Dear Readers: This is 8th of my vignettes. They go in sequential order, but each one has a different unique theme. I hope you have fun reading all of them.

"Jack and Elizabeth Vignette One"

"Vignette Two – The Cold Winter" (Jack and Elizabeth cope with the rough winter)

"Vignette Three – The Test: Don't Fail Me Now" – (It's fun and romantic)

"Vignette Four – Gypsy Woes" (The most light-hearted in my mind)

"Vignette Five - Blind Faith" (Drama, Suspense, New Friends, and powerful love.)

"Vignette Six - Wedding Dust" –(The romance of getting married and the hours afterwards)

"Vignette Seven - The Rules of being a Wife." (Jack and Elizabeth's first weeks as husband and wife)

(Another writer has chosen to write a story and call it a vignette. It is not written by me and I have nothing to do with it. All my vignettes are by jellybean49.)

Vignette 8 - Changes

Chapter 1 - Awakenings

The first thing Elizabeth noticed was the sound of a single bird chirping nearby in the otherwise quiet world.

The second thing she noticed was the blood in her mouth. She moved her tongue around and tried to spit, but she could barely open her mouth. The blood seeped out the side of her slightly parted lips and dripped down her cheek.

The third thing she noticed was that part of her body was cold while the other part was warm. Even in her semi-conscious state, she knew that wasn't normal.

I have to open my eyes, she thought. The process was slow. First she formed the thought. Then she urged her body to act on it.

When she finally opened her eyes and looked around, her head still sideways on the ground, she realized the reason for her body's differing temperatures. She was lying in the snow. The bright sun was warming the top part of body, while the cold snow was chilling her underside. Her body felt sore but she couldn't remember why.

If I can sit up, I won't be so cold.

Elizabeth tried to use her right hand to push herself up but the pain seared through her. If she wasn't so injured, she would have screamed.

Instead, she passed out.

"I was wondering when you were going to come get your pie", Abigail said pleasantly to Jack when he walked in the Café.

"Pie? What pie would that be?", he asked curiously. He took off his hat, thinking that pie sounded pretty good after a long day.

"The apple pie Elizabeth wanted for tonight. She said she'd come by and get it, but I haven't seen her yet. Didn't she send you?"

"No. I just got back in town. She must still be at school. I'll get the pie from you", Jack said casually as he headed across the room.

"No, she had already finished up at the school. She was going riding." Abigail said,

"Riding? When? Where? ". Jack frowned as he thought about Elizabeth riding by herself.

"About two hours ago. It was so beautiful and sunny after the days of snow that she wanted to get some fresh air. She was going to try and find a chrysalis or two to teach her students about butterflies. "

"It's almost dark. Are you sure she hasn't come back to town yet?", Jack asked.

"I haven't seen her. The livery would know if her horse was still out," Abigail answered as she hurried to finish getting the Café tables ready for the dinner crowd.

"She left, I don't know, maybe two hours ago. Said she was going riding. Took off heading west", Mr. Bricks, the livery man, responded when Jack asked about his wife.

"I thought she'd be back by now. It's going to get real cold when the sun sets", he added as he brought Jack's horse out of the stall and quickly handed Jack a lantern.

Jack quickly traveled west. As he rounded each turn on the trails and crossed over hills, he expected to see Elizabeth riding towards him, smiling at him for having gone out to look for her. He imagined that Elizabeth would laugh at the worry on his face and chide him for not thinking that she could handle herself.

When he stopped at the top of a small hill and looked down on the valley in the setting sun, Jack wasn't sure if he would hug Elizabeth or berate her for making him worry so much. She knows better than to be out riding this late.

When Elizabeth opened her eyes again, her mind tried to figure out why she couldn't see very well. She remembered it had been light and warm earlier. Why wasn't it that way now?, she wondered in confusion. After contemplating the situation, she realized she must have been asleep for a while. She tried to figure out how much time had passed but her mind couldn't handle the complexities of that. All she knew was that it was cold and she was in the dark.

She had no idea why.

It was too much work to keep her eyes open, so she closed them again and let her mind go blank.

