Trusted Companion

Traveling

The train rumbled through the countryside smoothly, the car Kayla was sitting in barely swaying. The seats were covered in red velvet and dark cherry wood. There were very few seats in the coach where Kayla sat and even fewer people stayed in the same room. The car was made for those with wealth and the walls were decorated lavishly. Ornate wall sconces provided light in the coach for those who stayed awake during the night and large windows provided ample light during the daytime rides. 

Kayla leaned back against the tall seat, her feet tucked lightly under her legs. Kayla's father had wanted her to wear a dress like a lady would but her mother had seen the reason in wearing rough, evergreen canvas cloth trousers with the thick soled brown boots and a loose fitting sailor's shirt that laced up at the collar. Kayla's long hair which was normally left to hang free of constraints at her waist, was pulled back into a tight braid and wrapped into a bun. Small pins kept the bun in place but still strands of hair managed to escape and curl around her jaw. 

The window next to Kayla showed her reflection perfectly as she sat in the chair and wrote in her journal. Soft, lush pink lips covering well cared for ivory teeth accompanied bright green eyes with thick lashes and thin, tailored eyebrows from years of listening to her mother. Her cheeks were moderately placed and covered with freckles, a gently curved but firm chin being the final touch. She had her father's strong jaw and the same determination in her eyes as her mother. Kayla looked away from the window to her hands that gripped the old journal. Long slender fingers that shared her sister Veevee's skill of artistry but calloused palms from years of sword fighting with their father, Lord Rareland. 

Arms that had length and great reach when fencing were also scarred from mock fencing and helping in the gardens. Kayla was more masculine than a lady should be and that caused more problems than necessary. Veevee had been the better daughter, being kinder and more gentle than Kayla. Veevee never fought, knew how to cook, helped keep the garden, sewed, played the harp. Kayla's little sister had been the best daughter and sister anyone could ever ask for. Oh Veevee...why did you have to be the one to be taken? Kayla's thoughts wandered to her little sister's beautiful smile and the way she seemed to glow whenever she solved a problem at home. Kayla's eyes lighted on a sentence written on the page she had opened to in her journal. 

"For all the hope and wishing in the world cannot bring you home..." 

And it was true. Vee was never coming back home. Kaylaa choked back a sob as she read the words again, her eyes watering and blurring her vision until she could no longer read the words. Pristine tears spilled over the rims of her eyes and down onto her cheeks, some of them falling off onto the page. And it seems like I will never go home either... Kayla bowed her head to hide the tears as she cried harder, aching for her family like never before. Third day on the train with well made meals three times a day and snacks in between could not erase her longing to go back home. Kayla felt terribly and unutterably alone. 

Kayla pressed the palms of her hands against her eyes to stop the flood of tears, wiping them away carefully with the sleeves of her shirt. With a soft sigh Kayla turned to a fresh page in her journal, contemplating. Maybe writing this time it would take away her pain instead of adding to it. Just Maybe... Kayla watched  as she let the ink from the quill pen flow effortlessly onto the blank sheet and the words caught like thorns in her heart came alive.

"This anxiety, this feeling of being lost and alone. And its not my banishment, but this feeling of a gaping hole that can only be filled with people missing or gone. An eternity by myself in a place like a vacuum...It is an abyss that I do not think I can be pulled from--at least, not anytime soon..."