I woke up to a shy sun barely poking through the windows as if it was uncertain if it should wake me from my deep slumber, knowing that something bad was possibly going to occur in the next few days. Before I shoved myself off of the bed, I remembered the date that was on the calendar the night before Johnathan and I went to our room: June 29th, so it must be the 30th today.
I rose out of my hotel bed anyway, curiously glancing out the window and wondering why the sun wasn't being its usual harsh self.
I scraped my head in confusion and turned toward Johnathan who was burritoed in a cocoon of blankets on the other side of our bed. He was softly snoring, and I decided to be quiet and not wake him up.
I quietly made my way toward the hotel room' window, and I placed my hands on the windowsill and squinted to get a better look at the sun.
It's golden, spherical body peeked over the horizon, a few rays streaking into the orange sky.
"Hm," I chuckled to myself. "I woke up at the crack of dawn. Strange."
Right when as I noticed my sudden mistake of talking to myself, Johnathan slowly rose out of his cocoon of blankets on the bed and stretched his arms out in exhaustion.
"You're never up this early-" he paused to yawn loudly and then continued speaking. "What has got your brain in a knot?"
I shook my head, trying my best to stifle a small laugh. "I'm not sure, but I've always felt that the sun's way of waking me up set the mood for the next few days; do you kinda see what I'm getting at?"
"Not much," Johnathan shrugged as he crawled out of bed and walked to my side. He glanced up and me and placed a finger on my chin, making me turn my head towards him. "But what's your point about all of that?"
I glanced to the side awkwardly, knowing that Johnathan would probably not understand what I'm trying to say. "Well, today the sun was basically 'telling' me that I probably shouldn't wake up since the next few days are probably going to be bad."
Johnathan's expression continued to stay in his confused state, and his muscles didn't move, except for his eyes, which darted at the sun and landed back onto mine. "Huh?"
I stepped back, causing Johnathan to let go of my face. I turned back toward the large window and rested my elbows on the windowsill. Without turning my head, I glanced toward Johnathan and we exchanged gazes. "I know that you might not understand, but y'know. It's just a feeling that I have."
"Alright," he rolled his eyes and sighed. "But remember your promise to Evan? As soon you reached Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where we are right now, you were going to try and enlist in the army as who again?"
I chuckled and brushed a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "Not sure, but I've been thinking of the name Angelo or something like that."
Johnathan brushed off my joke and stroked his chin in thought to try and help me find a new name. "Evangeline, Evangeline, Evangeline," He recited my name over and over again, saying it very slowly so he could think of every possibility of a new nickname. At least he pronounced the a in my name with an accent and not flatly like everyone else.
"Oh! I got it!" he shouted after repeating my name for who knows how many times. "What about something edgier, like Van or Vange? Vangie for short."
I nodded at the new nickname for me, repeating it in my head. Van. Vange. Van. Vange. Van. Vange. Vange honestly did sound more like a masculine name, so I decided to go as Vange Freebourne.
Before I could declare my choice of name, Johnathan pressed his finger to my lips to keep me quiet. "Before you shout your new name to the world, why don't you change your appearance or last name? I honestly think that the Colonel will become skeptical of you after noticing two exact copies of you, y'know?"
"Well," I added, "The Colonel will never know that Vange's mom could've had triplets," I said the word triplets a little louder to emphasize the idea. "And that they all look exactly alike. And they'll have the same last name too-obviously."
Johnathan rolled his eyes and placed his hands on his hips. "Fine, but don't come crawling back to me when they kick you out of the army."
"I'll just pick a new name then," I chuckled. "And that's when I change my last name to something other than Freebourne."
"Magnificent idea," Johnathan laughed along with me. "You'll sure fool the Colonel good!"
I could instantly tell in his tone of voice that he was sarcastic. "Actually, changing my last name can do a lot, but I don't necessarily want to lie." I tried to refute as best as I could.
Johnathan rolled his eyes and chuckled softly. "You're already lying about your name, Vange."
"So? It's not a name, it's a," I paused for a dramatic effect. "It's a nickname."
Johnathan chose to not continue arguing with me and changed the subject of conversation. He turned around and hurriedly slipped on his wool coat, and reached over to the hotel room's dresser. As he pulled his hands out of the small drawer, he turned toward me, his hands revealing my purple tattered, old cardigan that I kept with me after I ran away with Jewel.