When Elizabeth woke up for the third time, she was shivering. She moved her hands slightly, feeling the wetness of her mittens. She foggily remembered what Jack had taught her. Always stay dry in the cold. I need to get dry.

She struggled to comprehend her surroundings. She heard an owl hooting. That must be what woke me. I have to get up. I have to get warm.

She looked upwards and saw the full moon. She surprisingly remembered that her right hand hurt earlier, so she used her elbow to push off the ground. She gritted her teeth and then finally screamed in agony as she sat up. Her stomach turned from the pain and she vomited into the snow. Using her left hand, she wiped her mouth.

I need to start a fire.

Her bag was laying two feet from her on the snow. She knew she needed to reach it but it seemed so far away.

By the time she finally crawled to her bag, her face was streaked with tears.

Elizabeth pulled out her matches and her journal. It was a new one, started just last week. She was glad it wasn't full of her writings but realized that even if it were, she would have hesitated only for a second before burning it. A small fire wouldn't provide much warmth, but it would hopefully help illuminate more of her surroundings, somewhat visible by the moonlight on the snow.

It took four matches before the journal lit. Her trembling fingers had dropped the first three matches in the snow. Elizabeth knew the small fire wouldn't last long so she looked around quickly.

A tree.

An old tree, the bottom half rotted and hollowed out, was ten feet away. Jack would know what kind of tree it is. He can identify any tree in the forest, she thought, her mind getting temporarily sidetracked. Elizabeth didn't care what kind it was. All she cared was that that it was at least a foot and a half in diameter and hollowed.

It took Elizabeth five minutes of dragging herself and crawling to reach the tree and she was panting from pain by the time she leaned against it.

She reached her good hand into the tree and began tearing off pieces of dried wood, putting them in a small pile outside the opening. It's a wonder the tree hasn't fallen down by now ,it's so rotten, she thought.

As her hand felt around inside the large dark opening, she was ecstatic to find that an animal had left behind a nest. She pulled it out and placed it under the pile of tree bark. Kindling. That's what Jack had called it.

When the pain and cold wouldn't allow her to do anymore, she crawled backwards into the cavity, crying out in agony as she twisted her body to fit inside. She was pretty sure she had broken her wrist and a few ribs. Her head and her ankle both throbbed. She started sobbing as she struck the matches and set the nest on fire. Reaching into her bag, she found her students report cards, which she had planned on working on tonight after dinner. She crumbled each one into a tight ball and added them to the fire.

Jack had searched for more than an hour without luck. When he hadn't returned to town, Abigail had sent Lee and Frank out to look for him and Elizabeth. The men found Jack three miles from town as he was heading back.

"Is she back?", he asked frantically. When they shook their heads, Jack turned his horse around and headed out again.

Before the fire died out, it had dried Elizabeth's mittens. She fell asleep cold, but dry.

Two hours later, it started to sleet.

Elizabeth woke up to the sound of the icy rain hitting the ground, and realized that she wouldn't leave the protection of the tree until the sleet stopped. She was getting cold again so she blew on her fingers in a hopeless attempt to warm them. She had two matches left, but she knew that she'd never find anything dry to burn. She had to wait for Jack to find her or hope the sun came out in the morning and she could start making her way back to town. For the first time, she wondered what had happened to her horse.

Lee and Frank forced Jack to turn back to town. The sleet made visibility impossible. They wouldn't even be able to hear Elizabeth if she yelled over the sound of the ice hitting the ground.

The men rode past the Thornton cottage on their way to town. The windows, which should have been aglow with lanterns and logs burning in the fireplace, were dark.

Maybe she's waiting for me at the Cafe, Jack thought hopefully, as they made their way through the brutal weather. When he saw the light of a lantern coming at him, Jack breathed a sigh of relief, but it was only temporary. Bill, riding on his horse through the sleet, had had no luck finding Elizabeth.

Jack's face dropped again when he saw that Elizabeth's borrowed horse wasn't back at the livery.

Abigail took one look at the men when they entered the Café, and hurried to get them warm drinks and blankets. She ushered them into the kitchen and had them sit by the stove as she gathered dry clothes for them.

