The Train to Nowhere

Chapter 19 - The Lighthouse

When Breanna and her Dad finally released each other, Breanna looked around a bit. The pair was tucked into a short alley that could barely be called that. The street they were next to wasn't as jam-packed as the ones she had ventured into the tunnel to escape, but it was still quite busy. The buildings were no longer made of glass, but of brick and concrete. One thing that remained the same was the fact that there were still no doors anywhere.

"So, any idea where to go?" Breanna asked.

"I asked around, but nobody even seemed to know what a door was. When I explained what a door was, there was a sort of consensus that we might find something like that along the riverfront," her Dad answered. Breanna puffed out her cheeks before letting out a sigh.

"Alright, let's just try that then," Breanna huffed after a moment. She grabbed her Dad's hand and stepped out to the sidewalk, looking side to side. A moment later, she turned left and started walking down a long, moderately steep hill that lead to what appeared to be a warehouse district on along the river.

The river turned out to be a lot further away than Breanna or her Dad had expected; they spent days walking down the street. As they continued on, there were less and less people, and the buildings became more and more run down. The sun itself seemed to abandon the pair as they neared the river, the warehouses taking on a much more ominous feel than they had from the top of the hill.

When they finally reached the river, the water that had appeared a clear blue before, looked murky and gray, the buildings were old and decrepit, and there seemed to be a perpetually brewing storm overhead. Breanna shivered, hiding slightly behind her Dad. She gripped his hand tightly, just in case he was scared, of course. He smiled sympathetically at her. She offered a nervous smile that looked more like a grimace in return.

"Shall we?" Breanna's Dad asked, gesturing to the undoubtedly haunted villain lairs that stretched on endlessly along the riverbank. Her attempt at a smile turned into a look of disdain.

"I guess," Breanna groaned out, though she made no move to support that claim. After a moment, and gentle coaxing from her Dad, the pair finally started walking through the nightmare factory. She missed the packed, vibrant city.

Breanna frequently found herself sitting across from Rider lamenting her woes. He listened quietly, offering advice and encouragement when necessary, though his advice was never as comprehensive and she hoped. She swore he worked in a fortune cookie factory in the waking world.

"I swear, this whole challenge was designed to put me in the most uncomfortable and scary situations as possible," Breanna vented on one night in particular.

"Well, it wouldn't be much of a challenge if it was easy, why do you think that so few Pilgrims make it past their first challenge or two. You are one of the few that has persisted no matter how difficult things have gotten. Do not loose heart, just remember, your wish may not be what you expect, nor it's fulfillment," Rider replied in a gentle voice.

"What do you mean by that?" Breanna asked, though at that point she knew better than to expect an answer.

Breanna and her Dad continued navigating the creepy maze of dark and damp corners for the next several nights with no apparent end in sight. She became so tense that anytime there was a sound, she would startle awake. The frequent interruptions did not help with their show progress.

After a couple more weeks like that, Breanna finally noticed something off in the distance, a tall structure, mostly obscured by fog, with a bright light spinning around the top, stood proudly at the far end of a pier that stretched far out into the water. They looked at each other and shrugged, silently agreeing that it was worth checking out.

Breanna and her Dad kept on walking, now with a destination. They had to pass through or walk around countless warehouses and buildings, Breanna preferred when they went around. A few nights later, she noticed that the air smelled slightly of salt, though it seemed strange to her that she could smell anything at all; the dream was incredibly vivid.

"Do you smell that?" Breanna asked her Dad.

"Yeah, we must be getting near the oceanbor something," he answered.

As they continued on, the lighthouse came into view from the fog, and sounds could be heard drifting down the river. Before long, the duo could see the entire pier and lighthouse, a tall white building with bright red trim and  window sills around the top, the light a shining beacon beneath the dark clouds.

By the next night, Breanna and her Dad found themselves standing at the end of the pier that seemed to stretch for miles out into the mouth of the river, marking the edge of the safe path down the river, though the pair hadn't seen any boats or shops the whole time they had been near the water. The only sign of life that they had seen since they had left the crowded streets of the city was the lantern stop the lighthouse, shining brightly across the water.

Breanna and her Dad spent the next several nights walking down the pier, Breanna growing excited as she saw a bright red rectangle at the bottom of the lighthouse. She grabbed her Dad's hand and started fast walking and then running toward the door, the first they had seen besides the one that would always disappear once she had walked though every time she entered the car.

At long last, the pair finally made it to the end of the pier, the lighthouse tall and imposing. Breanna looked up at the top and gulped.

"I really hope that this is the right door, because I do not want to have to climb all the way up there," Breanna stated.

"Even worse, we might find that once we get to the top, we still haven't found the right door," her Dad pointed out. Breanna gave him a look of horror mixed with a glare that he found quite comical. Turning back to the door, she grasped the brass handle and, taking a deep breath, turned the handle while pushing the door open. On the other side was the small platform that led to the next coach.

"Oh thank goodness!"