"Kyara!" Liam said, or at least, I think it was Liam. I could barely hear over my vomiting. He held my hair back. There was a huge puddle of bile beneath me, mostly consisting of the dinner we had and what looked like a yellow liquid. The smell was terrible.

Bryan ran over to us.

"Get your parents!" I heard Liam tell Bryan.

I could barely keep my head up as Bryan ran outside the barn to find our parents. The vomiting stopped, giving me enough time to catch my breath, but then I started to vomit again.

I felt lightheaded. More lightheaded than I ever had before, and it seemed like I was going to faint. But I had to stay wake. I could not pass out. Mom and Dad would be back soon. Stay awake!

~ ~ ~

I slowly came to. My stomach didn't feel as gross and I didn't feel as much nausea. But, I had no sensation in my legs or my arms. Was I paralyzed? Would this be the end? Was the plague already trapping me from life? I felt cold. My heart was pumping fast and I could feel the blood run through my head and chest, and there was a searing pain in my throat on each beat.

Were there already bumps and bruises covering my body? Were my arms and legs numb from what would surely end my life? I tried to open my eyes but couldn't. My mouth was dry, and I needed water. I opened my mouth to ask and that was when several people called my name, "Kyara!" But it seemed as though they were someplace in the distance.

I started coughing, but I had no more substance in my stomach to throw up.

"Can we help you sit up so that you can drink some water?" Liam's voice came from right next to me. I saw the ceiling of the barn, but not the same part I had seen before I started puking. They must have moved me away from the pile of vomit.

There was a hand stroking my hair, which I could guess was also Liam. But it started to feel more feminine after a while and I realized it was Mom.

I now had feeling in my hand and I could move my fingers, which were held by Liam's smooth, familiar hand.

They helped me into a sitting position, Liam, all the while, held my hand tightly. I knew he loved me a lot because of how much he cared for me, and how much he had been there for me in the past, and I know he will be there for me in the future. Through sickness and in health. No matter what.

I opened up my eyes and drank from a cup. The cold water rushed through my throat into my stomach and I felt better.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You puked because of the water you drank from the stream," Mom began. "You don't have a fever, which is a sign of the plague. So, we think it was just from the water you drank earlier. You don't have the plague, though. Other symptoms would start coming up by now."

I nodded. "How long was I out?"

"About thirty minutes. If you were out longer we would've been a little more worried, but. . ." Dad trailed off.

"And you're not worried now? That I could have the plague!" I said. How were they not worried? I was just puking up my guts. I mean, I felt fine now, but that didn't mean that soon I wouldn't be.

"Kyara, calm down," Mom said, in her soothing tone. "You are going to be fine. As long as you stay with us, you should be okay. You don't have a fever, so I promise you, you don't have the plague."

I pursed my lips and scrunched my eyebrows. I tried to stop my worrying, but I was someone who worried a lot, even if what I was worrying about was unnecessary. So, I tried to think of something else.

I then realized that my dress was off, and I was in my undergarments of the early 20th century. It felt slightly awkward to be in all white and just a light shirt and leggings, but I was still covered.

Then the question I had been dying to know came to my mind and I looked at Mom, and then Dad, and then back at Mom who smiled.

"We are okay. Your dad and I have worked it out and we still are deeply and unconditionally in love. We both made terrible mistakes, but God had already forgiven us, so we forgave each other."

"And neither of us knew what we were doing, and we know that. Divorce has never been an option for us because we are children of God and He thinks marriage should never be broken. When we get back to the future; however, which will hopefully be soon, we are going to renew our vows." Dad smiled, and then hugged and kissed Mom.

Bryan came over to sit next to me and hugged me, smiling. Their marriage was saved. The devil didn't get in this time, nor will he any other time. We must stay true to that.

"All right, I think everyone's getting a little tired. We should probably get some rest," Mom said.

I was getting tired and I could tell others were, as well.

"Mama? Can you sing me a song?" Amy asked and went up to her and nuzzled herself into her lap.

Mom had the voice that could call the angels down through the clouds and sing along. Her voice was the most beautiful one I had ever heard in my life, and I knew that when she sang, God was smiling from Heaven above.

"What song shall I sing?" Mom asked Amy, and everyone started dispersing toward the beds of hay, with smiles on their faces.

"How He Loves." Amy spoke up. That was her favorite worship song, as well as mine.