Jack walked back and forth across the Cafe, going to the door every five minutes to see if the sleet had stopped until Abigail finally convinced him that he needed to sit down and rest so he could look for Elizabeth again at first light. When he wouldn't eat, Abigail again reminded Jack that he needed to be strong. He quickly ate the stew she offered and then pushed the bowl away, dropping his head into his hands.

Elizabeth was getting hungry. She hadn't eaten since yesterday at lunch, and she had thrown that up hours ago. She was thirsty too. But more than anything, she felt the pain. Her head. Her ribs. Her wrist. Her ankle. Her leg. She winced when she touched her face with her left hand. She wasn't sure if she had a black eye, but her cheek and eye felt swollen.

Jack won't see me if I'm in here.

I've got to move now that it's morning.

Slowly she began to shift her limbs. After hours of being in the same position, her legs were cramped. She clenched her mouth and refused to scream as she inched her way out of the tree.

Looking around, she realized she was at the bottom of a steep hill. Slowly she started to move up the slope, grabbing onto nearby tree trunks to pull herself up. She realized that needed to get somewhere that Jack could find her. There was little doubt in her mind that she wouldn't make it back to town by herself.

She walked bent over, moving slowly. She knew it was necessary to breath, but every time she inhaled deeply, the pain in her ribs made her wince. She noticed blood on her coat, but she didn't know from what injury it came. She kept moving upwards, dragging her swollen ankle.

"Elizabeth!"

Her head jerked up.

She heard him.

It was Jack.

She opened her mouth and tried to yell. Elizabeth's eyes widened in shock when she realized that her voice was no louder than a hoarse whisper.

"Elizabeth!" There were more voices now.

Swallowing what little spit she had in her mouth, she tried again. "Jack." It was stronger, but not strong enough.

Grabbing a handful of snow, Elizabeth wet her mouth. Steadying herself against a tree, she yelled frantically over and over again. When she couldn't yell any more, she crumpled to the ground.

When Jack looked down from the top of the hill, he saw her bright pink coat against the white snow.

Elizabeth grimaced in pain when Jack touched her.

"Don't try to move", Jack instructed as he opened his vacuum flask and held it to her lips, gently tilting it so that the warm tea dripped into her mouth.

She felt someone put a blanket around her.

"I've got you sweetie" were the last words she heard before she passed out again.

The doctor tried to hide his frustration with Jack but Jack's constant hovering was getting in his way. Abigail had helped the doctor undress Elizabeth while Jack paced the floor, asking questions or moving past the other two to brush Elizabeth's hair out of her face. One look at Elizabeth's swollen face caused Jack's eyes to tear up, so he moved away and paced the floor again. Only to return a moment later to hold Elizabeth's hand and stroke her cheek. Back and forth. Pacing and tearing up.

Finally, the doctor sent Jack to fill up the metal bed warmer with hot coals. When he returned, Jack sat on the edge of the bed, holding his wife's hand, and wiping his eyes.

"How bad is she?", he asked, turning to the doctor.

"She's been through the ringer, but she should be okay. The physical injuries she suffered will heal. Right now, I'm more worried about her lungs and making sure she doesn't get sick. She was out in the cold wet air a long time. She was lucky she had a thick coat and a corset. They saved her from much more serious damage. . . . Look at the back of her coat, Jack", he instructed.

Jack picked up the bloodied and dirty coat from the floor. Across the back, the fabric was slashed open in several places. Jack noticed for the first time how evenly spaced the tears were. Slowly bending down, he picked up Elizabeth's damaged corset.

"Looks to me like bear claws. Could be wrong. What do you think?", the doctor asked.

Jack just nodded in despair as he dropped the clothes to the floor and went to sit beside Elizabeth again. He barely listened as the doctor rattled off Elizabeth's injuries.

"A laceration to the skull. Contusion to the skull and face. Severely sprained ankle. A broken wrist. Most likely a few cracked ribs. Bullet wound to the right leg."

Jack's head jerked up. "What the hell did you say?"

"A bullet wound to the right leg. Jack, someone shot your wife."

Up next: Chapter 2 "The Encounter with the Boots"