AS FATE WOULD HAVE IT - LOONA.

3.

Liverpool, 1834.

Vivi had never had to use so much of her courage to take a step before in her life.

Come on, she told herself as she raised her foot from the edge of the boat, dangling it in the air as she gripped strongly the pole beside her. It’s just one step, like every other step you’ve taken  your entire life, nothing different. It’s just a rise and fall of a foot.

But she was kidding herself. This was not an ordinary step, this was completely life changing.

It would be her first every step to take and arrive on soil that was no Irish. It would be her first step where she wasn’t familiar with the ground beneath it.

It was her first step of her freedom.

From here onwards, every step she took would belong to her, it wouldn’t be ruled over and restricted, she was completely and utterly free, and wasn’t that all she had wanted?

Why did it weigh her down with such force she thought she might sink?

And then there was someone moving to the edge alongside her, and fingers lacing through her own, and not long after the same thing occurring to her right as well.

And suddenly, it didn’t seem so scary anymore. Because she wasn’t alone.

She could never be okay alone.

“Count of 3?” Hyunjin asked her, giving her hand another small squeeze of reassurance.

“3” Jungeun said, grinning as wide as she could. “2...1”

Then and there, they stepped hastily off the rocking boat onto the flat, steady English ground they began to walk upon.

The world seem to spin a little slower in that moment, even as they stepped it seemed almost frozen. Every sound was a thousand times more delightful to her ears, even the loud billowing of the horns of those stupidly big ships didn’t even scare her, in fact they made her smile. The warm breeze of May swarmed lovingly around her neck, and the sight of the children playing on the pier filled her with the most splendid emotions that were known to man.

Their hands did not break apart, but their speed began to increase, rapidly. Every step quickened in paste, before they began to break into a full on sprint, inhaling the smell of their blissful freedom

She felt herself being span from side to side, twirling in amongst the other two with incredible energy and before she knew it they had fallen to the ground, rolling amongst the grass not caring if their dresses were stained, or if the people around them cared, but she had always thought the English were too stuck up for their own good anyway.

“We’re free.” Jungeun said, the first to speak since their arrival, as if she couldn't really believe the words herself. She broke into another wide grin. “We’re actually free, we can do whatever the hell we want.”  

“Sure we can, but I am under the impression that we do at least have one commitment.” Hyunjin scorned her, although it was clearly in jest. “I do believe that we have a train to catch.”

As it turned out, none of the three of them seemed to be able to contain their excitement, and seemed to not be able to sleep at all, but that had been partly done to the fact that the train rocked and swayed so much they were almost frightened it may fly straight off the tracks.