Home > While I Was Away(4)

While I Was Away(4)
Author: Stylo Fantome

She lifted her head and her jaw dropped. She was surrounded by poppies. Big red petals and long green stems, as far as she could see, in every direction. She shielded her eyes as she tried to take in her surroundings. The sun was so bright. Brighter than she'd ever seen. It was a glorious day.

Yeah ... but where am I?

She slowly climbed to her feet and when she went to dust herself off, she was surprised to see she was wearing a dress. Not that a dress in itself was weird, Adele owned lots of dresses, but the style of this one caught her off guard. It was like something out of the 1950's – a white A-line frock, with a boat neck and a ridiculous collar. She could feel a petticoat under the skirt. A petticoat! She didn't even know where to buy a petticoat, what was she doing wearing one?

She'd spun in a circle as she'd looked at her outfit, and hadn't noticed anything but poppies around her. So many poppies. Then when she turned around once more, she let out a little shriek at what she saw. A diner was in front of her. Rail car style, all silver – again, very retro. She glanced around the poppy field once more, checking to see if there was anything else hidden amongst the flowers, before she made her way to the door of the restaurant.

There were people inside, sitting at the counter and in booths. A jukebox played at one end of the building, and a smiling waitress hurried back and forth between the tables. She spotted Adele and gave her a nod. After she'd dropped off some plates of food, she rushed to the front door.

“Sorry, we're busy today!” she laughed, grabbing a menu from a sleeve next to the register. “Would you like a booth or the counter, honey?”

“I'm sorry,” Adele started to speak, then had to clear her throat. Her mouth was dry, like she hadn't spoken in ages. “Where am I?”

The waitress just laughed again and walked her up to the counter. Once she slid onto a stool, the other woman handed her the plastic menu and hurried off. Adele stared at the counter, unsure how to process what was going on.

“Sweetheart, you want some coffee? You look a little pale,” a gruff voice barked at her. She lifted her gaze to find a portly gentleman looking back at her. He was wearing a white t-shirt which was covered in grease stains. An apron was tied around his waist, keeping his pants safe from similar blemishes.

“Yes. Yes, I don't feel very well. I don't know where I am,” she tried to explain, lifting a hand to her head.

“Don't worry. Happens to everyone. You just sit tight, it'll be here soon,” he assured her, then he turned to grab a pot of coffee.

“What will be here soon?” she asked. He flipped over a cup and began pouring coffee into it.

“Your ride.”

“What ride?”

“Your ride.”

“How do you know it's mine?”

“Because it's everybody's, sweetheart.”

“You're not making sense!” she snapped. Everyone in the diner froze for a moment. She glanced around, then took a deep breath. “I'm sorry, that was really rude. Sorry. But what ride? Like a taxi?”

“Don't worry, I understand,” he patted her hand, then nudged the coffee cup closer to her.

“Thanks, but if you understand, can you explain to me what's going on?” she continued with her questions.

“It's the train,” he spoke slowly, as if she were stupid.

“Alright. Okay, so a train is coming,” her brain started racing. She hadn't seen any tracks outside, no subway station or anything like that. “When will it be here? How will I know it's mine?”

“Because it's coming for you. It'll be here in, ooohhhh ...” he glanced up at a clock, then whistled sharply through his teeth. “Holy cow! You gotta go, it's gonna be here any minute!”

Adele was surprised as he started moving around the counter, but then the waitress appeared back at her side. She grabbed her by the elbow and helped her out of her seat.

“Would you like your coffee to go, miss?” she inquired as she propelled Adele to the door.

“No, I'm good. But wait – what train? And how do I pay?” Adele demanded. Both the greasy cook and the waitress laughed.

“Pay? Why dear, you've already paid. Off you go now! And here, here's some pie for the trip,” the waitress handed her a small paper bag. Adele didn't know what else to say, so she allowed herself to be pushed out the door.

She walked a couple steps away from the diner and stood in the poppies. Put her hands on her hips, crinkling the bag. There were no tracks that she could see. There was no break in the poppy field to indicate where often-used tracks might be laying. She frowned and turned back towards the diner – she was going to march inside and demand to know what in the hell was going on.

But then the most amazing thing happened. While she was watching it, the diner began to move. There was a groaning sound, and inside the windows, Adele could see people sway from the inertia. Then just like an actual rail car, the diner started to roll forward. It was slow at first as it slid past her, then it started to pick up the pace. Before she could even fully process what was happening, its speed quadrupled and the diner car shot off into the horizon, quickly disappearing from view. Her jaw dropped.

