After finishing the letter to her friends Emily ran downstairs to meet the mail person. She had changed her mind about waiting until tomorrow, that would be too long to wait. So she hurried downstairs with the letter sealed and in her hand.

Emily crossed the room from her staircase to the front door within minutes. Then as she was reaching for the brass doorknob she heard a rather deep voice behind her say something. Emily jumped and turned around quickly hiding the letter behind her. "Ah, father…what brings you out here?" Her father simply frowned at her in his own little way and said, "Out here? Why this is my foyer, why wouldn't I be able to be here? And where on Earth are you going? Didn't you hear us when we said no playing outside?"

Emily leaned against the door feeling defeated and said, "Yes father, I know but…" She was cut off in mid sentence by her father, "Then do as we say" with that he turned about and started to walk towards the east wing of the house. Emily sighed as she watched his silhouette disappear into a room. She heaved a sigh and turned back towards the door. She could hear the Mail buggy coming down the street.

Quickly opening the door she smiled at the mail man. He smiled at her and bowed slightly. "Ah, Ms. Carter, lovely day isn't it?" Emily nodded towards the mail man whose hair was graying slightly. "I have a letter needed mailing Sir." She said with utmost security.

The mail man smiled and said, "Where to Miss?" Emily looked over her shoulder and said, "To Ben and Nellie". She really didn't want her secret to get out to her parents. The mail man nodded, "They'll get it no matter what Miss. Carter." Then with that he turned around and stepped into his buggy to drop off the letter and go to the next house. Emily smiled and turned around, only to find her father's glaring eyes. "And who might you have been talking to?" Emily gulped in surprise. "Just the mail man…we haven't gotten any mail". She slowly started to back away. "Well, I guess I'll be going out back now" She leaned forwards and kissed her father's cheek.

His eyebrows rose in surprise that her mischievous mood had suddenly lightened. He watched her walked towards the back door and shook his head. She was way too confusing to work with.

Emily slid open the back door and gladly walked into the shining sun. It was a rather good day now that she got the letter out. She was soon dancing about letting the wind blow through her hair and let her dress blow how it wished. It wasn't as restricting as the people of this side of town wore. It flowed as the wind picked up the bottom lace.

Sitting down on the water fountain's brim again Emily was in a much lighter mood now. A little blue bird flew down into the water and splashed around a bit. "Hullo little bird" She said to it. Upon hearing a human's voice the bird looked up alarmed. It chirped then flew off. Emily laughed and watched if fly free. Perhaps one day she too could fly free and out of the grip of her parents.

Leaning forwards Emily put her fingers in the water and spun them so there was a little bit of a whirl pool. Her eyes stared dreamily into the water and Emily knew that life wasn't as bad as she thought. Her parents would leave her be after a while then she would be able to have fun with her friends. But just as she thought that Emily heard an owl hoot. "Ben?" She looked towards her large brick fence.

No owls were out in the middle of the day, and Ben's question call for them to come in was an owl's call. Standing up to another hoot Emily cautiously looked back at the windows of the house. No one was looking at the moment so she walked over to the large wall. Standing up on tippytoes Emily placed a hand on the top of the wall and looked down. "Hi Ben…what are you doing here?" Ben looked up at her through dark green eyes and smiled, "Busting you outa here…come on" He raised a hand up to Emily for possible assistance.

Emily shook her head. "I can't. Mum and Father would surely lock me up forever if I were to sneak out again." Ben sighed hearing those words, "but Em, what about your sanity? If you stay here then you'd diffidently go crazy." Then with a grin he added, "Your parents would want you to be SANE as they punish you." He laughed, but who knows if that's how they felt? They could really wish that of her. Thinking that way Emily sat up on the foot thick wall and looked down at Ben

"Will you catch me?" She was going to break out of this house one way or another. Upon seeing his nod Emily let herself spin around and then slide down into his arms. He caught her of course; it was only a 7 foot wall. "See, I wouldn't let you fall for anything." He then let her down so it wouldn't be too awkward.

Emily finally got a look of Ben's clothing. He was in nothing but some old raggedy clothes. A long sleeved shirt with 3 patches and some minor holes, fading brown pants with so many patches it looked like they were nothing BUT patches. And to top it all off, he wore a black puffy hat to hide his mane of red hair. Emily took his hat and put it on her own head. She let the brim's shadow cover her eyes. Maybe the people of the town wouldn't notice her even if she DID have such a fancy dress on. That would be changed as soon as she got to Ben's house.

"Where's Nellie?" She asked starting to walk. Ben hadn't started following yet. And his face looked oddly sick upon hearing Nellie's name. "She's at home ill", he started to follow her now but was looking down at the ground like he didn't feel good. "Will she be ok?" Emily asked suddenly becoming somber. There was some kind of sickness going around the town that all the less fortunate people lives, where her friends lived.

The doctor had only enough medication for the high class citizens. That is merely because they paid him a lot to keep safe. Emily of course had the shot, but Ben and Nellie hadn't. That's why Nellie had the sickness and Emily was safe to go there.

