CHAPTER NINE
The boat is amazing. I have never been on a boat because we are not meant to leave our home villages unless we are told to. There are large chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and candles lit everywhere. I walk out onto the top deck and feel the wind on my face. It's so soothing. It over runs me with calm, almost enough to block out the sound. Thankfully, not quite.
"Money please sir." The ticket man says to a man standing a few behind me. He hands over his money and then moves on to the next person. He doesn't ask for i.d or a special pass or anything which makes me relieved. He only wants the money. MONEY. A wave of panic runs through me as I realise that money was the one thing I forgot. If I don't do something, they will take me back to England for sure. I'm not going back. Not now.
The man is collecting the money from the man next to me now and he will come to me next. I start to walk away but as I walk past him he says,
"Please stay here mam. I will be with you next." I am surprised at how fast I think and how calm I sound.
"I am just going to the bathroom. I will be back shortly" he gives me a slight nod an do walk past him. I recon he is in his mid 70s so with any luck, he'll forget. I do as I said I would and on my way to the toilet I see a different money collector. You don't get tickets back here because we're meant to be a 'trustworthy' society. Whoops! If the worst comes to the worst I could lie and tell them I paid with a different money collector?
I stay in the bathroom, locked in a cubical for the whole ride. Then I hear the horn. The horn that means we have gotten to the other side. The horn that means we have gotten to America.
There is a train that leads from the ferry to where I presume Jack is. There are a lot of boys getting looking as scared as his did when he got taken away. I shoot the memory out of my head and asses the situation as I always do when I have a problem.
*i have made it to America. I am not meant to be here. I have to be here. If I get on that train, I'm sure to find Jack. I have to get on the train. I have no money. I have to hide on the train like on the boat. I have to go now.*
As this last sentence goes through my head, I start to run. I get to the door of the train and jump on. I take a quick look back to see if anyone saw me and then spin round to see a tall, muscular man in front of me in a police uniform. He puts his hand on my shoulder and with a hard grip, i know that I won't be able to go any where.
"Where do you think your going young lady?"
Back to England, I think to myself.
