Almost Safe

Light now came in through some cracks in the walls of the old barn. I sat up, my stomach heavy from thinking about last night. I poisoned everyone; my intentions only to put them to sleep, but what if they weren’t just sleeping? What have I done? Did I really have a choice though? I couldn’t let myself be sold into marriage and I had no other way of escape.

Just then, the barn doors creaked open.

“Here, take these.” In came Joshua, holding out a pile of clothes.

“Oh, thank you.” I grabbed the clothes from his hands. Unfolding it, I discovered it was a light blue dress, with ruffles along the dress collar and along the bottoms of the sleeves. It was the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen! “How does a boy get a dress like this?!” I exclaimed.

“It belongs to my mother,” Joshua said quickly.

“Won’t she notice it’s gone?” I asked.

Joshua ignored my question, and instead handed me a familiar pink hair ribbon. “Here’s this also. I’m going up in the loft to retrieve something I left last night--when you showed up. Hurry and get ready. We have to sneak you on the wagon before my pa comes. Let me know when it’s safe to come back down.” He swiftly walked on towards the ladder.

“What’s up in the loft that is so important?”

“None of your concern,” Joshua said harshly while climbing up the ladder.

Still, I couldn’t help but wonder what he was doing up there so late last night. My questions had to wait for now though. I crouched behind the big haystack to get dressed, just to make sure he couldn’t see from the loft. After putting on the blue dress, I braided my hair in a tight french braid and finished it off with the ribbon tied in a bow.

“Am I able to come down yet?!” Joshua shouted from above.

“Yes. I just finished.” I said.

Joshua speedily came down the ladder holding something brown in one hand. He set whatever it was down and went to the doors of the barn. Joshua picked up a pair of shoes and cloth-like fabric. He must’ve set them down by the door before handing me the clothes.

“I’ll wrap your feet up and you can put these on.” He motioned to the shoes while bending down in front of me. Why is he being so nice to me? Why is he helping me run away? Joshua gently started wrapping up my feet, but I was too curious about that brown object he had placed down. Staring at it, it was something rectangular in shape and very thick. It was covered in what looked like brown paper wrapping tied longways and sideways in string. It was a package of some sorts and whatever it was, it was clear Joshua didn’t want me to know. He was hiding something. That makes me all the more suspicious of him helping me.

“Are these also your mother’s?” I asked, referencing the shoes.

“They were.” He said quickly while wrapping my foot.

“Were?” I asked.

“My mother--she’s not--she doesn’t use them anymore.” There was a hint of sadness in Joshua’s voice as he concentrated intently on wrapping my feet.

“Oh,” I said, finally realizing the truth. I thought of my own mother and how much I miss her. “I know what it’s like.”

“You do?” Joshua looked up at me in surprise. We stared at each other in silence until Joshua finally spoke. “We have to get going.”

After some time...I was hiding in the back of the bumpy wagon with a bunch of stuff, two suitcases, and a blanket to hide me. Joshua drove the horses upfront with his pa seated next to him. I would’ve thought I’d been noticed long ago, but Joshua’s father seemed so oblivious. He and Joshua were having a pleasant conversation. When we rode up to the train station, I quietly and quickly snuck off the back while Joshua’s pa was distracted. I watched from a distance as Joshua and his father joked around and hugged goodbye. They seemed so close. I could only dream of what it might be like to have a father you can be close to.

“I’ll buy your ticket.” Joshua came up to me and set the two suitcases down.

“You’ve done so much already! I can buy it.” I protested.

“Did you bring any money with you when you ran away?” He asked.

“Oh.”

Joshua sighed and shook his head smirking. “Didn’t think so. You didn’t think anything through. Mind ever telling me why you left in such a rush?”

“It’s a long story.” I shrugged.

“Good thing we have a whole train ride.” Joshua grinned and clutched his satchel strap tight. “Wait here.” He said as he left to get the tickets.

I wondered if maybe that brown satchel is where he’s been keeping that mysterious brown package? Could there be a way I can find out what’s inside? I know he won’t just tell me any more than I won’t tell him why I’m running.