I stepped back in surprise; I never really bothered to wear it since I first enlisted in the Northern army. I also ever chose to wear it because the cardigan reminded me of Evan, and I didn't want to be reminded of how our bond has been shattered because of one opinion.
Before I witnessed my twin brother beating Jewel, we never left each other's side. When I reunited with him many years later, however, he chose to shoo me away.
Even after all he did to me, he decided to purposely shoot me in the leg during the battle of Antietam, almost making me able to never walk again.
I finally cleared my throat and took the cardigan from Johnathan, accepting his act of kindness. "Uh-thanks." I flashed him an awkward smile.
Johnathan then decided not to pry, and he held the room's door open for me as I quickly slid my cardigan over my arms.
***
Once Johnathan and I reached the small crowded cafeteria, he sighed and placed his hand on his head in a disappointed manner.
Johnathan rolled his eyes and then craned his neck after trying to search for an empty table. "Ugh, I guess we were too late."
I placed my hands on my temples in astonishment. "But it's so early today!"
"Guess they just want to eat breakfast early then, and probably start the day early, too." Johnathan gestured toward the dozens of people in the cafeteria who were happily eating their long-awaited breakfast.
Before I could exit the cafeteria with Johnathan, I felt a large hand firmly grasp my wrist and tug it backward, spinning me around toward the hand's beholder.
In front of me stood Milo, his bright, warm smile lighting up his face.
"Evangeline!" He cheered. "I thought you were back down in Georgia!" He then let go of my wrist after realizing that he was still holding it tightly.
I rubbed the spot where Milo grabbed me, which was now sore. "Yeah, we had to kind of, um, leave because of some, um, problems."
Johnathan rolled his eyes and interjected in my conversation with Milo. "She thought it would be a good idea to take Jade and I to visit her family at the brother's house in Atlanta."
"Seems very Evangeline-ish," Milo chuckled, but his tone quickly became more serious. "But Evan, seriously, don't go hanging around your brother while this war's going on. His opinion will probably get the best of him, and he'll lash out on anyone or anything."
I sighed, knowing that Milo's little rant was absolutely correct even though I denied it to make myself feel better.
"Why are you at this hotel?" Johnathan asked, changing the subject of the conversation. "Or why are you in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, anyway?"
Milo flashed Johnathan a happy smile. "I finally found the triplets!"
He turned around and gestured toward a large round table where my old friends: Asher, Arthur, and Atlas sat. Each of them awkwardly exchanged glances with me since the last time I saw them I was my other self, Evan.
Without questioning my strange behavior, Milo led Johnathan and I to the large table where Asher, Arthur, and Atlas already sat.
I plopped myself into the old wooden chair, and Johnathan chose to sit in the seat next to mine. The triplets sat across from me, and Milo rested on my other side.
"Oh, hey Evan-" Asher tried to say before realizing that my name wasn't really Evan. "Um, uh-"
"Evangeline," I corrected him. "My name is Evangeline."
Asher rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Yeah, Evangeline."
"So, Evangeline, how's, uh, the life doing after being, um, kicked out?" Atlas said, his face flushing.
I chuckled and used my "normal woman" voice for the first time in front of the three. "It's been good, actually. I have made a few more disguises and enlisted in the army a few more times, and I spied on the Southern army a bit."
"Wait," Atlas replied. "Aren't you not allowed to leave the army?"
I nodded and smiled. "Yeah, I know. But after I just leave, it's basically like I vanished into thin air, and the Colonel never seems to take that seriously. Also, once I want to enlist again, I just use another name. It's actually really easy."
Arthur was the next one to speak. "So, are you and your friend," he motioned to Johnathan, who smiled back at Arthur. "Are you and your friend going to enlist in the army again?"
"Yeah," I replied distantly. "It's quite a long story, and since I don't want to bore you guys, I'll just say that we're enlisting for a reason."
"Evangeline," Milo exclaimed, his mouth full of food. "We're actually going to enlist too."
"When?"
Milo smiled as he wiped his mouth with a napkin. "We were actually leaving today, so why don't we all just go together?"
"Great idea," Johnathan replied for me. "We're going to leave after breakfast."
Everyone else at the table nodded in agreement and began to eat their breakfast. I gladly stabbed my stack of waffles with a fork, savoring my favorite food slowly to enjoy the taste.
As I stood up to grab more waffles, Atlas managed to see the peg that was attached to the bottom of my left leg. Just like my father, Atlas, stood up, frozen, his hand shakily pointing toward my leg.
