𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕤𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕠𝕟 || 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘺𝘧𝘪𝘤

⋆꙳•̩̩͙❅*̩̩͙‧͙𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕣𝕖𝕖‧͙*̩̩͙❆ ͙͛ ˚₊⋆

Agnes wasn't quite sure how long she had been asleep, but she figured it had been a while. Outside the window, the trees had given way to a snowy plain.

Quiet Boy had left the bench, but a glance across the aisle assured her he had not moved back to his own. She rubbed at her eyes tiredly before sitting up, shoving her coat off of her arms and into the floor. Loud Mouth was still asleep, so Agnes quietly shuffled past her, gripping the top of the seats to avoid falling.

She found Quiet Boy sitting in the seat in front of them, chatting softly with the Cheerful Girl. The two were eating handfuls of jelly beans.

"Hey." Quiet Boy waved at her when he saw her. "Did you sleep well?"

"I did; how long have I been asleep?" Agnes asked, squeezing onto the end of the seat next to Quiet Boy.

"Maybe 45 minutes? Hard to tell." He shrugged. He held his palm out to her. "Do you like black licorice?"

"I do, actually," She chirped, taking the jelly beans for him. "I always eat my brother's; he thinks it's yucky, but it's my favorite."

"What are you eating?" A groggy voice came from behind them and they turned around to see Loud Mouth standing on her tiptoes to peek over the back of the seat.

"Jelly beans," Cheerful Girl answered. "Do you like them?"

"Only the sweet ones: the spicy one makes my eyes water."

Cheerful Girl dutifully picked out the cinnamon jelly beans before handing Loud Mouth the jelly beans; Loud Mouth settled back into the seat behind them, pulling her feet up into the seat as she sat down. Cheerful Girl got up to go get more jelly beans.

"Do you think we're almost there? It feels like we've been on this train forever!" Agnes groaned to Quiet Boy.

"Maybe the train conductor will know."

Agnes stood up from her seat. "I'm gonna go find him. Be right back, OK?"

"My dad says you shouldn't cross moving train cars by yourself..." Quit Boy sounded unsure, but he also didn't make a move to stop her.

"I'll be extra careful, promise." She started towards the sliding door, but as she laid her hand on the brass handle to slide it to the side, it slid open for her. She yelped as she came face to face with the conductor (or face to stomach, as the conductor was quite a bit taller than her).

Her eyes traveled from the brass buttons on his blue suit to his face, on which there was a confused frown. She offered a smile. "Mr. Conductor! I was just coming to find you!"

"Young lady," He said, kneeling down to her height. "You shouldn't be moving across cars unattended."

"I just wanted to see if we were almost there," She said sheepishly.

"Regardless, you shouldn't endanger your personal safety. When I was your age on this train, I attempted myself and almost fell. It's slippery; you should only cross without help if it's an emergency." Much like when she first met him, he didn't quite smile, but something about his face seemed to soften. "Patience is a virtue, child."

"Yes, Mr. Conductor." Agnes nodded earnestly.

"Back to your seat, now." The conductor told her as he stood up and fully entered the train car. She scurried back to her seat as he picked up the microphone.

"Your attention please," The train conductor announced across the microphone. "In the past, we've had instances of lost tickets; because of this, we have begun the practice of checking tickets. We have reached the halfway mark of our trip, so if you will please, present your tickets."