And so, she began. "He is jealous for me. Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree, bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy. . ."

And the rest of us joined in, one after the other, after the other.

As we sang I thought about all the pain we had endured the past few times and all the hardships we had overcome. When we got to the line, "If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking," I started to cry. God had been so gracious with me. I didn't deserve all that he had done for me. None of us did. But somehow God gave us life when we didn't deserve it. It would hopefully be a long time before I understood why, because hopefully I wouldn't be going to Heaven anytime soon. But who knew what would happen? We were in a time of death-Black Death.

I didn't care if I died here. I was not afraid of death because I knew where I would go. I knew God had everything under control and if I were to die here, I would accept it. But would I accept it if someone else died here? Like a sibling or Liam? Would I fall away from God and curse Him for what He had done? I didn't want to. Not now at least, but would that change, due to certain circumstances? Then I thought of how my family would feel if I died. They would be broken and deeply distressed, Liam most of all because I knew how he would feel. In Heaven, I would look down on them and feel bad for them. I would not want them to cry over me because I would be in a happier place.

I would pity them; I would pity the way they cried over me. And then that made me realize, just how several movies, plays, and books had explained death and life. Death was just a part of life. And the living didn't understand it. The dead were almost always happier than the living, and they did not want to come back to life after they had died. Even though life was sometimes a wonderful thing, death was way better if you knew and trusted in Jesus.

So, the question was, if one of us died here would I be able to move on and accept it? Especially if I knew that if I was in their place, I would want them to be happy that I was in a better place? Hopefully I would not have to figure it out, but I did know that it was good to think of this, just in case. And right then, I put everything into God's hands and I thought, I will accept whatever happens because it is You and only You who has the power over us.

~ ~ ~

I woke up to the sound of the barn door opening. I turned my head and a bright light shined into my eyes. It was surely morning. I didn't know who the source of my waking up was because they had already disappeared outside. But I assumed it was Amy or Luke, for they had left the barn door wide open. I heard groaning near me, so I sat up.

Amy was still on the hay bed next to me, turning her face toward the other side of the barn so she would not have the sun shining on her. It must have been Luke who had left then. Looking around, Mom and Dad had left their bed, as well as Luke-whose bed was next to theirs. Liam's bed was also deserted. Bryan and Bella were still asleep, however.

I stood up and stretched. I then exited the barn and walked toward the house. The sun was just peeking between the hills in the east and the sunrise was shaded red, almost the color of blood. I wondered why as I walked to the house-it was slightly frightening, but somehow, I thought God was trying to tell me something. I couldn't comprehend what it could be, but it sure was something.

As I entered through the door, Liam was the first to greet me, with a kiss. Mom and Dad came to each give me a hug, then Luke hugged me and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"How are you feeling, Kyara?" Mom asked.

"Hungry," I said, and everyone chuckled.

"Well, we are making porridge," Dad said. "It won't be as good as the homemade oatmeal that Mom makes because we have no cinnamon or brown sugar, but I'm sure it'll still be filling."

"Yes, it will surely be filling, just not tasty," Mom laughed.

I could smell something cooking, and saw that Dad was cooking the porridge in the pot above the fire.

"Are the sheets dry yet?" I asked, referring to the bed sheets.

"No, but they should be dry by the time the sun goes down. We'll place the sheets on right when they are completely dry."

"Ok, I feel a little sore from sleeping on hay last night," I twisted my back so that it would crack. Liam started to rub my shoulders for me.

"So, Liam," Mom looked at Liam, smiling, "It has been so busy the past few days I haven't been able to ask. How did you come to find us? I assume you are from the future, right?"

"I am from the future, Mrs. Edwards." He stopped massaging me and went to sit on a chair at the table. I followed and sat next to him. "I was transferred back to New York the night that everyone disappeared and found the family that I was with on the Titanic." And he shared the story on how he ended up with us and held my hand the whole time

"So, you are an orphan?" Mom said after he finished, apparently taking note of the saddest part of his story. "Are you in a foster care back in our time, or?"

"No. You see Foster Care is a sad way to go because sometimes it doesn't work out with Foster Parents, and you just move from home to home and it makes it very hard on the kid." Liam hadn't told this story. I had not even thought of Foster Care as he told his story of being an orphan. "So, in 2000, a Catholic Church bought out a business facility and made it into an orphanage. Very few know about the orphanage, but hospitals around the area take kids there if their parents died and CPS brings kids there rather than a Foster Care facility to give kids a more normal life. We also go to a school in the area and have as much as a normal life as an orphan can have. I am very thankful for the care and love they give there. They saved my life." Liam finished.

