Empathy Goes

Chapter 11

                                                                                       Chapter 11

The transition from the train to the real world happened quickly. As he felt his feet touch solid ground the first thing Simon did was make sure Grace was still there. Her hand was still holding his and she was standing next to him, it was okay, they were okay. The first thing Simon noticed about the outside world was wind. He'd forgotten about wind because it appeared in cars so infrequently. In fact weather in general on the train was basically non-existent unless the car was focused on it, so many cars were just room temperature. So the second thing that he noticed was that it was warm. After initial observations about the outside world he just let out a breath. This was it, off the train. It wasn't something he'd ever anticipated seeing and yet here he was. A part of him wondered if this was just a really big car and the train was simply playing a cruel trick on them. This fear was quashed when Grace tapped his shoulder and spoke to him.

"Simon, look up." she said eyes watering with awe. He did as she said and was met with stars, a sky full of them. Now his eyes watered too as he spoke back.

"I forgot about stars." he said to no one in particular. Grace squeezed his hand a little tighter, she'd forgotten about them too. It was like that for a moment, the two simply staring at stars and trying to comprehend that they really were off the train and together. But as the shock from this wore off there were other concerns to be had. Grace looked around the area that they were in. It was dark out so everything was a bit hard to make out.

"Where are we?" she asked walking forward. Looking closer Grace found her answer as she almost stumbled over a gravestone and looked to see rows and rows of them surrounding her. Simon stated the obvious.

"I think we're in a cemetery." he offered. Having no way to navigate the darkness the two simply walked along the rows of gravestones attempting not to step on anything until they made their way to the fence surrounding the perimeter of the cemetery. There was a sign on it that Grace took it upon herself to read.

"Cemetery hours: 7:00 am to 6:00 pm, all trespassers will be apprehended-" Grace had gathered all the information she needed from that sign before turning back to Simon. "We need to get out of here." As if on cue at that moment a flashlight shone on the two of them and an authoritative voice spoke to them.

"Hey, no trespassing!" the person said to them before heading in their direction. Perhaps out of sheer panic, perhaps out of muscle memory, or maybe due to a combination of both Grace grabbed Simon's hand and the two made a mad dash in the other direction. Running through the rows and jumping over gravestones while Simon internally apologized to the deceased they were trampling they made it to the back of the cemetery only to find a giant fence and a forest behind it. The two shared a look considering scaling the fence and running off into the woods but ultimately they turned around and allowed themselves to be apprehended. The person chasing them looked them over while shining a flashlight at them. "Geez, I swear this place is nothing but a hot bed for dumb teenagers. Well come on, you know the rules." she said as she ushered the two into the back of a police vehicle. As Grace and Simon sat behind the woman they quietly talked to each other.

"Great, our first day back and we're already in the back of a cop car." Simon said jokingly. Grace laughed at this and joked back.

"Hey it's not my fault someone can't scale a fence." she teased. The air was weirdly calm between them for two people who were currently getting arrested. Maybe that's just what years of living on a magic train does to a person. Grace looked back to the officer. "Hey where are we?" The officer looked back at the two of them. They were both dressed weird and that was a very odd question. She made a note to add a drug test to her of things to do and answered.