I used all of my energy to stop myself from annoyingly rolling my eyes. Instead, I simply smiled awkwardly. "Haha, you noticed."
Atlas broke out of his frozen stupor and approached me, his eyes still fixed on my peg. "What is this? What happened to your leg?"
I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes. "No big deal, it's just that my twin brother that I never told you guys about chose to shoot me in the leg, basically blowing the lower half of it off."
I didn't give any of the triplets time to answer, and I waltzed over to the main table to grab some more waffles. Once I arrived back, everyone else at the table didn't decide to ask me what specifically happened to my leg, and a few minutes passed by in a complete awkward silence.
After a few more conversations exchanged between us, we finally were ready to travel to the outskirts of Gettysburg to enlist back into the army.
Evan, I told my conscience, wondering if my twin brother could actually hear my thoughts as I pushed open the hotel's glass front door. Get ready for the wrath of Vange.
***
As usual, I wore my hair in a man-like low bun, and I bound my chest tightly and stuffed some hay into my uniform to give me a more square-like build like a man. I also made sure to change my tone of voice and personality so I wouldn't appear suspicious. Before I approached Gettysburg with Johnathan, however, I managed to finally make some fake sideburns from horsehair that I could stick and peel off of my face.
After I enlisted in the army again as Vange Freebourne, I quickly rose in ranks. I rose to the title of Sergeant in cavalry since everyone else who was supposed to earn the rank were either dead or illegally left the army. I didn't necessarily protest since I did earn such a high rank.
Johnathan and Milo were also appointed to cavalry like me, but Johnathan rose to the rank of corporal, but Milo stayed at the rank of a private. We were all happy, though, since we all were in cavalry, which we loved. The triplets, on the other hand, were all in different areas of the army. Asher was in the infantry as usual, Arthur taking a new job in the artillery, and Atlas becoming the Union army's medic, his smarts aiding to his new job. To be honest, they did seem pretty happy, since they preferred to not fight while on horseback.
***
During the afternoon after I enlisted into the army, Johnathan, Milo, and I marched toward the outskirts of Gettysburg with the rest of the Union cavalry. John Buford led the group along with a few of his officers, and we rode up a small hill that overlooked the large valley that surrounded the town of Gettysburg. I could easily eavesdrop on the conversation.
John Buford placed his hand over his eyes and squinted to get a better look at the valley below him and the group behind him. "Hmm. This seems like such lovely ground to fight on." He gestured his hand toward the acres of green grass in front of him.
Before I could ask myself what lovely ground meant, one of his officers raised his hand. "Permission to speak, sir."
"Granted."
"What do you mean by lovely ground to fight on, sir?" He asked nervously. I silently thanked the officer for answering my question.
"You see-" Buford began. "This valley here has lots of hills and such. If we managed to station ourselves atop one of those very hills, we'll eradicate those ol' Johnny Rebs." He chuckled a bit at his last words, but he sounded more like a dying pig. I tried not to giggle.
"Also," he continued, instantly grabbing my attention. "There's a lot of flat ground, too, which is perfect for fighting. Hence, lovely ground."
Buford's officer nodded solemnly. "I understand, sir. Sorry to ask you such a question."
"Ah, no bother!" Buford chuckled. "The term lovely ground already sounds as weird as it is, y'know?"
"Yeah," the officer replied awkwardly as the group continued to gaze in awe at the stunning valley beneath us.
I raised my hand, another question still hanging in my mind. "Uh, Buford? Why do you think that the Union is going to be fighting here in the next few days?"
John Buford glanced back in my direction and smiled. "Well, Sergeant Vange, there's a little feeling you might get in your stomach when you know that the enemy is nearby. It doesn't necessarily mean that they're invading-the enemy might just want to be gathering more supplies, but I just want to stay safe and make sure that if a battle does occur in the near future, I want our army to be prepared and have the higher ground."
I nodded once Buford finished his explanation, and I felt like I had the weird feeling in my stomach. It didn't really ache or was in pain, it just felt numb. I brushed it off and returned to gazing at the rolling hills in front of me.
Once the group filled themselves with the satisfaction of glancing at the valley, we turned around and headed back for the makeshift camp, where Johnathan, Milo, the triplets, and I relaxed in a comfortable deep sleep. Before I lost total consciousness in the small bed, I managed to sneak a peek at the small calendar in the corner of the tent that read June 30th, 1863.