"Only Rumors"?

Chapter 9-Elevator Music

I woke up to hearing soft music floating through the speakers of the train. It was elevator music. Carter had fallen asleep also, his head laying on mine. I gently scooted away, trying not to wake him, but he woke with a start.

                He looked around, confused for a moment, before his eyes settled on me. He gave me a small smile. “You okay?” He asked. I shrugged. I felt a huge amount of guilt now that I had let my emotions show. How could I have broke down in front of everybody? I was trying to be a rock, not an emotional freak like…cough cough…like some people I knew.

                “I’m sorry for breaking down like that. I didn’t mean too..it was just…” I shrugged again, and he nodded in understanding.

                I helped him up and we both walked over to where Pepper and Ella were enjoying breakfast. They both looked up at me hesitatingly.

                “You okay?” Ella asked. I nodded.

                “I should be asking the same about you. What happened? Are you alright?” I asked. A look flashed in her eyes that I couldn’t identify, but she quickly masked it.

                “Yeah. I don’t even remember what happened; you don’t even know how confused I was when I woke up to everyone all worried and such.” She said, laughing a little. Hmmm. I thought. Just like James…

                “Oh.” I said, simply, as I sat down next to them. Pepper handed me a plate.

                “This is for you,” she said, and I gazed down ravenously at the plate filled with bacon and toast and eggs and...yumminess.

                I quickly devoured my plate, much to the amusement of everyone else. I got up to place the plate back down on a tray in the middle of the room, when all of a sudden the train screeched to a stop.

                I started to fall because of the sudden decrease of speed. Right before I hit the ground, though, I was caught by two arms wrapped around my waist. I looked up to see blue eyes staring back down at me.

                “Thanks,” I said breathlessly to Carter. He smiled, and lifted me back up. I blushed deep red as he let his arms linger around my waist for a moment, before letting me go to investigate why the train had stopped.

                We all surrounded the tiny windows, which were barely big enough to look through. All I could see was forest.

                Wait…forest? What!? There wasn’t anywhere vaguely close to a forest nearby. I mean…you’d had to at least be travelling for a few days to reach somewhere forest-y.

                I head giggling, and my head whipped around, expecting Isabel. She wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Carter and I looked at each other, then shrugged. We turned back to the window.

                I gasped as I saw at least five teenagers running towards the train. “Come on, guys, it’ll be fun!” I heard a girl voice say.

                “It’s a bit odd, don’t you think? A random train, no tracks, in the middle of nowhere…” I heard a boy’s voice say.

                Everyone ignored him.

                All of a sudden we all started screaming, banging on the windows, trying to get their attention, begging for them to not get on this train. We were hoping they’d hear us and run away.

                They seemed unfazed; they hadn’t even heard us.

                We screamed even louder, our voices growing hoarse as we begged for them to stay away from this crazy place.

                “No, no! GO AWAY, GO AWAY!” I screamed over and over again, Carter practically repeating the same thing as I was.

                We watched with despair in our hearts as they stepped onto the train, until the last one of them disappeared into a different compartment.

                Ella started sobbing and I felt the urge to do the same. No, Serenity, don’t cry. I begged myself. I’d already let my emotions show through once; I wouldn’t let it happen again.     

                Carter sighed, and slumped down in the seat. I followed him a few seconds later. “Well…that was upsetting.” I muttered angrily. He nodded in agreement.

                “Oh well. It just means we get to meet new people…right?” He said, trying to give me a hopeful smile. I rolled my eyes and shoved his arm.

                “Oh whoohoo, how exciting, more people to join us on this rollercoaster ride of despair.” I said. He chuckled a little at my words. “It’s only a matter of time before the first one of us starts going crazy.” I said, completely serious.

                He sighed and we both turned towards everyone else to see their reaction.

                They all sat, staring at the door, waiting for it to open and the newcomers to appear. After a few minutes, even I couldn’t take the suspense anymore. Would they come into this compartment? Would they be allowed to leave? Would we be allowed to leave?

                Mason surprisingly stood up and did what we were all hoping someone else would do. He slowly crept up and turned the handle.

                To our surprise, it actually turned. He looked at us, triumphant, and he walked inside with a huge smile on his face.

                We all watched him giddily, thinking that maybe this meant we could have another compartment to walk around and sleep in; a little more freedom meant so much to me right then that my heart hurt. I was starting to feel claustrophobic in here. Maybe, if we got lucky, we’d even be allowed to leave!

                As soon as he got all the way inside, though, the door slammed shut behind him. I got a heavy feeling in my heart as I gasped and ran towards the door, along with everyone else.

                We banged on it as he did the same. Although I didn’t know him that well, a horrible gut twisting feeling settled in my stomach. He looked at us with fear in his eyes; fear of the unknown, fear of what was about to happen to him. Eyes wide, he frantically turned the door handle, but this time it wouldn’t even budge.

                We all saw it, then.

                The huge shadow looming up beside him. The huge shadow that was slowly creeping closer, ready to descend on him.

                The majority of us screamed, and Mason turned to look with confusion on his face. I grabbed Carter’s hand, squeezing it tightly as I watched the shadow get closer and closer, fear gripping my heart in its icy cold grip.

                And then he was gone.

~~~~~

A/N: Yay^-^

So I'm sorry there's not much romamce in case all of you were hoping for more of that. I'll try and put some more in the next chapter...O.o

Hope you guys liked it^-^

Tanks a ton! Love you all!^-^ ;* xoxo