#1 - Nick Webster

7. Trainward Bound

            The trip was long and quiet. Grandma asked some questions and tried to make some small talk, but I just tried my best to dodge real and full answers. At this point, I mostly felt bad that I was planning on leaving this lady after she had been so nice to me all the time. But I don't think I would have any other choice. I'm sure I'll find another grandma down the road, so that I can return the favor.

The drive was wonderful. The scenery was beautiful, but there was a lot of the same scenery after a while. We drove along the river for most of the trip. I saw the river that I fell into... I think. There were a lot of trees along the way, and there were plain fields to the left-hand side. Traffic was light to the city, so everything was eventually boring to watch. I couldn't consistently see out the window anyway. I was too short and had to prop myself up to see a lot of it.

After about an hour had passed, I finally decided to small talk a bit more. I'm not sure if it was a good idea or not, but I decided I should give her something in return for her kindness. I asked her about the two games in the living room. She described them to me. As I listened, I imagined myself playing with other people. It was a dreamworld I was hopeful to experience myself one day.

In the game called, "" each player had an equal number of pieces. You had to move the pieces one at a time and capture the opponent's pieces. The person who captured all their opponent's pieces first was declared the winner. It seemed like a pretty straightforward game that I could learn and play.

The game called "шахматы" was more complex. The object of the game was pretty similar. You could move your pieces one at a time, and the object was to capture your opponent's pieces. In this game, however, there were six different pieces that you could use, and each piece had different rules for how it could move. This time the object wasn't to capture the last piece. The object was to capture a particular piece: the King. You needed to defend your King while simultaneously attacking your opponent's King. It sounded fun to play, but I may never actually play it. "Do you want to play when we get back home?" she asked.

I froze at the question. On the one hand, I didn't want to lie and say yes. I felt like I owed her the truth for all her help and kindness. She deserved more than a boldfaced lie to her face. On the other hand, I obviously couldn't tell her the truth. I wondered what she would do after I left. Would she call the police?

I just left my answer up in the air, "maybe." That way I didn't have to dedicate myself to a lie, and I didn't have to tell her the truth. Honestly, I wanted to say yes. I wanted to just keep this as the next chapter in my journey toward a normal life. To know what it would be like to have someone in your life love you and care for you. It was the one thing that I would give everything up for. Well, that's a silly thought. I had nothing to give up! But still... I knew it was too dangerous to stay around here. I had to leave and travel far away from here.

As we approached the city, I made sure that I could see as much as I could. I needed to find a train station, airport, or subway. There wasn't anything on the edge of the city, but I would keep my eyes open.

I debated on whether I wanted to obtain clothes first or just slip away right away. I decided a mixture of the two would be best. My plan was to go clothes shopping first, and then I would take a few items without her looking. That way, if she had to describe me to the police, I would be wearing different clothes than what she would describe. I'm not sure how much that would help, but it would be better than matching the description that she would likely give to the police.

As we moved into the city, I could see several buildings. I was on the lookout for three specific words on signs: "поезд," "аэропорт," or "подземка." Those words meant train, airport, and subway. I didn't find any of those words before our first stop.