I'm Sorry, My Bundle of Sunlight.

Chapter 3, The Ride pt. 2.

        Authors note: (Sorry it's so short! Not much inspiration, you feel?)

      The bright light of the sun shining on her face startled her awake, jolting as she stretched her hand out beside her. The wood floor of the car reminded her of everything. She wasn't at home, or what was her home, anymore. She was here. In a train box car. With Maple. Maple, who had the car door open. The train was still moving. The harsh sunlight shone into the open car and only just barely warmed it up, which in the morning chill was helpful, but not in the afternoon, when its glare would only serve to make you feel like you were baking alive.

       Maple was sitting at the edge of the doorway, watching the world pass by in a whirl.

      "Finally, you're awake. We're almost there."

      She sat up, yawning as she stretched. She looked over at the bag that contained the rations. There was already a piece of bread, a slice of cheese, and a literal raw potato on the bag.

     "I set that out for you. Eat it. You'll need the energy for the trip. The train's almost to where we need to get off, if we can hop off while it's moving, even better. The stop is further away than if we just hopped off when we needed to."

     Noelle swallowed a bite of the bread slice.

    "We're supposed to hop off while it's moving? Does that not like, ring any bells of danger?"

    "When have you ever cared about whether something is dangerous or not?"

    "I don't know, since maybe I started being hunted down by one of the most powerful and large armies with a commander the size of Godzilla??"

    Maple tilted her head.

    "Fear warranted."

    And then someone opened the door at the far end of the train car.

    He wasn't particularly tall, maybe a little shorter than Maple was, and had long, straight black hair that was about waist-length. If he had eyes, they were hidden beneath his dense bangs. He didn't appear particularly human, either: there were doll joints at all of his visible joints, at his elbows, in his fingers, etc etc. 

    Maple looked over at Noelle, then back at the doll looking man.

    Noelle looked back at Maple, and then the doll man.

    "I think we're going to have to take a detour."