Under my feet, the wheels turn. I hear the screeching as they whirl across the tracks, spinning water into the air and spitting it against the train’s steel bottom.

The raindrops run quickly across the window. A new one lands on the glass. It grows thinner, leaving a line of water in its wake, as it skitters away towards the edge.

I look to my side where Claire is seated, staring forward, blankly.

"Hey, Claire. What’re you thinking about?” I ask.

She remains absent. I try to get her attention again.

“Hello? Anyone home?”

My hand waves in front of her eyes, but she still does not notice.

I poke her shoulder. She finally snaps out of it.

“Oh, sorry. Did you say something?” She asks, startled.

“I was just wondering what you were thinking.”

Claire places her hands in her lap and returns to looking forward, eyes pointed just above the seat ahead of her.

“Do you think, we’ll find him? What if-”

“Don’t think like that. We’re getting close. I feel it.”

“But what if, what if you,”

She lingers on her thought.

“Never mind. It couldn’t be.”

Couldn’t be what, I wonder? But I don’t ask. Instinct, perhaps.

She sits tensely, shifting about her dress. It’s something I haven’t seen her wearing before. I was beginning to think she only ever wore baggy blouses and baggy pants – “poor” clothing. But I guess it makes sense. She wouldn’t wear something like this on the farm, it would get dirty in an instant.

“You look pretty today.”

I regret my words immediately. Claire gives me a funny look.

“You know what never mind. Forget I said that. My sister always liked it when I complemented her looks. But you’re not her. Obviously. You already knew that though. I mean, of course you did. What am I even saying?”

Claire smiles warmly.

“You mean Theresa, right?”

“No, I meant the other one.”

“Oh. Of course.”

I expect her to continue saying something else, but she doesn’t. It’s not like her.

“I was thinking,” I begin. “There’s something you should know, about me.”

“Oh. What’s this all of a sudden?” She asks.

“I don’t know if I’d call it sudden. It’s been on my mind for a while.”

Her ear perks up slightly.

“Okay. Then, whenever you’re ready, I’ll listen.”

----------------------------------

“We ask that you please remain in your seats. We are currently working to find an alternative solution.”

A voice comes from above, muffled by the persistent pelting of rain.

“Lio?”

An indistinct chatter arises.

“Lio is that you?”

I reach my arm out and-

My head falls forward, having slipped off my hand. The sudden strain in my neck brings it bouncing right back up.

The water no longer rolls across the window, rather directly downwards. Beyond, the darkness remains. Claire leans out into the aisle, anxiously looking about.

“What’s going on, are we there already?” I ask.

She shifts back into her seat, but her back is still stiff, allergic to rest. Her foot vibrates rapidly.

“The train stopped. There’s an obstruction on the track, is what they’re saying.”

The way she stares into the seat ahead, it’s frightening. Like it’ll burn a hole straight through it.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll be able to clear it soon. We’ll be moving before you now it.”

I speak what I hope to be the truth, but without her telling me, I sense that I speak only lies.

“The way they’re talking about it is making it seem like it’s something big.” She says, racing through her words. “What are the chances?”

My hand instinctively moves over my pocket. I run my fingers along the edges. The square of paper is still there.

I try diving back into the rain on the window, but even with my face pointing one way, my eyes remain glued in the other. The tapping of Claire’s heel, drilling silently into the ground, it makes me dizzy.

Suddenly, she grabs my wrist and stands, all at once. She looks only forward towards the front end of the carriage.

“We’re going to have a look.” Is all she says.

My feet stumble over each other as she drags me away.

We reach the steel plates above the intersection of the carts. Claire lets me go and pulls on the door with both hands. It slides open, bouncing back slightly as it hits the end.

Cold air rushes in, followed quickly by the piercing rain. Claire pays it no attention, jumping out onto the pebbles below, still wearing but just that thin summer dress. She immediately heads towards the front of the train.

I stick my head into the storm. Water forces its way into my squinting eyes.

“Wait!” I yell. “They said to stay seated!”

Claire doesn’t flinch, continuing forward. The crunching of the stones beneath her shoes fading into the ringing of the bullets of the night sky.

My lips try to speak another word, but they are already frozen. I look down, then back to the girl, the distance growing ever farther.

Looking back to the wet stones beneath me, I make the leap down.

