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"timothée wake up." i whispered, harshly. i get off from the bed and crawl to the floor beside me where he laid with half his arm on the cold ground and the rest of his body on the couch mattress. "timothée!"
"yeah?" his eyes slowly opened, his voice still very raspy.
"tampons." i mumbled.
"what?" he runs his hand through his hair, pushing it away from his face.
"i need it." i say quietly.
he pulls his upper body up with the back of his arms, staring face to face with me. "alright." he softly huffs. "don't look at me, let's go."
—
he slid open the train door and locked it shut.
"wouldn't a car be better?" i asked.
"impossible to get a car through the woods." he says. "and." he knocks on the train window. "stronger than car windows." he smiled.
"bravo." i mumbled sarcastically rolling my eyes, i slid open each section of the train, till i got to the back of the train. i danced around out of boredom. sliding from the seats and swinging around poles.
something moves from the direct corner of my eyes. "timothée!" i shake. i hear timothée quickly rush over as the train stops.
"fate, you okay?" he glared over at me as he opened the last door. he sees me just standing there with my eyes looking from one area.
"hey hey hey." he says softly, putting his hands up showing he's defenseless. "can you put one hand up for me?" he asked, nicely.
i still never understood what he meant by directing people to put one hand up.
the young girl who looked nearly the age of ten. she had tears filled in her eyes, her hair still slicked back, she was wearing pink tights, and a black jacket over her.
she gently placed her hand up, she had fear in her eyes as she kept looking at the both of us.
"good good, i'm not going to hurt you, okay." he tries to calm her down.
"is she going to hurt me?" she points at me, wiping her eyes, she looked tired. her lips had a soft pout.
"god no—i'm harmless. why would you think that?" i say.
"i mean—maybe not giving the unintentional death stare at a little girl." timothée says.
"am not." i narrow my eyes away.
"you kind of are." "how long have you been here." he asked.
"i do-don't know." she kept her knees tucked to her chest, still very fearful of us.
but i knew she's been here as long as we got on this train which was a day or two.
"i'm fate, that's timothée." i say. "what's your name?"
"riley." she says, her soft little voice still shaking.
i walk over, sitting on the cold floor of the train besides her. "have you eaten anything?"
she nods no, looking back up at both of us.
—
we made it to a small convenience store, timothée lifts the door bell to stop it from ringing as we walked inside. it was empty this entire small town was like a ghost town.
"grab whatever you need." he says firmly, sitting by the chair waiting for us to be done.
i go over the aisle to grab tampons, i decided to grab food as well because the ration wasn't enough for everyone.
"riley." i whispered softly to get her attention, she has one box of chocolate in her hands.
"can i get this?" she stares at the rack of candy in awe. amazed by everything in front of her that all had a pop of color and sugary sweets.
"just one? take all of it." i grab everything from off the rack placing them in my backpack. "i'll give them to you when we get back."
"really?" her face lightened up.
"really." i laughed. "you want bread, water?" i hand some over to her, knowing she was probably starving. she ate, ate as soon as she got it.
i see a small smile cave in from her face, i walk into the small section of clothing grabbing everything i saw for riley.
i knew she needed new clothes. along with more toothbrush and toothpaste. everything essential.
i turned, seeing she was still besides me.
"i saw you dancing on the train." she says.
"that's embarrassing. i'm sorry you had to see it." i sighed.
"i dance too." she smiled. "i was suppose to be at rehearsals."
i look down, seeing the pink tights. finally coming to a realization she was a ballerina.
"my dad pushed me onto the train, closing the doors. i cried— and cried. but he never came back to get me." she said.
i was shattered, that being so young she had to see her dad go. i kneel on one of my knee, to go and give her a soft hug. "i'm sorry." i say softly.
"he's not coming back, is he?" she asked, fidgeting with her fingers, looking down. her eyes become teary again.
i couldn't give her false hope, having her wait on someone who no longer exist. "no—i'm sorry. my mom and dad died too." i say. "i know it's difficult right now, but you're okay and that's all your dad cares about." i try to smile to calm the situation and give her relief.
"you'll be there like my dad used to?" she asked.
i didn't know the answer to this. i showed a smile and nodded. "blueberries or strawberries?" i asked, changing the subject.
"strawberries?" she says.
"trick question, both!" i smiled, taking all of it.
she laughs softly, we head back to the door where timothée sat. "i'll hold that for you ma'am." he looks over at me.
"no i'm good—" he cuts me off.
"not you, i was talking to riley." he says, gently grabbing everything from off her hands.
