Beyond The Lamppost

The World Hated Me First

Lucy smiled to herself when she found an empty train compartment, and quickly walked over to it. Most of them were already full by now, and she was pleasantly surprised to find this one empty. It was only to be expected though, everyone was traveling home for the summer holidays.

The young girl placed her suitcase in the luggage rack above. She struggled slightly at first, it was heavy after all, but she managed it in the end. Once she had, Lucy plopped down onto the seat with a sigh of relief. She'd never been more grateful for school to be out for summer.

For one she missed her family terribly, and for two it hadn't been an easy year. She had very few friends, and lost some who were very dear to her. There were also a few girls that had always been mean to her, but it had gotten worse this year.

She hadn't told her family about this though. For one there wasn't anything they could do from back home. Plus they would only worry about her and she didn't want that. So she kept it to herself, no matter how difficult that was for her.

"None of that matters now." Lucy said to herself, just as the train started to move. "I'm on the way home and won't have to worry about that again for a while."

She opened her bag, and decided to read a book to pass the time. She decided now would be a great time to read her bible, so she took it out and opened it to Matthew, the book she was currently reading.

"But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you."  ~ Matthew 5:44

"Mind if we join you?"

Lucy looked up at the doorway at the voice. "Oh no." She thought to herself.

"Hey, freckle face!"

Lucy gasped and her books went flying into the air, falling onto the floor below. She glanced over her shoulder at the girl who called her that, before sighing and bending down to retrieve the books.

The girl and her friends laughed before walking up to Lucy.

"Hi Sharon." Lucy said, looking up at the girls.

Sharon laughed slightly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"Yeah right." Lucy thought, but of course she didn't say it out loud, and only shook her head. "It's fine." She stood up slowly once she gathered all her books.

"What's that?" Sharon's friend, Janet asked, pointing to a large book in Lucy's hand.

Lucy looked down to see which book she was referring to. "Oh that's my bible." She replied with a small smile.

A third girl called Marilyn raised her eyebrows. "Your bible?"

"Wait so you believe in all that God, Jesus, and heaven nonsense?" Sharon said.

Lucy took a deep breath and put her English books in her locker. "I wouldn't call it nonsense." She said. "But yes, I believe in God."

"Is that a cross necklace your wearing?"  Janet asked.

Lucy looked down at her neck, noticing that she had her cross necklace on. It was rainbow, and used to belong to her grandmother. Her grandfather gave it to her after she died. "Yeah." She said, grabbing hold of it. "It was my grandmothers."

"Nice." Janet said slowly. "If you're 75. It looks ancient."

"And that bible too." Said Marilyn, glancing at the book in Lucy's hands. "It looks like it was made in the 1800s." She laughed.