My body brings itself closer, hands grabbing either arm. A drop of water rolls across my eyelid. I shut the eye and carry on forward, ignoring it; ignoring all of it. My pace is slow, but Claire soon comes back into view. Her stature rising just above the height of the train’s wheel.

I stop a distance behind her.

“What were you thinking? We have to get back inside.”

She looks to the track ahead; a large pile of boulders, leaning from the hill on the other side.

It’s only when I take a closer look, that I see how far she’s lost. Teeth clenched, her cheek tightened, and her dress a wet rag. I take a step closer and place my coat over her shoulders, heavy with rain.

“Look, I know you’re upset, but we can’t stay out here.”

Claire grabs hold of the coat. Water wrings out from where she touches. Her neck begins to lower. She tries to hide her sob.

A noise from behind rings out. A crash of metal. It dies quickly. Claire doesn’t look back, and neither do I.

“Sir, miss, I’m going to have to ask you to come back inside.”

I wait for Claire to move, but she only trembles, her whole body over.

“Can you hear me? It’s not safe out there.”

Still, Claire does not turn. The stones crunch once more, then again, and again, as the lady behind approaches.

I whisper to the girl frozen ahead of me.

“Hey, what do you say? Let’s head back, shall we-”

A frozen hand takes hold of my wrist. She starts to run, dragging me along. Faster, and faster; she doesn’t look back. Past the boulders, and away from the faint light.

With not the starlight to guide her, she follows the rails. The rain crashes down on her shoulders, but it does not stop her.

We run, and run, until finally, my legs give in. I stumble onto my knees.

Claire lets go of my arm. Her feet take her two more steps, before collapsing under the weight of the rain. The coat rolls off her back. Then, she lowers her face into her arms, and cries.

----------------------------------

Night falls behind the darkness. When the blur of the shower fades, and starlight appears below the low swaying leaves, it is only then I realize the day has passed.

From the damp wood upon which we sit, I’m reminded of the days before; running with nothing but the clothes on my back. Following the rails, I’ve already seen it all; the waves of wind through the fields of wild grass. The rolling hills looming under the retreating clouds. The solemn trees.

How many cities, towns, villages, I visited, I do not remember.

How many kind-hearted strangers stopped to offer me their help. Food, clothing, a place to stay. I never understood why.

I’d always thought I’d had an overly idealistic idea of what the outside was like, but it turns out, I wasn’t too far off. Ever since I got here, though, I’ve been hiding - hiding in the shadow of a perfect world.

I could never stay anywhere too long. Whenever I would see the smiles on such nice peoples’ face’s; when they’d tell me I could stay however long I needed, all I could think of was the morning they would wake up, and find that final note.

Was it selfish for me to wish that one of them would just come running behind me, begging for me to stay?

I cried the day I met Claire. When her father found out we were gone, he came out looking for us. He embraced not just his daughter, but me as well. So, I cried into his shoulder, and long well after.

It was nice having a new family to care for. There’s a part of me that wants to stay forever, watch the seasons change with her just one more time. But someday, I’ll have to leave again, for their sake. And when that day comes, I’ll tell them everything. Maybe then, it’ll help ease the pain.

Claire and I don’t speak tonight. It doesn’t bother me though. Huddled together under the weight of our one coat, we face in opposite directions. She passes out long before me. I guess she didn’t sleep on the train.

----------------------------------

A silhouette fades in behind the morning mist. Dark, and tall. A building.

The tracks run forward, disappearing into the fog.

“Hey, is that it?” I ask.

Claire shakes her head.

“That’s another city. From the old world.”

“Oh.” I reply.

Leading into the ruins, the rails plunge towards the earth. Trees sprout outwards through the rubble, arching above the half-submerged tracks. Dissipated pools of light shine within the water.

A light catches my eye, and I look to the side. Among the now colourless brick walls, new life flourishes between the cracks. And beneath a lone overhang, a small window remains. Just the one, is all that has its glass still intact.

“Do you ever wonder? What must have happened before?”

Claire speaks serenely, looking up towards the gaps between the leaves.

“I don’t know. I never really gave it much thought.”

“I was always fascinated by this place.” She says, prancing ahead a few steps, leaving only perfect ripples behind.

“Ever since I laid eyes on these trees for the first time, I always wondered what it must have looked like here long ago.”

She twirls once around, arms wide and looking to the sky.

“You’ve been here before?” I ask.

“Just once, with my mother.”

