Sleepless

The Train

I was on a train.

The scenery was a blur of white as the train thundered past it all, moving suddenly to green as it entered a forest. The sun was setting in the distance so it would have been cold outside but the train had a fireplace.

I looked around me, taking in the interior of my compartment. It was mostly empty of people, besides a cute elderly couple sitting a few rows ahead of me, but it was very clearly the first class section. The seats were made of red velvet and could transform into a bed if one wished. On the seat in front of me, a small television sat, and I could see myself in the reflection. Although.. I looked slightly different than normal. My freckles were gone, leaving my face unblemished, my glasses were gone, but I could still see perfectly fine, I must have put in contacts and forgotten about them. And my hair seemed less frizzy, it tumbled over my shoulders in a waterfall of blond. Wait. That wasn’t right, I had brown hair, not blonde, and I didn’t even own contacts.

A horn made me sit up gasping for breath as a truck drove past my house. My mum was banging on the door trying to come into my room but fortunately for me, I had remembered to lock my door last night. Still panting slightly, I grabbed my glasses off my side table and put them on, as I walked to my door and unlocked it.

Mum barged in instantly, a massive scowl on her face.

“Alora! What have I said about locking your door?

Do you even understand how dangerous that is? What if there was to be a fire? What if you get kidn*pped? I wouldn't be able to reach you!”

I heaved a small sigh, my mum gets like this sometimes, all panicky, it’s been happening more and more recently, especially after Zach left for collage. Mum had begged him not to go, she had screamed and cried and guilt tripped him but Zach wasn’t having it. I hadn’t wanted him to go either, I was scared of being alone with Mum. But I had known that if I had the chance? I would have taken it too, although I would have found a way to take my younger sister with me instead of leaving her all alone with a crazy person. Zach hadn’t even come back to visit. It had been three months and Mum was only getting worse. She was convinced that Dad was going to come back and try to kidnap me. She still refuses to believe me when I tell her that he died four years ago.

“Mum, I’m okay,” I smile at her reassuringly. “I just need to get ready for school.”

“Oh,” Mum said “okay darling, I’ll go get your lunch ready for you then.”

“Thanks Mum,”

As soon as she left, I grabbed a brown notebook and pen of my dresser, opened it, and wrote.’ Attempt number 93.. Successful. I infiltrated a different reality but so far I haven't managed to do anything more than that. Attempt number 94 will commence tonight.’

I closed my book with a snap and began getting ready for the day.