Tales from the rails

Rhys, Dan, and The Birthday Special

DD had been in the dumps lately, his senior friends had graduated and while he was happy for them, sure, he was worried he wasn't going to see them again as most were going away to college. Another that was happening with him was he was feeling worse and worse every day, looking sicker and sicker. Delilah, Emma, and Rhys thought about what they should do next. His birthday was coming up, so they talked to all their friends, along with the seniors that were going away. DD had been staying home from school, his work was sent to him via the mail and his parents were going to drop everything off on the last week of school. He began to quarantine himself, only his mom was allowed to come in and out, though she wouldn't stay long. Rhys was worried for his friend, so one day off, he pushed the ladder over to DD's window and climbed up, just like he did when they were kids. He knocked on the window when he saw DD sitting on his bed, with some shorts and a white tank top on, and he looked terrible. He had bags in his eyes and his eyes were cracked. Rhys was worried. Rhys opened the window and crawled in. "Hey DD, what's wrong? You don't look good." Rhys asked. "Don't feel good either." DD answered. "What's wrong? You were fine a few days ago, but when you came back from the mainline you got sick." There was a long pause. "I'm cursed man, the gem's power is slowly corrupting my soul, it's killing me man." Rhys was speechless. "What? That's silly, you chandler!" He denied. "I'm dying Rhys, it's the sad truth." DD said, staring directly into his eyes. "Then take the thing off, wouldn't you rather live than have powers?" "It's too late, whether or not I take it off the bond is there, I wish I knew what I was getting into." Rhys began to tear up. He tried to his it, but he softly spluttered and tears rolled down his eyes. DD walked over and gave Rhys a hug, "I ought to be the one crying, but guess what, I won't." DD said. Rhys began to stop crying and DD released him from the hug, "Who else knows?" Asked Rhys, a little more concerned. "Just you and Delilah, though Delilah only knows because she was there when I found out." DD explained, "My parents think it's just a normal sickness." "Okay, I won't talk to anyone else about it." Rhys said, he began to head to the window. "Hey Rhys..." DD started, Rhys looked up before he began to descend the ladder. "Thanks for coming to check on me." "Any time." Rhys said as he nodded his head. He climbed down the ladder and DD shut the window. Rhys walked through his front door and thought about what to do. As he made his way to his room, it came to him, "That's it!" He said and began to make some calls.

Later that week was the last day of school, DD went in despite his health, though he knew no one would get sick, it could make him worse. But he wanted to be there. He went through each class, dropping off his work and giving each of his friends a little card as a congratulation on graduating and or moving up into the next class. By the end of the day, he was tired. But that whole day, Rhys had been going to each senior DD was friends with and telling them about his plan. They all agreed. When DD went home, only Delilah walked with him. Emma and Rhys went down to the bus stop where they caught Brian the Bus down to Drenk. Once there, they made their way to the sheds, where Dan was being fired up by his relief crew and Rhys was waiting on his crew. Emma began to fire up the blue tank engine while Rhys went up to chat with Dan. "Hey Dan, how have things been?" He asked. "Alright, I miss driver though. How about you?" "I'm alright, though you know his birthday is coming up, right?" "Yes, my birthday is the same day!" "Alright, so the plan is a slow paced trip all across the railway. You two can have a fun trip that'll last through the day!" "Oh boy, that sounds fun! Would David, Clara, and Henry be able to come along?" "Yeah, though we're going to need to bring another coach, we're going to have a lot of guests." "Come on Rhys!" Emma called from their tank engine's cab. "Right, well I'm all for the plan!" "Alright, I'll talk to you later, see ya later Dan!" Rhys and the two teens made their way out of the sheds and into the yards to pick up the coaches. The day was fun, though Rhys had to fill up on more water than usual because of the blazing heat. The two were having trouble in the cab as well, needing to step out at the stations more than usual. Later that night, Rhys went back to the sheds. "Thank goodness we're done!" Rhys said, he was out of puff and ready for sleep, knackered by the sun. The next few days were of Rhys getting everything in order with Sir William V, who was all on board with the idea. The night before the big day, Rhys got a text from DD. "Hey Rhys, happy birthday man. Sorry I didn't say something sooner but my phone fell under my bed and I didn't want to trouble anyone with getting it." It read. "That's alright man, have a good night." "Thanks, you too." Rhys went to sleep with a smirk on his face, his plan was about to set into motion.