She comes to a stop as she finishes her sentence, her arms straight and hands held behind her back. I carry forward, water sloshing side at my feet.

“Is something the matter?” I ask.

She raises a hand above her eyes. The mist lifting among the glare’s descent.

She gives me no immediate reply. I wonder if she could be missing her mother. I wonder if I could be missing my sister.

With a flick of her arm across her eyes, Claire gracefully spins around to face me.

“I just remembered something,” She says. “There’s a place where you can see the entire city from. Let me show you.”

The girl prances ahead along the river rails. I follow shortly behind. We enter a clearing in the trees, where there’s a gap between the buildings that line either side. A street just as wide as ours cuts through, but the rails continue running forward.

Claire looks up and to the left. I look to the same direction. A tall building looms over the roofline, still well above the others, despite looking like it’s missing its top half.

Back on the ground, Claire waves for me to follow before making a turn down the intersection.

I stumble over the plants and cracks in the ground. The fluttering white winds through nook and cranny, but never out of sight. Under fallen walls ant hose overgrown, I follow. Whenever the sky comes into view, I look up. The building that towers above moving ever closer.

Claire finally stops, but only when we reach the tower base. She stands still facing away. I come to a halt, gasping for dear life.

“Why’d you take off like that?” I ask, taking two big wheezes before I can continue. “We could have just walked.”

The dress over Claire’s back loosens as she straightens her back. An arm flicks across her eyes once more, but this time, in the light of the new day’s sun, I see it. Tears.

“Sorry about that. I guess I just got a little excited.”

She turns. I look away.

“Well, this is the place.” She says.

The stairs wind upwards, turning back every so many steps, then ascending so many more in the opposite direction. The encasing wall is only present half the time, the hand railing as well. But at least when it is, my steps quietly echo.

The sky once again reappears above us. And all around below, a forgotten city. Buildings standing far off in every direction, running to summer’s clouds. It’s so much larger than anywhere I’ve ever been. Yet the streets would be silent if not for the rustle of leaves between the breeze.

“Really makes you wonder doesn’t it?” Claire asks.

“Seems so.”

“You see that little building on the corner there?”

Claire leans over the broken stone wall, pointing into the distance.

“I think that must have been a flower shop. And the one right across from it, that one’s a restaurant. It was quite a popular one too. Everyone in town and people all over went there to taste their food.”

I search for the place she speaks of, and find a corner under an overpass. There’s an insignificant building on one side, and another across from it.

“They look just like any of the other places to me. How can you tell what they are?” I ask.

“I can’t. It’s just fun to pretend.”

“Okay then. What can you say about this building?”

Claire walks towards the center of the concrete floor. Six beams rise from what is still intact. I imagine they once held up the levels above. But now, with their ends broken, they hold up nothing but the sky.

Claire places a hand on one of the pillars, raising her eyes to its peak.

“This place,” she says, “this place was an art gallery. It had all sorts of treasures, and people of all ages would come to look around.”

I envision paintings on the absent walls behind her. There’s a portrait of a young lady, a house. A landscape of the hills, with white windmills, spinning in the distance.

“I think you might be right about that one.” I tell her.

“You say that like I was wrong about the others.”

“Well. Maybe.”

Suddenly, the world begins to grow fainter. The invisible walls become invisible once more as I drop to my knees.

“Hey, Klaus are you alright?”

Claire rushes to my side, placing her hand over my forehead.

“It looks like your fever is returning.” She says.

“This is all my fault. If I didn’t, if I didn’t run,”

I shake my head, but she continues.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that, it feels like the entire world is trying to stop us.”

“No, don’t think like that. We’ll make it in time. I know we will.”

She nods.

“We’ll stay here until it comes down again. In the meantime, I’ll go find you something to eat.”

“Hold on I’ll go with you.” I say, weakly.

“Absolutely not, you’re in no shape to move around.”

Claire helps me to one of the pillars, leaning me down in its shadow. She places the jacket over my chest.

“You know, if there’s one thing you’re really good at, it’s hiding your pain.”

I crack a smile.

“Try to get some rest. I’ll be back in no time.”

She turns away towards the stairs. Before heading down, she looks back one last time.

Her footsteps gradually fade. I curl up into a ball, pulling the jacket over my shoulders. My hands find themselves in my pockets. There’s something crusty stuck to the inside of one of them.

It's the letters Charles gave me.

Will it be time soon?