Oregon Trail ~by Heather

Oregon Trail Story!

A cold winter day was turning to evening in Independence, Missouri. I'm 12 years old and my ma and pa said they had big news for me. I didn't know what they meant; but I assumed that the news was going to be good. After I walked inside, I put my coat and hat up on the wooden coat hook my grandfather had made. His name was William Frank. He died just three years ago while crossing a river to save his family stranded on the other side. I was only 9 years old; and I lost my best friend that day. I knew what was happening and could do nothing to stop it, and I still felt miserable. I couldn't believe that he was gone. I walked over to the chair that my Ma was sitting in. It was a little pink chair with tiny white poca-dots on it. She had a big grin on her face, and they both started to tell me why they had gone to go see our neighbor John Andrews.


John Andrews had gone to school to be a doctor. He is good at his job, too. Whenever I am sick, my ma always turns over to him for help when needed. When they were finished talking, they confirmed my suspicions that soon our family would be growing. "We are expecting a baby." I thought they were kidding, but I guess not. You see, I am an only child. I like being the only one, the center of attention. But sometimes I have wished that I had someone to come home to play with, to take care of. One time I even told my parents that I wanted a baby brother or sister, but I never expected them to go this far and actually have one. It was a long time ago and I'd changed my mind. I was furious. I couldn't believe this, so I screamed, "I don't want this."


6 months later: 1843

Even though it has been 6 months since the night I found out that my ma is having a baby, I still think about it every day. I'm still angry. When I, used to get bullied at school, my Ma would tell me to wipe it off and pretend that it was a bullet that just couldn't break through my skin, that couldn't hurt me. But this news had. The bullet has gone straight through my heart. I knew I couldn't keep feeling this way.

I walked over to my Ma and said, "I don't want a baby. I don't want another person added to our family."
She had a stern look on her face, and I knew that she was very disappointed in me. I didn't know what to say after that, so I walked out of the room. Soon after, I felt remorse about what I had said to her. I returned to her side and said, "I'm sorry, Ma." I returned to my room and waited for dinner.
After dinner was over, and all of the dishes were dried, I turned to look over my left shoulder and this time I saw my pa in the chair crying like I had never seen before. He face was red, and I saw anger holding his heart tightly.
I rushed over and I asked, "Papa! Why are you crying? What..."
Before I could finish, he screamed out, "It's time. We are leaving and never coming back!" I was about to ask him why we had to leave, but he blurted out, "The trail. We are leaving, and we are going to be a part of a large group of people. I heard John saying it over and over today. He is calling it the The Great Migration. I'm sorry." I could hear behind me my ma yelling and pleading with him, hoping that he wasn't serious. She seemed to understand exactly what he was talking about, and what that would mean for our family. When my Pa stood up to go over and talk to her, she quickly ran upstairs despite her pregnant state. She slammed the door behind her. I went up to her room to talk to her. I needed to understand what they were talking about; and soon the message was clear. We were going to be traveling on the Oregon Trail in less than a week.


1 week later

It was time. It was time to pack up and say goodbye to our home, and the only place I had ever known. I didn't want to leave, but I had to, and there was no turning back now. I didn't understand why we had to, and I wanted this all to stop. We walked down to the local store about a 1/4 of a mile away from our house. I knew that I would never see it again. With all of our boxes packed in our wagon, I saw a crowd of people standing in a big circle waiting for the clock to turn to12:00. Taht was the time that all of us would be leaving. My Pa said that there were going to be about 900 of us leaving together. I was surprised that 900 people would soon be traveling together on this dry and hot desert-like trail. I didn't think that all 900 people were going to make it, but soon the thought stuck in my mind, "The more people that go, the safer we will be."


I kept walking forward, and soon I caught a glimpse of a little girl. I realized that she had no one standing next to her. She had boxes in her hands, and she had pillows and a couple of blankets, but no family. She was just standing there looking around, and didn't seem like she knew what to do. I slowly sauntered closer to the girl who looked to be about my size and age. When I could see better, I figured out that the little girl was my best friend Chloe. I had known her all of my life, ever since I was three. I was confused, and I had a lot on my mind. I said to her, "Chloe! Why are you here?" I knew she was a foster kid.
She replied, "Hey, Molly Sue! I am here because I snuck away from my foster family. My little sister told me I would have a better life if I traveled on the Oregon Trail."
"Why did she tell you that?"
"I don't know. But I am going to see if she's right!"
"Well, I'm proud of you for doing what you think is right."
She nodded and turned back to the store. I heard a loud roaring noise behind me . I turned and to my surprise, I found a dozen wagons approaching the crowd. I assumed that it was almost time to leave our little town, our home. Our family had our own wagon. It was brought from the Cowboy Ranch down the street. When I got in, it smelt like tobacco and cigars. While my Pa was loading our boxes in the back, I looked over my shoulder and saw Chloe standing about 15 yards away from our wagon. She looked sad, disappointed and confused. I told my ma the whole story about her sneaking away and wanting to have a better life living on the Oregon Trail. I asked her if we could take Chloe in, if she could live with us. I could see that she was thinking about it.
Soon she blurted, "Well, I'm sorry, Molly Sue. With all of our supplies and boxes, I don't think we have enough room for her and her boxes."
My heart threatened to break and I could feel my stomach churn. I screamed at her, "But Ma! This is her only chance to live. She deserves to see what life could offer! She deserves a chance. Don't you want that for her? Don't you want me to do the same think when I get older?"
Her face looked like a lot different than before. She then said, "All right Molly Sue. If this is what you really want to do for Chloe, then I am allowing you to invite her to come along on the trip. I know her foster parents are having trouble providing for her. I'll ask them to allow her to join us. Perhaps this will be the best for all of us." I was about to scream in excitement and I felt my stomach come alive again, but before I could run over to her, she grabbed me and said, "Wait, if I see any attitude from you or you scream at me again, she is off. I will ask another wagon to take her and you will do what I say. You have to promise to teach her everything about traveling on the trail, and she must learn to fetch for food and to wash clothes. I will talk to your father about our agreement. Don't worry." The whole time she was telling me this, I had a big smile upon my face. I soon agreed and I sprinted over to Chloe, and soon it was like she became apart of our family.

