Broken Clocks

Town Part 5

(11)

People started to turn off their lanterns and awkwardly laid down on the floor as the crate bumped and shook. Jack had sat next to me a while back and we didn't move. It was once again pitch black throw out the crate. I just stared blindly into it making my eyes feel like they were numb. It was so strange to blink and nothing to change, just blackness.

"Jack you still up," I whispered into the emptiness.

"Not for long but yep, what ya need?"

"Nothing I just can't sleep, I've been up all night and I'm tired but I can't sleep. I think I'm bored."

He chuckled softly at me. "It's you're first night on the rails kid you ain't gonna sleep till maybe you're 3rd to 5th. Then you'll be used to it and be able to sleep."

"Oh well that's great, why did Ever fall asleep so easy?"

"Honestly I have no idea, but my guess would be her body shut down and she just slipped into a sleepin' state. I mean her mind has to be confused as hell right now and ya know she was shaken the whole time, even worse when she was surrounded by people. Granted shaken isn't much but it's still something. And you two probably walked a good way, all of it is just adds to lack of energy on her body so her brain will tell her to sleep. But that's just a guess I wouldn't know for sure, everyone's different."

"Jack, how do you know about all this?"

"My answer for ya is out here you never know what will happen. A lot of bad is out here but a lot of good is to, about 2 years ago I was walken on a road in the countryside. It was that time of night day where all the stars are shining brightly but the sky is turning into colors of blue, it was quiet until there was a terrible scream. It was in the middle of nowhere so a driver thought it would be safe to drag his lady passenger down into a ditch to try a do the same thing to her that Isic did to your sister. I stopped him before anything too bad happened but she was still so scared, she traveled with me for a year and throw that time I learned her ticks, things that meant to leave her alone or that meant we had to go and find a shack or something so she could be away from people. Then she found a boy on one of the farms I was workin' at and they got to know each other. She got so happy when they talked, her eyes would actually be lit up and she would laugh. One night the boy came over when she was asleep and knocked on the shake door and assumin' he was wantin' Elly I told his she was sleepin'. But he wanted to talk to me, ya see sents Elly didn't have a father along with her he turned to me and asked if he could marry her. I wanted to say no, I had took care of Elly and she became a sister and I didn't want to lose that. But what I said was that he don't need to ask me, the choice was hers, that she wasn't property to just give away like all these people think. Women are human beings too and they deserve to be treated like one, no more no less. She said yes to him and I left her there with him, and that was that. After maybe half a year after leavin' Elly I meet another lady one her first hop to actually, and she was runnin' for the same reason you two are. I introduced myself and all and she ended up travelin' with me for a year and a half then I gave her a good part of my money to combine with hers so she have enough to buy a small little house in the town she was workin' in."

"Wow, I don't know what I would do if something like that would happen with Ever. Like just leaving her, I don't think I could do it."

"Well that's where the lettin' her choose comes in, you can't control everything, and it hurts more times then not but you'll know it's the right thing and the best that way."

There was a solemn tension between us now making me feel awkward and I regretted even asking.

(12)

After a minute I tried to change the subject and said, "I bet you've seen a lot of the country though it must have been great."

But the only reply I got was the sound of breathing. He had fallen asleep and now I just sat there in silence. But it wasn't silent for long, Ever woke up screaming. Men scrambled to their lanterns and sparked them on, many of them cursing and yelling.