𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕤𝕖𝕒𝕤𝕠𝕟 || 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘺𝘧𝘪𝘤

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

Agnes, standing on the front platform of the train, thought back to what the man said.

"Are you saying this is all just a dream?"

"You said it, kid! Not me."

Standing here, shivering in the cold air, she decided this wasn't a dream. This was real. The caribou that had been so close, she felt the warm breath when it huffed at having to move. The air that pulled her hair back as they slowly regained speed, the caribou standing in the snow gradually getting blurry. The northern lights were still bright in the sky, dancing to an unheard whale song. Loud Mouth's hand was tight in hers, cold, but warmer than the rail of the front platform. This was real.

It was, Agnes would bet, the realest life got.

And she got herself here. Maybe the man, ghost, angel, whatever he was, had helped her, but she chose to be here. Chose to get on the top of that train. That was real too.

"You know," the train conductor began. "One time when I rode this train, I was standing on the front of this train at this very moment of the trip. We are approaching Glacier Gulch, the steepest downhill grade in the world. It was the most exciting, and most terrifying experience of my life, like the world's scariest roller coaster. And every Christmas since I took the job of train conductor, I have stood on this very platform, held on tightly, and experienced it all over again."

Agnes looked at Loud Mouth, and Loud Mouth looked at her, and then the two looked up at the train conductor and asked, in sync, "Can we?!"

The train conductor smiled. "If you hold on very, very tight."

Agnes and Loud Mouth both gripped the handrail with white knuckles. The train conductor pushed them a bit closer together so he could wrap his arms on either side of them.

"Here it is." They were approaching a rickety track of ups and downs. The train was going faster now, the wind starting to burn their eyes. They ascended, ascended, ascended, Agnes truthfully wondered if they were going to touch the clouds before they were descending at an almost 90-degree angle. Her scream was lost to the wind and she felt the train conductor curl around them a bit tighter.

Before the train even fully came off of the descent, they began to ascend again before shooting rapidly towards the ground. They leaned this way and that as they flew around curves and Agnes was amazed that they didn't fly off.

Physics, she guessed.

There was a brief pause in screaming as Glacier Gulch came to an end, but the train conductor tensed as he looked ahead.

"History really is repeating itself tonight," he mumbled before going over to call the engineers. "Ice! Ice over the tracks!"

No one came to the window.

"I don't think they can hear you!" Loud Mouth shouted over the whistling wind and rattle of train wheels.

The train conductor groaned. "Keep holding onto the rail; heading full speed towards ice tends to be quite slippery."

He came back to stand behind them, pushing their bodies close to the rail.

The train hit the ice and immediately veered off course, sliding around like a snake. The train leaned to the left and the train conductor moved them to the right to balance the weight, vice-versa when it leaned too far to the left. The engineers stopped the train quickly, but they still slid quite a long way before coming to a complete stop.

The girls looked up at the train conductor, who moved away from them, adjusting his hat and coat. He gave a curt nod.

"Much better. Are you two OK?"