The Station Girl

Chapter 2

I was not the first child to come out of the bad room subdued, nor was I the last in the two years that followed my own experience in it. Had it not so thoroughly taught me to listen to them, perhaps I would have warned the other and younger kids about it. But I never did.

None of the bad room kids ever did.

For a while after I'd come back into the light, I did little. I spoke only when spoken to, and I did only what I had to do. In those first days, I didn't even play with the other kids. A few tried, and I would tell them no. Some would try a bit harder to get me to play, I was great fun to play with they said, and still I shook my head. Eventually, they would leave for the day only to try again the next day.

All the while, they were watching. They saw how I acted. How I was toward the other children, and how I wanted to be alone. Perhaps they thought I would leave my slump on my own, and that the next day I would accept the smaller kids' offer to play. Finally, they'd had enough. When they next put me to bed, they told me that they were thinking one of the kids needed to go into the bad room.

It was all the reminder I needed. That night, since the first time I'd been put into the bad room, I cried. My pillow muffled what little sobs that escaped my body. Eventually, I cried myself to sleep against a wet pillow.

The next day, I was cheerful. The other kids were so excited when I told them that I was feeling better, and that I wanted to play with them again. But we all knew.

I was following the same pattern that all bad room kids followed.

The next two years passed with my mask firmly in place. I was polite to them, friendly and playful to the other kids, and I was always okay. This last part seemed to especially please them. Each time I told them I was okay, even if I really wasn't, they would smile and pat my head and tell me how I was a good girl.

Maybe that's why I only ever told Sir I was okay whenever he would ask.

And then one day, one of the kids disappeared. It was a boy the same age as me, the first one I had played with in the days following the bad room. He'd always been the most persistent one in playing to me.

That day, when all the children had dinner together, one of us noticed that he was gone. The next time one of them came around, a boy asked where he was. She just smiled and shook her head, saying that someone had adopted him. There was a sadness in her voice that I sensed with my five-year-old intuition. I watched her as she walked away, recalling that she and him had been close.

Most kids became attached to at least one of them. That is, the kids that had never been to the bad room. Us bad room kids kept ourselves reserved from them, knowing the deeds they were capable of. I was one of the few that was never close to anyone of them, even before my experience.

Still, I think I could have been close to one if I had ever found out who had taken me to hear the sounds of the trains when I couldn't walk or talk.

A week later, another kid disappeared. She, too, had been adopted. The couple dozen kids who were left still believed them, even me. It wasn't until the third one was "adopted" that we started to become suspicious. Not all the kids were wary at first. It was only a few bad room kids and I who were concerned.

We were lucky if one of us was adopted once a month. Often times, we even knew a kid was adopted before they told us because the kid would eagerly tell all they saw on their way to pack the few things that belonged to them.

That was the first thing that caught our attention, short though it may have been in those days. By the time we noticed the second thing, another four kids had gone.

We never saw any other people besides them. There were times when other people would come in, looking over us children with a steady eye. Most of these people would see us and leave shortly thereafter. The few who stayed afterward usually adopted one of us.

The absence of these people went unnoticed by us until the day they suddenly did show up. Two people, a woman and a man, both dressed up in darkly colored suits. They walked throughout the building we lived in, a place I was reluctant to call home. They stayed longer than most people did, even the ones who adopted us kids.

It was these two people who began the sudden onslaught of disappearances.

After the day they had visited, kids started to vanish faster. Now, it was one every two or three days instead of one a week.

I made my decision when our numbers had dwindled to almost two dozen.

I didn't know how much longer I had left until I mysteriously disappeared. They hadn't taken any of the bad room kids yet, but they would soon. Only a few kids remained that had never been in the bad room.

Each time a kid suddenly vanished, the remaining kids became withdrawn. It was almost as if they had experienced the bad room too. But it was the true bad room kids who kept their spirits up, having been taught that being happy and okay was the only way we would never go back in that room.

That night, I slipped out of my bed, dressed in my worn out dress that I constantly wore. I had a little bag, we all did, that I kept under my bed. There was little I wanted to take with me. I slipped my shoes on, and put my blanket and an extra dress as well as a small picture book in it. I didn't think to grab food or anything else. I was eager to get away from the building and them, and I left as soon as my bag was packed.

I wasn't very far away from it when I realized that I had no idea where to go. If I didn't wait for the night whistle, I could get lost. And if they found me, I was sure to go back into the bad room. I hid myself in a corner, looking left and right for any signs of pursuers. There, I remained out of sight until the whistle blew.

When it did, I bolted. I followed its fading sound, willing it to last just a second longer. And when it sounded again, I pushed my little legs even harder. Somehow, I found the station. I don't know how I did it, I remember nothing of my run through the streets. But I made it, and that's all I cared about.

Now that I was here though, I didn't know what to do. I scurried my way up the steps and onto the platform. There were a few people around, but they only glanced my way before returning to their business. How strange that they thought nothing of a little girl appearing out of nowhere.

I stared up at the train, eyes wide. Most of the doors were open, but most of them also had someone standing at them. I took a cautious step forward.

"All remaining cargo holders, the train will be leaving soon!"

The sudden voice startled me. The people were heading back to the train. I wanted to look at it more, but I needed to go if I wanted to escape from them.

I was walking forward with everyone else when someone tugged at my arm. She shushed me, pulling me along behind her. She led me right up to the train, and glanced around. I looked around too, and saw that no one was watching us. They were too busy loading things into the train. In my inattentiveness and wonder, I failed to notice what the girl in front of me was doing.

Suddenly, I was lifted up into the darkness.

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A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Anything you liked or didn't particularly like? Leave a comment to let me know!