and up to where Daniel and Mary are.

"There been word goin' around that you've been harboring slave escapees. Now since I ain't got any proof, I can't touch ya. But the second I find the slightest bit of proof, you're all gonna be arrested." A man with a burly beard and cowboy hat says, scanning each of our faces thoroughly. He stops and asks, "And who might this pretty littl' lady be, eh? He dismounts his horse and shakes hands with me. Mary grabs my shoulder, protectively pulling me closer to her.

"Her name is Amelia. She is our new daughter. She is from New York." Daniel says dismissively, trying to keep the man's attention away from me. thankfully it worked.

"Alright, Boss! We found nothin' in the back except for those two." One of the other men said.

"Of course you wouldn't find anything. It is absurd to think we would be hiding runaway slaves! We might be against slavery, but we do not break the law!" Mary gasps, trying to put the main attention on her. I could tell she was obviously lying, for growing up on the streets of New York City can teach you some things. Normally I would ask questions, but this didn't seem like the right time to, and it doesn't seem like any of my business. I'll leave it alone for now. Although I had picked up easily on her lie, the man thankfully didn't, but if he did, he wasn't saying anything about it.

"Well, we can't pass anyone up, now can we?" He tilts his hat to us, remounts his horse and takes off with the other man back from the direction they came.

I let out a breath I hadn't noticed I'd been holding. I helped Jennifer back into the carriage. As soon as Daniel knew we were safely in, he started off again.

It took another four whole hours to finally arrive at the house. When we arrive, I saw a man and woman and who I assume is their son and daughter. They were standing outside the house waving to us welcomingly.

"Hey, Marilyn!" Mary called to the woman that had been waving. She hugged the woman. "Amelia! These are our close friends and neighbors, the Campbells! They have a son and daughter too! So you can go and play with them if you'd like."

I nod my head, staring at the mansion in front of me. I felt like an ant standing next to it. From what I could tell while looking at the front of the house, it was four stories and on just one side of each floor, there were numerous large windows. On the top level, I saw a small balcony to look off of. I can't wait to explore it, but I think it would be best to be polite and make a good impression on everyone all the while enjoying myself, like Jackson would probably want me to do.

"Hey! My name is Dennis, but you can call me Denny. I'm fourteen. You?" He asks me, putting an arm across my shoulder and leading me to a small bench swing that sat under a tree. For some reason, I feel like I recognize that name. Denny...

"I'm Amelia LaRue, but I guess that is going to change now to Amelia Hemmings, and I'm thirteen." I say while sitting down onto the swing beside Denny.

"Nice to meet you, Amelia. Welcome to the west!" He grins widely and opens his arms up, gesturing to everything around him. "I am also actually from the Orphan Train in fact! I came here about 5 years ago. What happened was I faked my own death by jumping into a freezing cold stream. I didnt surface back up for a while, and my parents thought I had died, which I had hoped. They gave up looking for me after they couldn't find my body. I hitched a ride on the cargo part of a train that was heading to New York. I lived there for about three months until I was forced upon the Orphan Train and brought right back to where I started. In the West."

"Why would you want to get away from your parents?" I ask curiously. Personally, I would do anything to get my parents back."

"Well, they were very abusive. Around strangers they would act the opposite of themselves, but the second we were alone, they would hurt me both verbally AND physically. I hated my life with them. I used to be Dennis Merrell, but now if I just hear that, it brings back terrible memories." He says.

"I thought I recognized your name!" I exploded. "When I was at the church waiting to be chosen, I met your parents! They seemed so nice!" I choked back a sob when I suddenly noticed something horrid. "They adopted my older brother..." I broke into sobs all over again.

"Are you kidding me?" Denny shouted standing up with a start. "I really hope they've changed for his sake." He turns to me and gives me a comforting hug, for he saw the tears streaming down my face as if they were powering a waterfall. "It'll be alright. How old is your brother? I am sure he can fend for himself if anything happens."

"He is fifteen years old." I say in between sobs.

"Perfect. Nothing could have turned out any better. He will be perfectly fine. I know this house by heart, I can give you a tour and introduce you to my little sister." He helps me up from the bench and drags me into the house.

After a complete tour of the house, Denny introduced me to his eight-year-old sister, Emma. She seemed really sweet with her luscious golden locks that cascaded just past her shoulders. She was seriously beautiful for a little girl. I was thoroughly jealous of her sparkling blue eyes and long eyelashes. Being the person I am, I had to give her away. When I didn't let go of the poor girl, Denny had to rip her out of my grasp. When I started to pout, Denny laughed. I think we are going to be really good friends.

Over the next month or so, a personal tutor taught me how to read and write. Not a day went by that I didn't worry about how Jackson had been doing. Meanwhile, I had started to become very close to Denny. He would usually stay overnight since we were only about a half hour from one another. I would spend every single day with him, before and after lessons of course.

I walk over to a desk in my very own room. I sit down, grabbing my favorite white quill, an ink flask, a piece of paper, and a small envelope capable of fitting the paper once folded. I prepared myself to start the letter to my brother, pulling out a drawer in the desk. I reached in a took out the piece of paper with his address on it. I begin to write.

Dear Jack,

Hello, Jack! I miss you so very much! I really hope I was wherever you are right now!

Well, my new family is terrific, but that doesn't mean I am replacing you at all though. Their original daughter, Jennifer, is a great little sister to me. I love her as any older sister would. I surprised myself a month ago when I had called Mrs. Hemmings, Mama. We were all shocked at first, but when she embraced me and told me how happy she was that she seemed like a mother to me, I knew that I would never call her anything but that.

 Also, I befriended a boy named Denny. And here's a shocker, he is the Denny from your family! He only faked his death to escape his abusive parents, who I am guessing would eventually kill him themselves. I really hope the Merrells are treating you alright! I am very worried for you at the moment. I haven't stopped thinking about you not even once.

 My family is very rich, so I have a personal tutor! Cool right? Well I solemnly promise to find you again someday! See you  soon!

Love,

Am

I walked downstairs after stuffing the letter into the intended envelope. I put it onto the pile of other letters that had to be sent out later this week. Little did I know, that letter would need to travel through the ground and solid wood to be read by hollow eyes.

Sad ending, ey? I can right a sequel to this if you want, but I don't have to, it was a school assignment... Lol I can write a sequel on Jack's POV if you guys want, or I can just continue from there with Amelia's POV!

Waiting for you guys' short Stories! Can't wait to read em! XOXO