FicWad

She sat shivering in the last car of the train, hiding behind a stack of boxes, hoping to not be found. With knees brought close to her chest to help contain whatever was left of her body heat, she pulled the hood of her sweatshirt farther down over her head. She wrapped her arms around her knees and clasped her fingers within one another. Her fingerless gloves were worn with holes in the palms and frayed edges coating the scars on her wrists. How ironic she thought, the gloves that show off her complete lack of monetary income are the very thing that all the kids are choosing to wear these days. She reached for her messenger bag and fished around for her sketchbook and a pencil. Maybe if she thought about something other than the clouds of frozen breath that escaped her mouth, she would feel a little better. She flipped open her book, and found an empty page. She looked around the boxcar for something interesting that she could focus on to sketch, but found nothing of the sort. She closed her eyes, trying to remember a warmer place, and found her mind wander to a meadow. A familiar place that she dreamed of often, with tall blades of grass that smelled of lavender and honeysuckle. The warm sun smiled upon her face, and the gentle breeze played in her hair. She laid back into the yellow daisies and stared at the clouds, sketching the shapes they took. She opened her eyes and saw that she was still inside the same cold boxcar, but her mind was filled with the pictures of clouds that flowed through her thoughts and down to her fingertips, gracing the page with their presence.

"Fucken crazy teenie-boppers!"

The door flung open allowing a harsh gust of wind to blast it's way into the car and lace her in an icey chill. A short man walked in, clutching the furry collar of his winter coat round his neck. He piveted quickly around and slammed the door tightly shut. She watched him as he ducked beneath the window, obviously on the run from someone. He crept his face towards the window once more, checking to see if the coast was clear. Everything must have been alright, because he turned to face the inside of the car once more. He looked around, tracing his fingers over the edges of the suitcases and bags that lined the car, moving his way closer to where she hid. In fear that she would be discovered, she pulled her knees closer to her chest, drawing the tips of her worn out converse sneakers behind the boxes. As quietly as she could, she closed her sketchbook and shoved it back into her bag, breaking the tip of her pencil as she did. She held her breath in hopes that he would go away, but unfortunatley she had no such luck.

"Uh-hum," he coughed from above her.

She looked up and found a young man staring her in the face, smiling as though he just discovered the story of the century.

"Please don't throw me off the train, I swear I'll get off at the next stop, but just don't actually throw me from the train."

He blurted out a shot of laughter and smirked, "I'm not going to throw you from the train, are you nuts. That's just- they only do that in movies and bad interenet stories."

She stared at him with narrowed eyes, trying to figure a good way out of this. She couldn't have him talking to the cops when they reached the station, another offense meant actual time. Her mind raced with an endless amount of possible escape routes, all leading to the very thing she was asking him not to do, getting thrown off the train. He must have noticed that she was afraid of him, or what he might do, so he spoke again.

"I don't work for the train company."

"Oh,"

"What are you doint here?"

"Sitting."

"Okay. I'm Pete."

"Hi."

"Do you have a name."

"Yes."

"Is it a state secret or are you going to make me work for it."

"Well, do you have an extra pencil?"

"If I give you a pencil, you will tell me your name."

"Yeah, sure."

"Then follow me."
He reached out his hand with the expectation that she would grab hold and do as he said. When she just sat there and ignored his open invitation, he added,
"My bag is in my cabin. I have an extra case of pencils in there. Come on, I won't bite."

She continued to stare at him, unsure of his intent. There was a feeling in her stomach that begged her to stand up. Even if she would only use him for the warmth of his cabin, he might have some extra cash she could sneak away. She took hold of his still out-stretched hand, and used what little strength she had left to pull herself to her feet.

*********************************

She swung her bag over her shoulder and motioned for him to lead the way. He smiled and turned, still holding her hand, and led her towards the door. He checked to see if the 'teenie-boppers' were gone, and then slid open the door. He led her through the next two cars, and then down a long hallway lined with double cabins on either side. It looked fancy, and she figured it must have been the first class accomidations on the train. Maybe she could get more out of him than just a couple of bucks, she thought to herself. He stopped in front a large cabin and opened it so that she could step in.

It was a mess, covered in candy bar wrappers and crumpled up pieces of paper. There were clothes scattered around, and she was unsure if half of them were clean or dirty. He moved passed her, grabbing up the contents of the cabin as he went, scrambling to make a place for her to sit. He shoved the pile of trash and clothes on the floor into the private bathroom, tossing in all he could before slamming the door shut.

"Sorry. My mom always said that one day I'd let a girl into my room, and she would see me for what I really am, a slob." He made a nervous giggle as he finished his sentence. It appeared that he found this just as awkward as she did.

"You said something about a bag?" She hoped that he would have to look for it somewhere, giving her time to sneak a peek for some loose cash he was bound to have lying around.

"Right. I think it's somewhere over- oh, here it is. Here, you can keep the pack."
He made to hand her a half empty pack of pencils, but snapped them back behind him and motioned for her to speak to him.
"I believe that you have something for me, before i give you these."

She smiled and admitted to herself that he was a genuinlly nice guy.
"Jane."

"Hi Jane, it's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too, Pete, was it?"

"It was, and is. And it's apparent that you are shivering, so sit down and I'll turn up the heat."

She did as she asked, letting the plan to steal whatever she could find here in his cabin float away to the warm meadow of honeysuckle and lavender.