Another Place, Another Time

Part I

The railroad across the sea had to be the answer. It was my only chance to finding her.

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Whimsical.
That was the perfect word to describe her. With wavy fawn colored hair and beautiful hazel eyes that twinkled in the starlight, she looked ethereal.
Rowan is perfect. She played the cello. She loves to shop, but not for clothes. She aims to please, and is always overdressed. She is carefree and simply cannot lie. Whenever she tried, she would always look at her feet and twiddle her thumbs. She was always laughing, always smiling. She loved nature, especially rivers and creeks. Everybody loved her. Me the most.
People wondered how she ended up with a guy like me. I'm not popular or smart. I have ADHD, which annoyed her at times. I cannot pay attention for more than 2 minutes without doing something with my hands. I went to the occasional party, but wasn't usually invited. I'm pessimistic. I don't deserve Rowan. But i can't help loving her. And since she left, I'm barely able to get out of bed and go to school every morning.
I was in love with her, anyone could see. I loved the way she walked with confidence. How the corners of her bright eyes crinkled when she laughed. The way her eyes sparkled when she looked to the night sky, pointing out the constellations. I loved how she was always ready for an adventure, always willing to take risks. That she threw her head back when she laughed. I was in love with her, plain and simple.
That's why i had to get her back.
Rowan didn't open up to anybody, ever. I felt so proud when she did to me. She told me about her past, and why she had to go. I had always thought Rowan meant that she had to drive somewhere and search for her mom.
Until now.

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As I stood alone on the beach, I immediately noticed the railroad. Confusion swept over me like the high tide on our little island. What? I thought. Why?
I walked closer to examine it. Large, flat stones were the base, and smaller rocks filled the middle. The tracks were wooden, with iron bars bolted in horizontally. It looked just like the place Rowan took me to when she opened up about her past.
The rocks seemed surdy. I cautiously places my foot onto the railway, and put a little pressure to see if it could hold. It did. As i put my full weight onto the rocks, I squinted in the distance, but couldn't find an end to the tracks. I was unsure of what to do now, so i walked. Step after step, my feet falling on the wooden parts of the thin tracks.
I accepted the idea that the tracks appeared overnight. Appearances like this happened in Wolford often. On this small island off the northwestern coast, strange things were common. My best friend Carson once had lost his little sister for three days, only to find her in a basement later that day. A basement that hadn't been there before.
These types of things only appeared to those who needed them. I had never seen the basement that Natalia was found in, but Carson told me about it. He couldn't live without his sister. She was the only family he had left, after his parents died when a surprise storm came while they were out fishing. Now Carson was 17 years old, and Natalina's legal guardian.
This must have happened because of Rowan. I knew I was in love with her. I couldn't survive without her in my life. She was my world. That must have been why the railroad appeared, they knew I needed her.
I wasn't sure of what to do, so i walked along the tracks. I walked and walked and walked until i could no longer see the island. I bent down, running my fingers along the stones. Nothing like this has ever happened to me, but then again I did lead a pretty boring life until I met Rowan. I knelt down. As I sifted through the stones, i noticed something. Hazel. All of the stones were hazel, just like her eyes. The eyes that meant so much to me. The eyes that told me so much. Eyes are the windows to the soul, after all.
It was getting late. The sun was setting, so I began walking slowly to the way I came. When my small town came into view, I jogged back to the sandy beach even though I was exhausted . I sat down on the end of the tracks, looking at the stones again, thinking of that day she opened up.