Plans

Chapter 5

I walk down to the kitchen to get the largest water bottle that I can find. I find the bright pink water bottle and walk to my parents bedroom. I silently slip the envelope under the door and walk slowly around the house to say goodbye to the things I grew up with. I laugh at good memories and grimace at the bad memories. I make it to Fern's room at 11:55 and knock quietly at her door with a hollow feel.

She opens the door and looks at me with wild and scared eyes. I walk in and lock the door behind me.

"Hi Fern um what did you pack?" I ask in a whisper.

"I packed 3 pairs of clothes and all my money which adds up to about $100." Fern says matter of factly.

"Sounds good. Did you pack any food yet?" I asked.

"No I was going to wait for you to come so we can leave right after that." She answered, slinging her bags over her shoulder.

"Okay. Let's go do that then. We need to be extremely quiet though." I unlock her door and we walk down to the kitchen, being careful to avoid the creaky step.

"Where are we going to go?" Fern asked once we had packed enough food to last us a couple of weeks.

"I don't know yet. Right now, the plan is to just get away from here. Preferably out of the state." I said and then we walked outside into the cold night air.

We edged along the side of the house until we got to a point where there weren't any motion sensing lights. Then, we go out to the road but stay just inside the edge of the treeline where it was darker and headed towards town. If we passed straight through town, then we could leave through that side. Everybody would be expecting us to leave the city straight from our house, so it would be harder for them to find us this way.

We kept walking in the shadows for a while, finally making it into town just as the sun was starting to come up. We walked quietly to the train station. The sign the on the door read "CLOSED. OPEN 7:30am - 7:00pm". Well we will have to wait outside the train station until 7:30. At least we only really have to wait for about half an hour.

"Fern, we will have to wait for half an hour so let's sit down and eat something for breakfast." I mumbled quietly.

"Okay. I'm just going to have a granola bar or something so that our food lasts longer." She mumbled back, sitting with her back to a tree and opening her backpack to get out some food.

I would like to think that getting on the train was a smart idea but in all honesty, the weight of leaving home weighed heavily on my shoulders. I sit against the tree with Fern and think of how grounded the tree is. Right now Fern and I are nomads traveling and not knowing where to go or how to get there. If Lily taught me anything it is that you shouldn't run away from your problems.

I almost ran back home. The only thing stopping me was the fact that Fern was with me. If I went home now I would die which really didn't bother me. It was the fact that if I die, Fern would die with me that kept me from running home and accepting the fatal truth.

Finally, people started going up the walkway to the train station and we were let inside. We went over to the ticket booth to buy some one-way tickets away from here. Since the train station had just opened, we didn't have to wait in line for long.

"Hello. How may I help you today?" The ticketmaster asked.

"What is the farthest place a train will take us?" I asked.

"The farthest any of the trains can take you is Chicago." The ticketmaster answered.

"Two one-way tickets to Chicago then please." I said. It was a decent idea, I guess. Hiding in the crowds. If we stay where there are a lot of crowds, she might not try and attack us then because of so many witnesses. Then again, she would be dead but... oh well. There's a chance that she won't and I'll take it.

The ticketmaster handed me the two tickets. Looking at them, I saw that the train was on the most crowded platform and we had to wait for another hour.

Fern and I sat down on a bench, waiting for the train. We watched all of the different people get on and off trains going various places.

A group of girls all wearing the same school uniform, giggling as the waited for their train. A family getting off a train, all wearing raincoats and carrying umbrellas soaked with water that hadn't dried on their trip. Many business people getting onto trains, carrying briefcases and wearing expensive looking suits and dresses. Parents crying as they said goodbye to their sons and daughters who were going away.

Then, our train arrived and once all of the people getting off had flooded out of doors I grabbed Fern's wrist and we got on together. There weren't many seats left and there were none where we could sit together so I let Fern sit in one of the seats by the aisle and I stood next to her.

"When we get to Chicago, where are we going to stay?" Fern asked, looking up at me.

"I don't know. We'll have to find a way to get money eventually. Chicago might be a good place for that. We will probably just wander and get as far away as we can from home." I answered, looking around as the train started moving.

From that point on, we were silent as the train went through fields and cities. Eventually, enough people got off so that I could sit down next to Fern. We sat for hours on end. At lunch time, we had five crackers each. We were still hungry after that but we decided we needed to save our food for a time when we might need it more.