Priscilla's Diary - February 14th 1876

   It was only 15, maybe 20 minutes after Snake left the house when I heard the explosion. I took Joshua and hid in the back room. I didn't know what was going on, but I knew it was bad. The minutes seemed like hours. I was so scared. I could hear the gunshots here and there. My mind was everywhere. What was going to happen tomorrow? Would they still hang Johnny? Why had I kissed Snake? I felt so ashamed. I cried and clutched Joshua to my chest. All I had wanted was a safe, normal place to raise my son. And this is where I ended up. Hiding in the back room while the town was being shot up, my husband about to be hung, and my baby's father probably dead out in the street. Lord.
  The front door of the house opened and I felt like the end was here. I might deserve to be killed by some outlaw, but my boy did not! I tried to hide Joshua under the bed. I was in a panic. Then the intruder came into the bedroom. He was covered in dust and blood and held a rifle in his hand. I froze and just looked at him. it took a few seconds to set in. Then I leapt into his arms. It was my Johnny!

   The build up of fear and worries over the last weeks just seemed to burst over me at that point and I completely lost control. I fell into Johnny's arms and had a breakdown. He held me tight and whispered that everything would be alright. I looked up and for the first time in a long time I saw life in his eyes. The man I fell in love with was back! I could just see it. He told me what had happened at the jailhouse and that Holmes had escaped.
  "Let's go Johnny" I pleaded. "Let's just get on the wagon and ride out of here right now!" I was half out of my mind with both relief and fear. "This may be our only chance to escape! They're still gonna hang you! We have to leave! We'll take our son and just go, somewhere where they'll never know us! Something bad is gonna happen if we stay here, I just know it! Please Johnny, let's go!"
  "Calm down Prissy." He said. "It's too dangerous out there. The Marshal said we should just stay here. I'll protect you. And Joshua." He had a determined look about him that I did not recognize. My heart said to argue and make him go. But something held me back. I agreed. 
 
  We bunkered down in the bedroom. The gunshots seemed to slow and then stop. We might have been there an hour. When no one came my fears began to get the better of me again. A dread grew in my stomach. I pleaded with Johnny to leave Red Creek once and for all, but he still refused. "I'm not gonna run Prissy!" he said. "I am through with being a coward! I am gonna go see what's happening outside. Stay here with Joshua."
  "No Johnny!" I said, trying to hold him back. "Don't leave us!" I was shouting "I can't lose you again!"
  He stopped and turned back. A smile seemed to float across his face. Seeing that smile warmed my heart. For the first time in what felt like forever, I had an idea that things just might work out alright for us."Alright Prissy. I'll stay. I promised the Marshal I would keep you safe."

  A voice from the doorway surprised both of us with a small laugh. "Well, I reckon that's a promise you just might have a hard time keeping Johnny Boy."

  There in the door frame, with his pistols drawn and aimed right us, stood Kid Homes!