A Simple Desire

In the Amish village of Ashtabula, Ohio, Catherine awoke. Her right eye swollen from the blow to her head. As she stirred to find her husband, Nathaniel’s hand in hers, she realized it was not a nightmare. Tears welling up as she looked upon Nathaniel to see death had kissed him as she lay unconscious from the monsters that left her for dead as well. Married for a month today, her dream of heaven on Earth vanished in less than an hour.

His blue eyes stared up to the roof her grandfather had built once he became engaged to her grandmother. His clothes simple black and white, only one red circle where the English shot him. Her hands and apron soaked in blood that had pooled around them both. Pulling her hand away as Catherine could feel his hand had grown stiff.

There was not time to hold what warmth was still in Nathaniel to grieve him. As Catherine became more conscious, she began to pick up on a low hissing sound. Her eyes darted around. They set the house on fire! Raising up with her head throbbing. Catherine searching for the locket given to her by Nathaniel on their wedding day. A simple silver heart locket that folded out into four separate hearts. A picture of Nathaniel and three spaces for what should have been their children.

Catherine crawls out as fast as she can out of the only home she had ever known. The bed she slept in next to her sister growing up, the notches on the trim around the kitchen door as each generation of children had grown and were measured each year, all becoming ashes.

Walking down the dirt road to the Fisher’s farm. Only one mile. Her legs bruised and aching from where the English men pushed them a part. Flashes of each man forcing himself within her went back through her mind. A reel she tried to stop but could not. Cathy was not sure if she was crying over these men violating her body, or the fact they forced Nathaniel to watch. What monster would commit such atrocities? This sort of thing never happened before. Why would these men come into their village and attack them? Catherine forced her mind to focus on what needed to be done. The Fishers would be there. She had to believe that.

As Catherine approached the Fishers farm, she saw the smoke. As she walked closer, she found smoke surrounded the Fishers house because it was engulfed in flames as well. She was alone. No one to be found. The Fisher’s barn was untouched. The buggy still there to use. A silver spotted horse was still in the barn. Cathy carefully harnessed and attached the buggy to the horse. If the Fishers were gone, she had to get to town. Getting to town would help her get to the bottom of things. As she was about to get into the buggy, she noticed a shotgun next to the barn door. Catherine had never touched a gun, let alone shot one. As Catherine loaded the shotgun, she held it tight to mount the buggy.

Arriving at downtown Ashtabula, Catherine passed an electronics store. The televisions displayed the news. The news anchor announced how the water wars had escalated. All boarders into the United States had been closed to protect the last inhabitable area with fresh water, the great lakes. Had this been what the English invaded their village for? A state of emergency was instated. Any citizen in a state around a great lake were automatically chosen to be a part of the final plan. Other states had resorted to lotteries, and tickets to those that could afford it in order to become a citizen to survive in the last inhabitable spaces with drinkable water.

Catherine shuttered thinking there could be more men coming who had the same black heart that enabled them to destroy all she had known. The English world bled into ours because it was all ending. I had heard of the fresh water drying up before, but this was the first of borders closing. So, this is how it ends. Visions of people dying of thirst, killing each other over jugs of water. The continued reports dizzied her. As Cathy began to look around town, she saw how each store had been looted. Were there still men that could hurt her around?

Catherine did not want to stick around to find out. She entered the family general store. Many items already missing from those that had broken the window and stole what they desired. Grabbing whatever food, she could while washing herself.

Taking a set of clothes from the shop, Catherine then steps into the shower in the apartment over the shop. Scrubbing every inch of her body, Catherine still did not feel clean. Each man’s face flashing before her as she cleaned herself. Taking turns as Nathaniel watched. Catherine screamed to try and get the images to stop. Crying to God to make everything untrue. Pleading with God to try and understand, what had she done. Crying out, “Why wasn’t my simple dream, enough?”

Cathy hurried, as she knew she had to leave town. The longer she stayed, the longer she was vulnerable to those seeking a residency close to the world’s last water source. Grabbing whatever food was left in her family’s store, she stockpiled everything and anything she could. Not knowing what she would encounter, she grabbed additional ammunition in every caliber. Not knowing what the shotgun took, she felt one box of everything should be enough.

