104 Away

Wheels Go Round And Round

 //Hi everyone! Just wanted to say thanks for reading it this far! Hope you enjoy!//

Marcie danced in joy around fluffy cotton candy clouds, feeling free and as light as a feather. She slid down a candy-cane  beanstalk all the way down to a bustling street market. Snowflakes made of sugar danced all around her, and snow as white as frosting rested on roofs. Marcie skipped towards a colourful little market, where she picked out a beautiful necklace, with gold rimming and an amethyst centre. She looked at the shopkeeper, whose face was full of joy and showed him what she would be purchasing. He accepted it and said, "Ticket please!"

"Um.. a ticket? I- I don't have a ticket..," Marcie stuttered. This was her absolute paradise, and yet something was going wrong. 

"Wake up, I need your ticket!" He said, and Marcie felt him grab her arm.

"Wake up? What do you mean?" She asked, shocked.

He shook her again, and as he said 'ticket' for the last time, Marcie felt herself being pulled out from that world. Her eyes snapped open.

"AGH! What? What's wrong?" she exclaimed, and her eyes darted around in terror for a few moments before it all came flooding back to her. "I'm.. on a train..," 

"That is correct, miss," someone said.

Marcie jerked to her side, and saw a young tall man dressed in a deep red uniform looking down at her. "Miss, do you have a ticket or not?" he asked her in a thick British accent.

Marcie could tell he was growing a little impatient so she fumbled through her shoulder satchel and pulled out a beige slip of paper as fast as she could and held it out to him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a stamp, pushed it onto her ticket and held it there for a few seconds, and removed it with a satisfying squish. "Now, would you like a newspaper or a flyer on modern ships?" The attendant asked, displaying the two options in his hands.  

"A newspaper, I suppose," Marcie said.

He handed her the paper, and continued down the aisles of the train. Marcie flapped open the newspaper and began to read.

The Hawkens Tattlers                                      Sept. 2nd 1954

 The Red Glove closes due to unknown charges

The favourited  restaurant, Red Glove has just spread the news  that they will unfortunately be closing, but will not say why. Reporter Jack Silles has a few guesses to what it is...

Marcie paused reading there. "People really don't have that much interesting stuff to write about these days..." 

She sat in silence, scanning the paper a little more until Marcie decided to just move on, since she had grown bored. She set down the paper and looked out the window, desperate to see something exciting. As they passed by tree after tree, Marcie began to daydream about What her school would look like.  Maybe it has grand pillars spiraling around it's corners... Marcie thought, and smiled. Immediately she frowned, refusing herself to have any good feelings toward this school.

Out of the corner of her eye, Marcie caught movement at the front of the train. Impulsively, she turned herself towards the front of the train and craned her neck forwards to see what it was. A short girl with orange  curly hair and freckles was nervously fumbling around in her baggage for something, and Marcie looked up to see the Train Attendant standing in front of the girl with a stern face. "If you don't have a ticket, you will step off at the next station, which is five minutes away."

Marcie looked sympathetically at her, and as the girl looked over her shoulder at Marcie with wide, panicked eyes, Marcie lowered her gaze reluctantly. Just then, a beige coloured object under the girl's seat caught Marcie's attention. "Oh!" Marcie exclaimed, and rushed over to her and reached under the seat.

As she snatched it andv lifted it up, ignoring the attendant's annoyed expression. "My ticket!" the girl sighed with relief, and Marcie happily handed the slip of paper to her.

The girl gingerly handed the ticket to the attendant, and he stamped it and gave it back to her, and continued on his way up the train rows. The girl turned to Marcie. "Thanks!" she said gratefully. "My name's Ann. What's yours?"

 "I'm Marcie!" Marcie said, and smiled.

 Ann looked at Marcie's seat for a moment, then returned her gaze back to her.  "Hey, how did you get a newspaper?"

For a moment, Marcie looked at her with confusion, and then she remembered the Fox Glove story. "Oh, yeah! Would you like to read it with me? I've got to say, it's a little boring-"

"Sure!" Ann interrupted, seeming glad to have met an ally. She picked up her suitcase and lugged it along with her until she arrived at Marcie's row. She shoved it into the overhead cabin  and plopped onto the seat. 

"So... Why are you going to  St. Hared's?" Marcie asked inquisitively.

"Oh.. That?" Ann said, and awkwardly laughed it off. Marcie stared at her questioningly. Ann noticed, and immediately looked to the ground, her neck flushing almost as red as her thick curly hair.  "I- I'd rather not talk about it."

  "Oh, alright,"  Marcie replied guiltily. Selfishly, she did want to keep pushing deeper for the answer, but Ann seemed like the sort of girl who couldn't really withstand that. 

And with that, they began silently reading the newspaper,  both afraid of saying the wrong thing.