I'll Be Seeing You {RadioDust}

Chapter 24

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Thursday, February 10th, 1921
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Anthony hardly slept that night, his mind racing with different scenarios, but that didn't stop him from getting up at five-thirty and take that half an hour to shower and make himself presentable. He wasn't going to put his suit on or formalize himself until he was on the train, not wanting to be sitting for twenty hours uncomfortably. However, he did make sure that everything was pressed and ready at the top, ready to go.

As he was leaving, he gave the hotel staff a proper farewell and was on his way. His father had taken care of payment, so that wasn't necessary. He didn't know how that worked but he certainly wasn't going to complain.

Making his way down the street, the Italian looked around at all of the buildings and streets that he was going to miss.
"Un ultimo addio, New Orleans. È stato un piacere."
He sighed as he walked, checking his cigarette count to make sure he had enough for the trip.

Making it to the station just after six, Anthony took a seat on a bench on the platform. The sun wasn't due to start rising for another forty-five minutes, so the lights on the outside of the building were still illuminated.
No one leaving the city had come yet, assuming there were going to be other travelers.

As time continued, Anthony grew more distraught. Alastor hadn't shown up even as the train could be heard approaching.

Alastor on the other hand slept almost too well. It was odd indeed for him to sleep so long, especially given the fact that he was leaned against his desk for the entire night, however, he had been exhausted.

It must have been early, but later than Alastor usually woke that a sound of a door closing from downstairs, his mother leaving the house for work no doubt, suddenly woke the man from where he had sat asleep, jolting up and looking around.
Groaning softly, mentally scolding himself for falling asleep at his desk, it was then that Alastor's gaze fell to the clock he had on his bedroom wall.
The late time immediately made him curse, Alastor shooting up out of his chair and gathering Anthony's letter in his hand.

He was out the door in minutes, hair a mess, but with the letter under his arm as he stuck a hat on to make up for his unpresentable appearance. Five minutes after waking and Alastor was running to the streetcar stop, almost missing one which was just pulling up.

Anthony sat on the bench, looking around at the people that had begun to gather when he realized that he and Alastor hadn't exchanged addresses, so they wouldn't be able to write to each other unless Anthony did a lot of digging. This realization just made things worse; made him kick himself a hundred times over for getting too attached.

He looked at the watch on his wrist. The train wasn't due to leave until seven forty-five so there was still about half an hour. He would continue to hope that Alastor would arrive until the moment he stepped on board. After that, he would let go and move on.

The train pulled into the station and the other travelers began to line up, Anthony purposefully taking the tail end of the line so he could still hold onto his deteriorating hope.
The lines moved fairly quickly until there were three people ahead of him... then two... then one. He sighed and fished his ticket out of his pocket, ready to hand it over along with the memories he'd made within New Orleans.

Alastor flung himself off the streetcar once it stopped near enough outside the station, the man spotting a train already at the station, clouds of the steam engine filling the air overhead.
On his way over, he'd managed to neatly seal the letter up in an envelope, having asked someone on the streetcar for a pen they happened to have on them so he could write his address on the back.