Joshua came back with tickets and eventually it was time to board the train. Stepping up those steps, seeing the thick smoke rise, hearing the booming train whistle, made me feel excited to be leaving this town and on to somewhere safe.

Walking through the aisle, a man pushed his way past Joshua walking in front of me. When he bumped into me, he paused to tip his hat and say, “Sorry, Miss.”

“It’s alright,” I whispered.

The man grinned at me mischievously, while looking me up and down. He was tall and wore glasses over his dark eyes. He had on a fancy suit that looked familiar, with a shiny golden pin that was pinned on his jacket. It was a small, golden bull encircled in a gold ring around it. My heart began to pound fast as I remembered the suits Mr. Brooks's men wore and how similar it was to what this strange man wore. Could it be someone the Brooks family sent to look for me? How could they have found me?! My thoughts went back to John Brooks threat from last night…“I’ll find you, no matter where you hide! My family owns this town and towns for miles on! Remember that!” He had screamed at me as I ran away in the dark. Could it be possible he somehow knew to send someone here? What was with the golden bull pin though?

The man continued to walk on, and I quickly sat next to Joshua. Before long, the train car had filled up with people and the train got moving. I was breathing heavily, seeing everything as spinning. How was I to escape this if it is someone he sent? But it might not be someone to worry about after all...I needed a distraction.

Turning to Joshua, I asked, “So how come you just stopped going to school and I haven’t seen you for all these years?”

Joshua seemed shocked by my forward question. “Um...Well, I had to help with the farm.”

“Oh, I see. Sorry, I didn’t think of that.” I said.

“It’s alright.” Then with a grin, he said, “Why do you ask? You missed seeing me?”

“Uh, no! I-I--” I stammered,trying to figure out what to say.

Joshua bursted out laughing.

His laugh got me thinking of the old school memories when Joshua used to laugh like that at me all the time. Joshua seems so different now then he was back then. He used to make fun of me and pull my braids. One time, he made me cry when he stole my favorite pink hair ribbon...Wait...I instinctively reached behind my back to feel the pink ribbon tied in a bow at the bottom of my braid. Now I know why it looked so familiar.

“You’ve kept my ribbon all these years?” I asked out loud in astonishment.

“Oh, is that yours?” Joshua blushed, his face becoming a strong red. He very clearly remembered it was mine. But why did he keep it?

Just then, something shiny caught my eye from a man standing two rows in front of ours. He was fixing his luggage above, but the more important thing was the shiny gold bull pinned on his chest, like the man who bumped into me earlier but this man looked different. As if he knew I was looking, he glanced at me. I gasped. There were more potential people working for Mr. Brooks on this train?

I looked around and discovered across the aisle, another nicely dressed man reading the paper was also wearing a gold bull pin. He glanced up at me and smiled. In fear, I quickly turned to Joshua to distract me again.

“So what’s so important about the brown package you keep guarding in that satchel?” I asked.

“Nothing.” Joshua said harshly. “Unless you have something you want to tell me?”

“What would that be?” I smiled as innocently as I could.

“Try, why you have the Brooks family after you?”

I gasped. “How did you know that?”

“Eleanor, there’s bull pins all in this car. That’s the Brooks family symbol. They have been keeping a close eye on us and you’ve been anything but calm since running into one of ‘em. I’m a lot sharper than I seem.” Joshua said.

“What am I going to do? They found me!” I said, breathing heavily.

“They’ve seen me with you, which unfortunately means I’m involved now, whatever is going on anyway. We can wait on the train awhile, they won’t do anything on the train in front of people. It’ll be at our stop they’ll try something. We have to try to make sure we can get off this train before then. You with me here?” Joshua seemed deep in thought.

“Wait, what do you mean? Get off the train while it’s moving?”

“Precisely. We’re going to have to escape the train.”

I loudly sighed and sunk down into my seat. Escape the train? Just when I think running is over. How on earth are we going to pull this off?!

*******

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