A Fate Worse Than Death

Sunday September 29 1886

Clara stepped onto the train that would carry her far away from the town she called home. She was getting a new start with her friend Xandria - she and Xandria had been childhood friends and it had always been their plan to start a new adventure.

"Oh Clara," Xandria whispered, "this is so exciting! I can't believe we will be on a train for days! It's so beautiful."

Clara couldn't speak. What she saw made her utterly speechless- the inside of the train was big with many seats covered in red fabric of different styles. Her eyes wandered up and down the corridor. She breathed in the air, smiling to herself. Before she could look around anymore, her observations were cut short.

"Let's go see our room!" Xandria grabbed Clara's wrist and pulled her along the hallway to their room: Number 142.

As Xandria was putting the key into the lock of the door, Clara had the opportunity to continue her look around. As she did, her locked eyes with a boy - she silently gasped. The boy appeared to be roughly around their age. He looked at her and smiled softly.

Clara's eyes scanned over the boy. He was wearing a black tuxedo complete with a matching top hat that suited him perfectly. She noticed some messy black hair that was poking out in different directions from under the hat. That made her giggle inside - but it was his deep brown eyes that gently stared at her, that took her breath away.

Before she could return the smile, Clara was forcefully pulled into the room. The unexpected tug snapped her out of day dream.

"Oh Clary!! It's amazing! Look! There are two beds! Isn't it just amazing?!" Xandria exclaimed. Clara laughed at her friend's delight.

"Were you worried about that Xany? You know you're the one who kicks in her sleep." Clara joked.

At that point, Xandria stuck out her tongue. "I may be a kicker but at least I don't snore!"

Both of them laughed together till they heard a knock at the door, "Luggage!"

After they finished unpacking, Clara decided to go look around, leaving Xandria sleeping on one of the beds.

As Clara quietly closed the door, she noticed something wasn't right. She spun around to the boy from earlier looking down at her. There was silence between them- both of them just looking at each other, not sure of what to say.

"You have an interesting taste in books."

Clara jumped in surprise as the boy broke the quietness between them. His accent stunned her.

"You're British... I mean, I'm sorry" She apologized for speaking out of turn.

"You must have dropped this earlier when you came onto the train." He brought the book up to her view. She suddenly remembered she had had it in her arms when she boarded the train. But with the all the excitement, she didn't notice it was missing.

"Th-thank you, I didn't even notice." She muttered as she pushed her glasses farther up her nose. "I'm glad you found it, it's my favorite book."

He smiled and laughed a little. "I've never met a girl who liked horror book such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...Oh, I'm sorry. How rude of me to not introduce myself. My name is Vladimire Von Montag." He raised his hand up and she gently shook it.

"I'm Clara Roberts, nice to meet you" she replied with a small grin. He smiled as he shook her hand back.

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you Miss Clara... I know this is forward of me, but I would like to invite you and your friend to dinner with some friends of mine tonight. It would be my pleasure if you could join us."