Riley and Sophia's Adventures Aboard The Polar Express

Untitled Part 3

It was well past midnight, almost two in the morning when she thought she heard the sound of North's sleigh hit the roof of their small home; as she listened more intently, however, the sound got louder and louder, eventually making the whole house shake.

Sophia saw her sister, Riley, jolt up in bed suddenly-- of course, she had felt it. Sophia ran over to her sister's bed as Riley began to panic.

"Earthquake , It's an earthquake!" she shrieked. Afraid that Riley's wails were going to wake mom and dad, she shushed her sister and asked her calmly if she wanted to go with her to investigate what that strange sound was.

"Mmm-hmm" Riley nodded.

"Okay then, but we have to be quiet, okay?"

"Sure thing..." she nodded again.

"Okay, here follow me" her sister help her out of the tangled mess of sheet that looked like tons of Cobras were gathered around her feet hugging them tightly, after she got her sister's feet untangled, the two snuck out of their room and very carefully crept down the stairs.

Riley glanced over at the living room to see if her friend North a.k.a Santa Claus had come yet, although, to her disappointment it was just not to be-- the stocking still stood as bare as ever, no presents could be seen under the tree, and the special plater of cookies and milk still sat untouched.

"Come on" her sister motioned, trying to encourage Riley to get a move on. "Now's not the time for sulking" she replied, lightly grabbing her sisters arm and moving towards the door.

Once outside, the two couldn't believe what they saw... a BIG train was pulled up outside, this just wasn't any train however; the two recognized it immediately as being... The Hogwarts Express.

Riley whined sharply, someone was shouting; shouting, but not at her nor her sister.

"It's okay, Riles" her sister soothed,

The two made their way though the high snow to see that a conductor had been making all that racket.

"All aboard!" he yelled. Only stopping once he noticed the two girl. "Well? You coming?"

"Hmm... that depends, where are you going to take us?" Sophia narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"Where?" Riley repeated.

"Why, to the North Pole, of course". the conductor replied, a twinkle in his eye. "This is the Hogwarts Express"

"Hmmm... don't you mean The Polar Express? North used to read me that story all the time back at the North Pole... and anyway all that stuff is pure nonsense, just pretend"

"Hmmm..." he eyed her suspiciously. "So, you've been there before?"

"Uh-huh" she nodded.

Just then, he leaned over and whispered. "You want to go back?"

"To the North Pole?" she looked on in confusion.

"I see". the conductor sighed. Sophia watched as the conductor took what appear to be a clipboard out of his dark blue trench-coat pocket. "Hold this, please". He stated, Sophia hesitantly took the clipboard. "Thank you".

On it was a picture of herself and what looked like to be meaningless words plastered beside it.

"Is this you?" The conductor asked.

The young girl nodded.

"Yeah. Well, it says here..." he began. "...no with a department-store Santa this year, no letter to Santa." He paused, letting each statement pierce the young girl like a knife to the heart. "And you made your sister put out the milk and cookies. Mm-mm". He shook his head disapproving down at the girl. "Sounds to me like this is your crucial year. If I were you, I would think about climbing onboard". Now, Riley, in all this squaval ran and eagerly climbed on the train and although she motioned and pleaded with Sophia to follow her- Sophia chose to hold back. "Come on, come on, come on. I've got a schedule to keep... Oh". Sophia watched as the conductor made a 'not-so-good' face. Though her feet stayed firmly planted where they were. "Suit yourself". he replied sadly, "I'll go break the news to your sister" he turned, walking back inside just as the train was about to pull off.