Cliche (2024 - In Progress)

(I) train rides

The ride home always seems to drag on into eternity. This fourteen hour train ride through New England only becomes more uninspiring with repetition. The sleeper car she sits in is freezing, the heat on the train does little to combat the December cold. The endless farmland, small towns, and occasional big city are a constant blur in the window. Mary has seen this view dozens of times before, and in the dark it is especially uninteresting.

Mary is returning home for her school's three week winter break, even though she does not want to be with family. For the past four years, she has been attending Miss Maxwell's School for Proper Young Ladies. In that time, she has become a stranger in her family's home. She finds more kinship with her roommates at Miss Maxwell's than she does with her own siblings.

She does not have much care for her family. Her father is rarely present and her mother is absolutely suffocating. Mary comes from a prominent family in her small New Hampshire town of wolves, her father being the beta for the pack. Thus, it is imperative she learns to be a proper young lady.

That is the reason she had been given as to why she had to attend Miss Maxwell's. To learn to not be an embarrassment to the family. She is tired of the expectations, having to be pleasant and full of smiles. Tired of forcing herself to be agreeable and likable to everyone she meets. If given the chance, Mary would love to slouch and curse in public. Too bad it would cause a scandal, the eldest daughter of a prominent beta losing her cool.

All she can do is put on her sickeningly sweet facade and lament in private.

Mary is cramped in the small sleeper car, but with the bed already pulled out for the night she can pretend that it doesn't bother her. It is well past dinnertime, and honestly, creeping on bedtime. She knows that she should sleep soon, she knows that the train is set to arrive early in the morning. She just can't bring herself to stop and prepare for bed.

She spends her time sketching in a journal, quick loose sketches that don't take a lot of her brain power. When her phone's cell service would allow it, she is maintaining a conversation with her roommate, Eloise.

Mary and Eloise had first met in their first year at Miss Maxwell's, having been assigned to live together. The two girls became fast friends, ultimately inseparable over the four years they have known each other. For the past two years, Eloise's younger sister Florence has also shared a dorm with them. The Langley sisters are the daughters of an Alpha in Virginia. They are also two of Mary's favorite people.

The trio hasn't even been separated a day yet and are already making plans for when they reunite in January. Of the dinners they can cook together, the movie nights they could have, and the classes they are not looking forward to returning to. Mary is also discussing the possibility of getting a tattoo, having just turned 18 a month prior.

Mary: maybe on the ribcage?? i think somewhere easily hidden

Eloise: that would be sooo cute!!!!

Mary keeps sketching the same thing, a small cluster of flowers. Each set is altered slightly, from the orientation to the size. She likes to draw flowers when she is bored, finding the wide variety to choose from to be endlessly appealing as an artist. She continues to sketch for as long as her eyes will let her focus on the sketchbook.

She wants her first tattoo to be of flowers, it feels right to Mary. She knows there is still time to think about the design. Still time before she could set up the consultation.

Mary and Eloise's conversation continues until nearly one in the morning. Knowing that her train is meant to arrive at the station by eight, Mary forces herself to say goodnight to her friend. She considers pulling an all-nighter but knows that it would serve no purpose and wreck her sleep schedule for no reason.