Loading the Fisher’s shotgun with two rounds, she proceeded to the buggy. There were a few other farms well off the beaten path in the village. One, the Lapp’s farm would be a place to start looking for shelter. Hoping the gang of English men had not happened upon this house.

It was a simple sturdy home that had stood for over a century. Having fully settled and boards weathered through shrinking and growing with seasons. Boards creaking under Catherine’s steps toward the door. It was quiet. No one in sight. Where were the Lapps? Cathy had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. As she reached the kitchen, there was Mrs. Lapp. Her body sprawled out on the floor. Catherine didn’t need to check. She could clearly tell the men had been here and Mrs. Lapp had died fighting.

Feeling a sense of unease, Cathy quickly turned to return to the buggy and try for another farm. No sooner then reaching the door, Catherine paralyzed with fear seeing the men from earlier. Gripping the shot gun, Catherine quickly recalls when Mr. Fisher had shot the wolf that had eaten its weight in chickens during one particularly rough season. Catherine hoping, she remembered the moments Mr. Fisher took to make the gun shoot.

“Well looky here boys, if it ain’t that nice piece from a few houses back. You ready for some more honey?” The leader taunted.

“Man, what is wrong with you, she has a gun. You really want to antagonize her?”

The leader gave a quick look to his henchmen, “She doesn’t know how to shoot that thing.”

No sooner had the vile man completed his sentence, Catherine shot the leader in the chest. Falling to his knees, Catherine had one less man to worry about. Cocking the shot gun again she aimed at the second man. His hands up with a look of fear on his face. Cathy hesitated, perhaps he is not as evil as his friend. Someone grabbed her hair from behind. It was the third of the English men. The man she could have shot racing towards her. With all her might, she shoved the butt of the gun into the man behind her. She was free from his grip; however the second man was now on the ground. She had not shot him.

A shot fired. Flying just past Catherine’s ear into the head of the third of the English. A man she had not seen before. Raising her shot gun fearing the worst. This unknown man holstered his gun, and introduced himself, “Ma’am, my name is Edward, I was passing through and it seemed like you needed help. I mean you no harm and would like to help you bury these men. Would you be able to point me to where I can find a shovel?”

Catherine shaking from the adrenaline still coursing through her veins, she lowered her gun. Pointing to the shed, she shakily spoke, “In there.”

Edward walked towards the shed and started digging after he had found the shovel. Not saying a word, Edward rolled up his sleeves and started to dig.

Catherine pumped enough water for them both and proceeded to unload the supplies into the house. As she placed everything where it needed, she approached Edward with a glass of water. “Thank you,” was all that Catherine could say. Her head swirling with thoughts and questions. Where was he from and what was he doing passing through? Were there more to come?

Edward read Cathy’s face and said, “I am alone. You have nothing to fear. Simply looking for a place to settle until the government places me in a house in town.”

Catherine was still suspicious; however, she felt a bit more at peace. He was a handsome man. You could clearly tell he was a good decade older than her. A bit taller than she was, Edward’s blonde hair complemented his blue eyes. The lines around his eyes showing that he loved to laugh, however the worn look he had about him, it was clear it had been a while.

Catherine invited Edward to stay. As the months passed, they grew to love and care for each other. Her belly had swollen with child. Unclear if it was Nathaniel’s or one of the wretched men Edward and Catherine had killed. What did it matter at this point? In her mind, it was a piece of Nathaniel that carried with her into her new life. The pain, emptiness and heartache fading as his legacy grew within her.

At night Edward and Catherine would sit in silence after a hard day of work rocking on the front porch. The lightning bugs dancing in the fields of wheat as the summer breeze blew through. Stars starting to show as the sun set on another day. Each of them holding hands as the time passed in the quiet moments. On occasion, Catherine would look down at Nathaniel’s picture within her locket. Edward’s picture now beside Nathaniel. This is not the life she had chosen, but it still consisted of everything she had hoped for. A man that loves and respects her and a child on the way. The family she had wanted. For when we have love we are truly blessed, even if it does not look the way we imagined.