The City of Amer

Chapter 2: Train Rides and Confusion

TW: Breakups, bad family relationships. 

Edric told his family, face ashen, phone still in his hands, what had happened. His mother hugged him tight and he hugged her back, but he couldn't get Kaliyah out of his head. They'd been perfect together - the most intelligent, the most athletic. The power couple. She'd been so distant lately, but she'd also been training like crazy. Had she been thinking about this for a while? And how had she got in but he hadn't? Whatever it was, it wasn't fair. She should be the one to go to Amer, to visit this magnificent city she had always dreamed of. They had always dreamed of. 

But he had. He had passed three different tests - and was the first person to do so. But Kaliyah had been doing this forever. She had trained for one specific thing, seeming to always know that she would get in. Yet she hadn't. How? How was it even possible that she didn't?

Edric couldn't tell if the next week was worse than the last one. Last week had been full of uncertainty and painful boredom, but he had always - rather naively, it seemed - known that at least he and Kaliyah would walk out of it together. Now all he knew was that he was being shipped off to his favorite place on earth - without his favorite person on earth. He hated it.

Despite that, he still packed his bags, tears filling his eyes as he folded in his favorite sweater - one Kaliyah had bought for his birthday a year ago - and zipped up the suitcase. He looked around his bare room, all his little mementos and parchments and quills packed away in safe spaces. A car was waiting outside to drive him to the station, where he'd get on the Amer Train - yet another AT changing his life - and be gone forever. His family couldn't visit Amer and he could only come out on major occasions, like funerals or weddings, and although correspondence was allowed, Edric was still upset.

He dragged his bags to the car and kissed his family goodbye. "Write to me when the babies are born, okay?" He asked, pecking his mother on the cheek and stepping into the car. The driver pulled them along solitary roads, long and winding, until they eventually reached a train station. It looked semi-abandoned, except for a small group of maybe two dozen people.

Edric got out and thanked his driver, who immediately drove to the other side of the station and started pulling out his bags. Edric glanced around the group - a unique collection of people. A woman with blue hair and pink eyes was smiling at a man who's eyeliner was sharper than a razor. They were discussing something to do with their Mathematics section. Another woman, heavily pierced, had started a group conversation with two other women, one whose skin and hair was both silver, and a third with lilac eyes and a full body tattoo. Compared to them, Edric, whose most distinct feature was his long, auburn hair pulled up with quills, looked completely out of place.

The ride was somewhat painful. Edric missed his family already - who knew? And he naturally missed Kaliyah, who should've been on this train ride with him. Instead, he was sandwiched between the two talking groups he had noticed earlier. However, he tried to focus on The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and ignore the jabber of everyone else. He couldn't wait to get off of this train. The good news was he seemed to be the only Literature - but that could be bad too. He wasn't sure.

The instant the train jolted to a stop the small group got off. The leaders of each section stood there. It was obvious who led what section. Social science, led by Sash Figueroa, somehow looked like he wore a piece of clothing from every culture. Fashion's leader, Faith Davidson, was dressed like an androgynous fashion designer - probably because they were. Aric Fox of Art wore a suit with a bunch of famous paintings stitched into it.

No leader looked anything like Literature, Language, or Science, meaning Edric had no idea what to do. Everyone had found their leader and were being led off, but he was left behind alone at the station. That was, until he got tapped on the shoulder. He turned around, only to find the most handsome man he had ever seen.