“What the fu-”

The air was sucked from her lungs as a train barreled past her, right in front of her face. She shrieked and stumbled backwards, falling on her ass. She gasped for air, holding her hands over her ears to block out the noise. She'd never been so close to a train while it was in motion, going full speed. The sound was so loud, the wind so ferocious.

Then, just as she was beginning to catch her breath, the locomotive began to slow down. The deafening roar quieted to simple click-clacks as the wheels moved along the rails. Rails that hadn't, she was almost positive, been there before. There was a soft screeching when the train finally came to a complete stop. Steam poured out from under the beast, and all she could do was stare as the doors on the cars started opening up.

“Oh no, I'm so sorry. I was supposed to be here earlier. Are you okay?”

Adele looked up and watched as a man stepped down to the ground. He stopped when he got to her side, then gently grabbed her arm, helping her to her feet. She didn't know what to think anymore. She started laughing, holding out her arms while he brushed leaves and grass off her dress.

“I'm crazy,” she gasped. “Oh god, I'm completely crazy.”

“No,” he chuckled, then he bent down to pick up her bag of pie. “Not crazy, I promise. Disoriented, sure, but not crazy. C'mon, let's get you inside.”

He helped her onto the train. She laughed the whole time, deciding to go with it. If she was gonna hallucinate, she might as well enjoy it. She was wiping tears from her eyes by the time he'd seated her in a private compartment. The beds had been turned up and the table was down. She was almost back to normal by the time he started taking out her piece of pie.

“Did I take acid?” she asked him. He smiled, but didn't respond. Just placed a plastic fork next to her plate before taking his seat across from her. “I've always been curious about acid. This is awesome. I can't wait to tell ...”

She couldn't think of the word. The name. Who was she going to tell about her amazing acid trip? Any humor she'd been finding in the situation died a swift death and she stared down at her pie. It was strawberry-rhubarb. Her favorite.

“You're not on acid, Adele,” the man told her. She glanced up at him.

“Who are you?” she asked. She was shocked when he held out his hand.

“I'm Johannes. I'm here to take care of you,” he answered. She froze with her hand halfway to his.

“Take care of me ...?” she sought for clarification. He leaned over the table and shook her hand anyway.

“Yes. Now eat – you must be hungry,” he insisted.

“If I eat, will you answer my questions?” she decided to barter.

“I will answer any question you can possibly think of,” he promised. So she shrugged and picked up her fork.

The pie was delicious. Just like her grandma used to make. And the guy was right, she was hungry. Voraciously so. While she shoveled the dessert into her mouth, she stole peeks at her new friend. She'd never met him before, she was positive She was good at remembering faces, and his was definitely a face she wouldn't have forgotten.

He was a dark, dirty blond, and his neatly done hair style matched her dress – a sort of 1950s pompadour. His shoulders were broad and his body lean, and when he'd walked with her into the train, she'd noted that he was fairly tall. At least over six foot.

His defining feature, though, was easily his eyes. A stunning shade of emerald green, she'd never seen eyes that shade before – light green, jade green, even mossy hazel eyes, sure. But never such a pure shade of emerald. Looking into his eyes was like looking into a forest, or a well, or a mine. She could feel herself getting lost in them.

You don't know where you are or who he is – stop acting like you're in some fairy tale.

Eventually, Adele wrapped her lips around the very last piece of pie. She moaned at how good it tasted, then shoved the plate and fork away from her. Brushed her hands against each other and down her dress to get rid of any crumbs. After slicking her tongue across her teeth to catch any stray pieces, she cleared her throat and looked straight at him again.

“Alright. Where am I?” she started with the questions immediately.

“You're on a train.”

“Ha ha. Who are you?”

“I told you, my name is Johannes.”

“Last name ...?”

“Sorry, no last names here.”

“But where is here?”

“Here is now.”

“Now?”

“Now was then. Now we're here,” he was very patient as he spoke absolute nonsense.

“Stop it. Just tell me ... what happened,” Adele tried again. He nodded his head.

“Alright. You were waiting to be picked up. I missed my train, so you went into the diner, I'm guessing. So nice of them to feed you – this train doesn't have a dining car,” he informed her. She stared at him for a long second, then took a deep breath.

   
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