holiday syndrome

12. the train

"isn't it lovely?"

gif: maslin

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     MAGGIE hadn't called in months and Marley never worked up the energy to forgive her. If she had spent less time dedicating herself to being a workaholic then perhaps she would have cared, but caring was something she was finding herself sick of. She cared about her mother who was sinking into a depressed pool of sickness, she cared about Mads and whether or not he cared that she was avoiding him. She cared about her sister and whether or not what she did would destroy the thread keeping their frail relationship together.

     The one person she lacked time to care about was Maggie, not that she was spending a lot of time caring about herself either. The hole that was left where Maggie had been once left Marley feeling more empty than usual. Maybe she hadn't realized how much her best friend meant to her before she faded out of Marley's life. But for some reason she just didn't know what to say to her, how to explain the mix of anger and guilt that festered inside of her.

     "Return ticket to Birmingham please," Marley requested, not bothering to glance at the woman behind the ticket booth. She loved taking the train but that day she was too exhausted to think about anything other than fuzzy socks and iced tea that was waiting for her at home.

     "You've just missed the 5:00 o'clock, you'll have to catch the 5:50 express."

     Marley grimaced while nodding and tapped her card on the debit machine, unsurprised that her luck would leave her with a late train back home. She tugged her heavy purse further up her shoulder and shifted her weight onto the other side of her body, looking around for a place to sit within the station. It wasn't a terribly long wait for the train, but the station was packed. That was was she got for going to an art gallery on a Saturday afternoon. It was a dull show with too many abstract pieces for Marley's taste, but at least she had left the house to do something on her day off.

     "Miss, please calm down, I'm sorry but it's not coming for another half an hour."

     Marley glanced up and watched the stressed woman selling tickets try and calmly explain the situation to a woman with a mane of curly brown hair. When she turned around in a huff, Marley could see that the customer was absolutely stunning with soft features and perfectly winged eyeliner. She was oddly familiar, even her stiff posture and strong shoulders made Marley's spine tingle unexpectedly. The woman pursed her lips and sat in one of the metal seats across from Marley, tossing her phone and wallet into her black purse and crossing her legs. Marley continued to stare at her with her lips slightly ajar.

     Was it impossible that she knew the woman somehow?

     "Waiting for the same train?"

     Marley was startled from the woman's sudden words, but especially by the light Danish accent that was as smooth as a siren's call. Her eyes flickered to the wedding ring on the woman's hand and then to the small scars on the back of her left hand.

     "I believe so, Birmingham right? I was careless with my timing today," Marley said with a tight smile that was difficult to make. She felt disturbingly awkward for being caught staring so intensely but curiosity was overwhelming her thoughts.

     "I had the most terrible flight here and I swear the train schedules here are working against me. I was supposed to be in Birmingham two hours ago."

     "Headed somewhere important?" Marley wished she could have kept her mouth shut instead of being intrusive. Unfortunately, that was not one of her finer qualities.