The Great War

Lonely Nights

November 4th, 1952

These past couple of days haven't been easy, considering I have to hand Emma a tissue every two minutes. It seems like she's never going to get over this but I think she will. Besides, it could be worse...much worse.

I woke up on the train with Emma next to me, sleeping quite peacefully. I looked at clock on the train that read 4 o'clock but I wasn't sure whether it was A.M. or P.M. I sat up and looked around. Not much had changed since we first got on the train. There was still that same lingering feeling of loneliness and that same musty smell coming from the seats. I still can't believe that this actually happened to Emma and I. As I watched her sleep, I thought of the memories that we had shared together when we were younger. All those summers of running around like crazy, and all of those weeks of playing and laughing. I still can't remember what changed between us, that special bond that we had.

Emma woke and she looked over at me.

"Where are we Carla?", she asked sleepily.

"Honestly, I'm not quite sure.", I replied.

"I hope this all will end soon. I hate this train so much!", she complained.

"You know, things could be worse.".

"How?".

I wasn't sure how to reply to that at first, but then an answer came into my mind.

"We could be living on the street or something like that.".

"I guess that is true...", she admitted.

The rest of that time we were quiet (with the occasional sniffle from Emma) and minded our own buisness. Neither one of us knew what to expect from America, we just hoped that we would return safetly.

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The next thing I know, I woke up at midnight. I couldn't explain why, but I guess was already restless as it is. I decided to just stay awake and think. The whole time, I wondered where in the world we were. I guessed we would've passed through Paris by now, and I hoped I was right. The train was pitiful. The musty smell from the seats was still there, the food was unpleasant, and not to mention the feeling of loneliness lingering within the train. I began to read a new romance book that I got and eventually fell into a deep sleep only to be awakened by Emma.

"Wake up Carla!! We're there! We're at the dock c'mon!!".

I opened my eyes and sure enough, our boat was waiting right there.

"Alright then. Let's go.", I said sleepily

We grabbed our things and we got off the train. People were the only thing you could see!! Anywhere that you turned, there was someone next to you!! Then, someone called out that the boat was about to cast off.

"All aboard for America!!".

"You ready?", I asked Emma.

"I guess so.", she said sadly.

"Trust me. We're going to fine. Nothing is going to happen to us, and we're going to be fine."

"Ok. I trust you.", she said doubtfully.

She held close to me as we walked toward the ship. At the entrance, a man was asking for our last names to check us off the list that he had. Then, he finally got to us.

"Last names?".

"Stevens", I replied.

He looked through the list and finally replied.

"Carla and Emma Stevens?", he replied.

"Yes sir.", I replied.

"Go ahead in."

We began to walk onto the ship. But as we began, I knew that this wasn't the end of the journey. This was only the beginning.