Mom had tears in her eyes as everyone was listening closely to his story.

"May I ask? When did you become an orphan?" Mom asked, as politely as she could.

"I was nine. We were in a car accident. I shouldn't have survived, but apparently God had something better planned for me." Liam smiled and clenched my hand.

It was silent. A good silence. Everyone was pondering his words. I felt bad that I hadn't heard this story yet. But then I reminded myself that I had only known Liam for six days. I could not understand that. These days had been so long, and it definitely felt like I had known Liam for a lifetime. We had gone through a lot together in the past six days, though. We had fallen in love. We had learned each other's life stories. We knew what each other's weaknesses and strengths were. We probably knew more about each other than some married couples knew about their spouses.

It blew my mind to think of this. Six days with someone and you could know every detail about them. And three days to fall in love. But, then I remembered the first time I saw Liam, on the deck of the Titanic. It's like I fell in love with him before I even knew him. Love at first sight? And then when we ran into each other. I liked him even more then. Something I had never felt for any other guy.

The door opened, and Bryan and Bella entered.

"What did we just walk in on?" Bryan asked.

I looked around and noticed Mom had tears streaming down her face, and she held Dad's hand. Luke had a frown covering the lower part of his face, and I could tell he was trying not to cry. He smiled up at Bryan.

"We are getting ready to eat," Mom said and turned around toward the pot above the fire, shaking her head and wiping her face with her hands, probably clearing the sad look off her face and the tears out of her eyes.

Bryan looked at me with a look as if to say, "what's going on."

"Liam was just sharing his story."

Bryan nodded. "Where's Amy?"

"She's still in the barn." I said, wondering why Bryan asked that.

Bryan shook his head. "I didn't see her-thought she was in here with you."

My face scrunched up.

"Yeah we thought she had come inside." Bella said. "The door of the barn opened and closed, to wake me up, and looking around, I noticed Bryan and I were the only ones in the barn, so I woke Bryan up-"

She was rambling, and I didn't care what else she had to say, so I cut her off. "Amy isn't in here."

"Then, where is she?" Mom asked and started toward the door.

"She couldn't have gone far," Dad said, and followed Mom outside.

I sat frozen in place, holding Liam's hand tighter than ever. Something didn't seem right. He stood up and pulled me toward the door-I resisted at first then joined him outside.

"The horse isn't on the property," Mom said.

Bryan, Bella, and Luke came out as well.

"She wouldn't have just taken the horse, without asking us. Something is obviously wrong," I said.

Mom started yelling out Amy's name. Soon we were all yelling out her name. After about five minutes of searching the entire property for any sign of Amy, or the horse, Dad said he would check out through the woods beyond the farm. Bryan said he would go toward town, and Liam said he'd search over toward the woods we had come from yesterday. They were off in a matter of seconds.

My heart would not stop racing. I could not just stand here and wait for the boys to come back. I had to help. I wanted to run after Liam. I was a good runner, and I had gotten more in shape with all the walking we had done the past several days, and the running on the Titanic, so I decided, about a minute after the boys had disappeared, I would go after Liam.

Several members of my family yelled my name to stop, but I would not.

As I reached town, about to turn left toward the forest, Bryan screamed my name. I stopped for a second and waited for Bryan to catch up to me.

"I'm going after Liam," I said, wondering why Bryan had stopped me if he did not have Amy.

"You can't, it's not safe," he said.

Of course, it's not safe. There is an outbreak of the plague. Bryan realized what I was thinking and said, "You must come back with me to the farm. I'll explain it to everyone."

I hesitated and looked toward the bridge that went over the river into the forest. Bryan took my arm as if knowing what I might do.

"Okay." And we started running back to the farm.

As we reached the gates to the property, I noticed Dad had returned, as well with no sign of Amy.

"Why did you come back without her?" I asked, disappointed and confused.

"That takes us toward the castle, and there's no sign of hoof-prints anywhere."

"Dad," Bryan began, breathing heavily. I knew it wasn't from the running. He was in shape. Something was obviously wrong. "There're kidnappers!"