Freedom Train

April 1, 1963

Monday April 1, 1963

Spring always seemed to come early in Audumnly, Alabama. A brilliant palette of colors tickled the backdrop of a once familiar home as the greenery sprouted back to life around it.

It had only been a little less than two months since Annabeth Washington had left Alabama. Yet, as she crossed the familiar green grass toward Lizzie's house, it had felt like it had been so much longer.

Annabeth could only hope that Liz was home as she shuffled her overstuffed bag on her shoulder and scurried up the steps to the old farmhouse. She knocked on the door twice and was met by silence. She thought about letting herself inside the house but something about it didn't feel right anymore. Knocking on the door again, her bottom lip in her teeth, Annabeth sighed, wishing she hadn't been so quick to send the taxi away.

Annabeth brought herself back down the front steps and headed behind the house, hoping that she would find someone in the barn. As she neared the back of the house, a light giggle drifted in the wind and caught Annabeth's attention.

Annabeth slowed her pace, a grin on her face, as she brought herself around the edge of the house. The sight before her was quite the surprise, but in Lizzie and Ronny's defense, they clearly hadn't been expecting company.

"Hello there," Annabeth called with a shocked laugh as she watched one of her best friends quickly pry her mouth away from her little brother's.

Lizzie's cheeks flushed a brilliant red as she took two steps away from a frazzled Ronny, who stood staring at Annabeth as if he were looking at a ghost.

"A.B, I can explain..." Lizzy began.

"I'm sure you will," Annabeth laughed. "Over a nice glass of lemonade, maybe?"

***

Terry walked into a quiet apartment in Bessemer, Alabama, a handful of mail in his grip. He tossed the stack of envelopes on the chrome and green laminate table and walked toward the sink to wash his hands.

"Anyone home?" Terry called as he rinsed the soap from his skin.

No one replied and Terry was grateful.

Terry wiped his hands dry on a worn dish towel and sat himself at the table, his eyes finding the stack of books that were haphazardly strewn across the top of it. He lifted a book in his hands, his fingers skimming over the wildflowers emblazoned on the cover.

Terry couldn't help his mind from returning to January, only a few short months ago, when he sat behind Annabeth's barn and wove together stiffened wildflowers to make a bracelet, trying and succeeding in impressing the woman he had gone so far to see.

He had tried so desperately to get her off his mind those last five weeks. Hell, he hadn't even spoken to her since the train ride to Mississippi. Yet, she was always there in the forefront of his brain. The fact that she had stuck true to her word and stayed on board for every protest since only made it that much more difficult. Even when he did the unthinkable, Annabeth stood her ground and refused to leave, only returning to Alabama when their group called for it- to aide in Project C.

If his blatant betrayal didn't sway her toward leaving their group, Terry doubted anything would. Now, he had gotten himself stuck in a relationship that he had no true desire to be a part of.

This entire thing had started to get her to leave. Instead, it seemed to only entrap him in his own stupid ideas.

Terry turned his head toward the sound of a key in the door. The door opened, the smiling face of Terry's girlfriend walking inside the apartment and closing the door behind her.

"Hey Baby," Candy said as she walked toward her boyfriend of three weeks and sat in his lap. "I missed you today."

"Missed you, too," Terry said, his voice void of true emotion because there was only one woman he missed on a daily basis, and it sure wasn't Candace.

***

Annabeth, Ronny and Liz sat at the round table in the center of Liz's kitchen, a pitcher of lemonade between them.

"...And it just kind of happened," Liz said, completing her explanation of how she had come to find herself in the arms of Annabeth's baby brother.

"If you two are happy, than I am happy for you," Annabeth said, placing a hand over each of theirs. "It makes me glad that you have each other."

"Thank you, Annabeth," Ronny said. "That means a lot to us."

"How's Sandy feel about it?" Annabeth asked with a grin.

"Oh, you know Sandy," Liz laughed. "She has opinions about everything and nothing. She's fine. Said she was going into the city today if you'd been looking for her," she said, referring to Birmingham, which was the closest city to them.

"What for?" Annabeth asked.

Liz shrugged.

"I'm not sure. She's been going out that way a lot more now that her Daddy's gone and hooked himself up with the Jackman widow. Whatever it is, she's been keeping pretty quiet on it. If I'm being honest, I've been a little preoccupied myself lately," Liz said, her eyes flitting to Ronny briefly.

"Hmm," Annabeth replied, wondering what on Earth Sandy had been getting herself involved with in Birmingham.

"Enough about us, though," Liz said. "I want to hear more about you. We haven't heard a word from you in the last 5 weeks! What have you been doing with yourself?"

Annabeth smiled, thinking on the last 5 weeks and on everything that she had done within that time.

"I don't even know where to start," Annabeth laughed.

"The beginning sounds like as good a place as any," Ronny smiled.

And so, Annabeth told them...