I'll Reach You

Chapter 2

Charlotte walked and walked, one foot in front of the other, for hours. The sun was getting closer and closer to the horizon. She guessed it was about 7:30. The stars weren't all the way out yet. A few cars had passed her, and once a woman had asked her if she needed a ride. She had declined. Floor had said she had to walk, not ride, so she was going to walk the whole way if it killed her. She was feeling a little tired, but not enough to use one of her candies. She kept walking.

"Eyes on the prize, Charlotte," she told herself. "Floor's counting on you." Okay, that wasn't actually true. Floor didn't think she could do it. But if she succeeded, she would get Floor back, and they could live happily ever after together. She started to sing.

"Remember when you walked out into the rain, the railroad and the sky were calling your name, can you hear them whisper: "Come and get lost with us," you've been chasing shadows in your hometown, you searched for answers that refused ever to be found, so you compromised and found a new horizon, ever since you left you're always on my mind..." The song fit so well. When she had written it, she hadn't even known Floor, or been thinking about train accidents, but yet somehow it fit the situation. The mention of a railroad was perfect because Floor had died in a train crash, the part about "chasing shadows in your hometown" made sense because the accident had happened near Goirle, where Floor had been born. And the last line was so painfully true. All of Charlotte's thoughts for the last two weeks had been of Floor. She wiped away a tear and kept walking and singing softly to herself.

The sun went down and the stars and moon came out. Charlotte became more and more tired. But she would not use the candies yet. She wasn't that tired. As she walked, she pulled some food from her backpack and ate it. This seemed to energize her a little and she pushed on. She walked in as straight a line as possible, so that she would always be going west. This was rather difficult, as the road twisted and turned, and sometimes there would be trees or fences or other things in her way. Or else the straightest path lay through someone else's yard. This bothered her, as she knew it was trespassing and she could get into trouble. And Floor didn't like people who broke the law, unless they were for a better cause then the law was.

"Well," Charlotte decided. "The law doesn't care about bringing Floor back, but I do. My cause is better." That helped a little, but she still felt nervous when she went through someones else's land. Finally, she got out of the area where most of the houses were. She was now in a flat, grassy area with only a few scrubby trees. The moon lit up her path so she could see where the road was. It was amazingly bright, almost as light as day. She wiped away another tear. Floor would have loved this, she knew. She always had loved stargazing and being outside at night. More tears spilled down Charlotte's face. Her chest hurt. She pressed one hand to it and used the other to wipe her eyes as she kept walking. But she was going slower and slower. She felt exhausted. She tried to think about Floor waiting for her at the end of the journey. But it didn't help. It only reminded her that Floor was gone, and that if the quest failed, she would be gone forever. She stumbled.

"No,keep walking," she thought. "Eyes on the prize." But her steps were growing slower and smaller. She wasn't covering much ground. She became more and more angry. Why was she going on this ridiculous quest? Floor should have been safely in bed with her right now, not in whatever crazy place Charlotte was headed for. She scowled.

"Come on, Charlotte, Floor wouldn't appreciate this," she told herself. "You have to succeed." But her energy was gone. She wanted nothing more than to lie down, go to sleep, and wake up in her bed next to Floor and find that this whole thing had been only a horrible nightmare. But she knew it wasn't. This was real. Floor was gone. And Charlotte could bring her back, but only if she completed the quest. Which right now meant walking even though she was exhausted.