Finally, we were off, and I could hear whipping of the horses and the yelling of my father to keep the wagons moving. At times it seemed like it was almost ear piercing. Chloe and I were able to sit in the very back of the wagon where there wasn't a lot of room because our boxes took up more room than we thought. We were able to fit though. The wagon still smelt like cigars and tobacco, but once we were started on the trail, I soon forgot about it.

A long day passed, and we pulled into a camping area. Some wagons went a mile down the road to a different campsite, and some went a mile and a half down the road or maybe even further. Chloe and I went out into the woods near our camp to get some logs or sticks, anything we could find to help my pa with the fire while my ma was unrolling our mats back at camp.
Pa said that Chloe and I would have to walk alongside the wagon tomorrow. I asked him why and he soon answered, "So that we can have some room for your mother to sit and so our boxes don't fly off the back! Why can't you listen for once Molly Sue?"
His rage scared me so I left. I felt horrible. My stomach churned and all of a sudden, my heart went shooting down to my stomach. I didn't want to talk to him until morning. But I had to or else my ma would ask what is wrong and my pa would convince her to take his side. She always took his side. I felt that the trail was making us all shorter with each other.

I grabbed Chloe, and I pulled her further into the woods. She looked scared, the way she always looked when we were alone. But this time was different. I had never seen her look at me like that. Her face was red. The way she stood told me something was wrong. She had both of her knees bent inward. Her arms were folded. Her face was wet. The way her blue eyes looked, told me that she was terrified. The heat was rushing at me. It hadn't rained the entire time we were on the trail. It was so dry. That was when I started to wonder why people wanted to come to the dry dessert? Why did they leave their homes for this? When I turned back around, I could see why Chloe was crying. I followed her eyes and finally understood. I saw the 6-foot snake, and realized that it had bitten her.
Ma had warned that there were many deadly snakes where we were staying. She told us to be careful, but I didn't believe her. Now, I was screaming in terror. I saw the venomous slithering devil slide past me, creep under a log. Chloe still couldn't talk. My ma and pa heard me, and they came running. My ma had her cooking knife because she was in the middle of making supper and my Pa was chopping up wood and guarding our camp from Indian attacks. Once Chloe saw them, she tried to run but her right leg just wouldn’t move. She kept screaming. By the way she was screaming, I could tell she was in extreme pain. The screams were horrifying. And I knew that if my family and I didn't act fast, I would lose my best friend Chloe.

We grabbed Chloe and took her back to camp. My ma and pa on each side of her while I comforted her and kept telling her that everything would be ok. When we reached camp, we sat Chloe down next to the campfire while ma fetched a bucket of water to wash her leg off. Chloe was still screaming extremely loud and I was starting to get a headache, but I didn't mind because I was more focused on whether my best friend was going to live or not. My father sucked the poison from the wound and spit it to the ground. The wound started to We finally got Chloe to stop screaming after a long 15 minutes. What seemed to be an hour was over and Chloe and I could finally go to sleep. Or so I thought. Pa said that he and ma were tired and needed to go to bed. So he simply asked me to stay awake with Chloe and attend to her every need.
I tried to stay awake, but the events of the day were too much and I drifted off to sleep. When I awoke, I saw Chloe lying in her bed dead. I guess everything wasn't going to be ok. After the loss of another best friend, I didn't think I had any power left. Once I started screaming, Ma and Pa woke up. We all cried. After a period of time, Dad said, "We have to continue." We would have to quickly buried her by the side of the trail before we left. I couldn't believe we had to leave her behind. So my ma said, "We should leave something with her grave. She needs something to be remembered. People should know her as they travel by."


We put one of her blankets around her. We made sure she was comfortable. We then had a small and short funeral for her. As we were about to get ready to leave, I heard ma crying behind the wagon. Pa and I rushed to her side. She had both of her arms on her stomach, and that is when I knew that Ma was having her baby. Pa tried lifting her into the wagon, but she wanted to be left on the ground. I was looking around for John Andrews. The doctor that went to see. But he had already left on the trail and was to far ahead of us it would be impossible catch up with. So Pa and I were going to have to deliver Ma's baby by ourselves.
After a good and long five hours, a baby girl was born. The look on her face made me smile. I stopped crying, Ma stopped crying, and Pa stopped crying. Ma had given birth to a beautiful and healthy baby girl. "What are you going to name her, Ma?" I asked while holding my new sister.
"Chloe," she replied, "so that we will never forget."
I smiled. While I always want a happy ending, the trail taught me the hard way that life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it. I looked down at Chloe and I whispered to her, "This is only the beginning of the battle."

By ~ Heather