Ben shrugged, "We're not sure, a lot of other people had died from this illness, we're not sure if Nellie has the full sickness or just the lesser symptoms." Emily nodded hoping that her friends would be ok. "So will we be going to her house first or your's?" Ben thought for a couple seconds then said, "We'll go by her house to make sure she'd ok then to mine so you can change" That was the best course of action, so the two started the long back road walk towards Nellie's house.

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After hearing the address of Miss. Carter's home the stranger left promptly and started on his way to the northern part of town. He saw slight improvement upon the houses as he walked, but soon found himself lost. "Had he said Mulberry lane or street to turn on?" The stranger mumbled to himself. Many of the town's streets were named twice but with different endings.

Seeing a rich man walking by with a Great Dane dog at his side the stranger walked up to him trying to keep prominent, "Excuse me good sir, would you by any chance know where I can find the home of a Miss. Emily Carter?" The man looked down his long nose at this strange man and said, "To what purpose?" He didn't like the looks of this random person looking for his beautiful neighbor.

The stranger smiled handsomely, "I am simply here on business, and my business is with her." He said rather calmly. He of course wasn't going to give away his plans to some person on the streets.

The rich man looked at the stranger and said, "If you go down this street and take a left you will find another road called Ifrits Corner. Take that street and you will soon find her house. It's the big beige house on the right." The stranger nodded and started on his way, "If you're looking to woe her you have another thing coming" The stranger stopped in his tracks, "What do you mean by that?"

The rich man smiled, "It's just that she associates herself with the lesser class and will fight off any man of her own class" With a sneer he said, "Just a word of caution." Then he left holding a bit tighter on his dog's leash.

The stranger rubbed at his chin, "Poor people eh?" With that he turned right around and headed towards the place of poverty he had just left. Perhaps he should not charm her with the money he didn't exactly have, but with the poorness that he did have. This would be easier then the last several women.

Walking along he quickened his pace. The stranger knew he would have to get to Emily before night fall. He wasn't going to wait around another day!

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Emily and Ben looked at the front of Nellie's house not exactly wanting to go in it quite yet. Perhaps it was very contagious and Ben got it! Then what would they do? Emily couldn't loose both of her friends to this crazy sickness. But they had to be there for their friend. Nellie would diffidently be there for them if they ever got sick.

Gulping Emily stepped forward and knocked on the door. She heard a feminine voice sweetly say, "The door's open." Emily and Ben walked into the house and looked around. It looked no different from any other time they've been there, save for the many basins and cloths around. Emily smiled at Nellie's mother who's face was careworn and looked like she was about to break down. "Hullo Mrs. McIver. Mind if we go see Nellie?" Ben asked of Nellie's mother.

The woman nodded with a smile, "Of course, just I think she's sleeping right now so don't keep her wiled up" and with that Mrs. McIver left the main room and went into a back room. Emily looked at Ben and him at her. "She can't be too bad right?" Ben shrugged and the two walked straight back and into Nellie's room.

All of the windows were open and Nellie was in bed asleep. Sweat was on her forehead and a wet rag on her pillow. It had apparently fallen from her forehead from fretting while asleep. Emily walked over to Nellie's side. "Nellie, your not asleep are you?" She looked down at her friend and smiled.

Nellie had started to smile when she heard Emily's voice. Opening her eyes Nellie looked up at Emily. "How'd you know? Even the doctor thought I was asleep when he came to check on me!" Nellie sat up and looked at the two who had just entered her room.

Nellie's eyes had obvious dark rings below them. She wasn't yet too badly sick, that was a good thing. Emily shrugged, "Hey, I know your tricks" sitting down on the bed next to Nellie, Emily smiled. "How are you feeling?" She picked up the wet rag and felt that it was still a little cold, probably from just minutes ago. Nellie shrugged, "I'm feeling better then this morning…that's for sure"

Emily was glad that Nellie was better. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if Nellie were to get too sick. "You better get some rest and stop playing around, honestly girl, you could get worse" That was Ben this time. He was leaning against the door frame every now and then looking out for Mrs. McIver. Ben felt awkward without his hat on, but it looked so good on Emily.

Nellie sighed, "I'm fine…it's not as bad as Geoff's." It was true; Geoff had been bed ridden for what seemed a month before he got better. There weren't so many deaths of friends yet, mostly the old. Leaning over Emily kissed Nellie's hand, "We must be off, it is dreadfully hard to move in this dress, even if it's not really stiff. We shall be back before nightfall." With that Emily stood up and made her way towards the door.

Nellie sighed, "Ok, but you better!" She didn't want to be home all day with her mother, even if she was the coolest mom in town. Ben and Emily nodded in unison then filed out of the room. "Bye Mrs. McIver!" Ben said to Nellie's mother before leaving.

Ok, I noticed that Chapter One wasn't very long at all, so I tried my hardest to make this at least double its size. I hope you like it and I thank you all for reviewing. I believe you will find out more next chapter about the mysterious stranger, though you probably already know who he is okays then…bye