The train steadily rolled over the tracks, carrying Amber, Sarah and Caitlin to destinations unknown. Amber stared at Caitlin in disbelief. It had been years since she last saw the girl and back then Caitlin had been merely nine years old, now fifteen the girl looked completely different. No longer was she the little girl that used to hide in the closet at night, curled up close to April. Now she had grown in every way, taller then both Sarah and Amber by at least an inch and bloomed into such an attractive young lady that Amber found herself mesmerized by the transformation. The only thing that had not changed was the way her eyes darted around, never meeting Amber's for more then a few seconds before dropping to the ground again. Amber had so many questions to ask the girl, but before a single one could spill from their lips she was interrupted by deep voice from over her shoulder. "Tickets please." The voice politely asked. Startled Amber spun around and let out a small gasp as her eyes set upon what was speaking to her. At first she was not sure what it was she was seeing and thought it was just a figment of her imagination. Before her was a shadowy pillar with a blue conductor's hat upon its domed head. Pair of round glowing yellow eyes stared out from under the brim of the hat and Amber was reminded of one of those Pac Man ghost. She was about to dismiss the apparition when is spoke again. "Do you have your Ticket's ladies?" It inquired yet again. Amber glanced at Sarah, whom was staring up at the creature jaw slacked, and back to the creature before her, "Th... this has to be a dream." She stated aloud. "Not dream little lady." The shadow replied placidly, a long skinny arm with several thin appendages curved up to its head and removed its hat and the creature proceeded to bend over in what appeared to be a bow and tipped its hat to her, "Welcome to the Dreamlands Express. I will be your conductor and am here to assure your ride is a pleasant one." It stated in a kind voice that made Amber feel a little more at ease, "I am sorry if I frightened you. I mistook you for one of our regular passengers. If I could please see your tickets we can be on our way." Amber dug in her pocket for the envelope, "Where does this train go to anyway?" She inquired as she nudged her sister to stop gawking, "Sarah, your ticket." She stated urgently. "Unnnn?" Sarah blinked up at the shadowy form before her, "I... I'm sorry..." She remarked as she rubbed her eyes. "Caitlin, do you have one?" She inquired, worried that her other sister didn't have one and would be forced off the train. Caitlin slowly nodded, in a slight daze, as she pulled out a ticket from her pocket. "It is quite alright." The conductor stated to Sarah as it placed its hat back upon its head and turned to Amber, "As for your question. I would need to see your tickets before I know for certain, but if I know my passengers, which I tend to do, I'd suspect that you are bound for Whispering Hills Academy, just like the last few girls your age that rode this here train." Amber freed her ticket from the envelope and shakily held it out to the conductor, "W... Whispering Hills? Where is that?" The thin arm took the ticket from the girl and raised it to its head. A large, wide mouth appeared in the middle of the shadow and bite down upon the ticket and Amber was certain she heard the sound of a small bell emitting from inside the creatures head. It then removed the ticket and stared at it for a moment, "No mistaking it, Whispering Hills is your destination." It handed Amber back her ticket then turned to Caitlin, who handed her ticket over. "But where is Whispering Hills?" Amber asked again, staring down at her ticket in dismay. Although the creature did not bare any teeth, as far as she could see, her ticket was now punched with several holes, each octagonal in shape, creating two lines in a "u" shape. Shaking the shock from her she continued to speak, "I... I've never heard of such a place." "I have." Sarah remarked nervously, having just retrieved her ticket from her pocket and handed it to the creature as it returned Caitlin's ticket. Amber turned to face her friend, "You have? Where?" "In a book about dreams." Sarah stated simply, as if she did not wish to talk about the subject any longer. "A book about dreams?" Amber was becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of answers to her question, "What kind of place is it? Why would Jessica be there?" "Jessica is here?" Caitlin exclaimed in excitement of the news, "Did you see her? Where is she?" She glanced around the car in search of her other sister. "She is not here." Amber corrected the girl; "We received a photo of her with Kimberly along with these tickets." She explained holding her ticket up, "Isn't that why you are here?" Caitlin shook her head, "No, I got the ticket in a dream. I was lost in some kind of strange fog and found this strange ticket booth. I bought a ticket there and found it when I woke up in the middle of the night. The man at the booth told me to get on the second last car on the train and that was it." "Sorry to interrupt." The shadow handed Sarah back her ticket, "If you stay seated we will be passing into the Shadowlands in a matter of time." He informed the girls; "Please do not let the creatures outside frighten you for they can not harm you in here, as long as you stay in your seats that is." Without further word the shadow faded from existence, including its hat. Amber frantically scanned the car to see where the conductor could have gone to, then sat heavily in her chair and glared at Sarah, "What is going on here? Do you know anything about this 'Shadowlands'?" She inquired frustratedly. Sarah took a long breath, "I only read about it once, in a book I found in the library. For some reason I never found the book again after that first time, but it spoke of the World of Dreams and the existence of other worlds, sort of like Alice's Wonderland and stuff like that." Amber shook her head, "Are you trying to tell me that 'Alice in Wonderland' is based on a true story?" She chuckled nervously at the notion, but after her encounter with the shadow conductor was not sure she didn't believe Sarah entirely. Sarah shrugged, "Some believe there is something that exists on the other side of mirrors and beyond the edge of our dreams. The book was filled with a lot of theories and speculations that I could not fully understand, but it looks like we have stumbled upon one of the gates to this other world." Amber leaned back in her chair as she let what she had been told sink in, "Is that why we only saw Jessica in our dreams? Could she have been trying to contact us in that way?" "It could explain Kimberly." Sarah reflected, "Maybe she can walk through dreams, I've heard that some people can do that, sort of like how we keep sharing the same dreams." Amber glanced out the window, "Maybe..." She remarked, unsure if she wanted to be on that train any longer. Her eyes returned to Caitlin, "Did you have a dream about Jessica and a girl with red hair?" She asked the girl. Caitlin slowly nodded, "She was very pretty." She admitted with a sigh, "I found the ticket after she helped us escape that house." Amber muddled this over in her head, "So if you didn't know about Jessie and Kimberly, then why are you here?" Caitlin frowned and gazed down at her hands upon her lap. Sarah switched seats to sit next to the girl, "Caitlin did something happen?" She asked softly, reaching up to brush the girl's curls over her ear only to have the girl back away and cower in the corner of her chair, "Caitlin? What's wrong?" There was fear in the girl's eye and she swallowed hard as she settled into the corner of her chair, her legs pulled up close to her chest, "I... please..." She frantically rubbed at the side of her head. "don't... touch me..." Her last words were nearly inaudible. Sarah however heard them loud and clear and it stung her heart. "You don't want me near you?" She inquired, trying hard to conceal the hurt, "You used to curl up with us. We protected each other." Caitlin hugged her knees and rubbed her arms as she stared at the ground, "I..." she began to softly sob. Amber quickly got up from her spot and knelt in front of the girl, "What is wrong?" She softly asked, "Caitlin we will always be here for you. We are sisters after all, aren't we?" Caitlin's head snapped up to meet Amber's eyes and tears escaped the corners of her eyes, "Sisters...?" She whispered. More tears trickled over her cheeks and she let out a thin tired sob, her arms outstretched towards Amber and she slide out of her chair into the girl's arms, wrapping her arms around Amber's neck and crying into her shoulder. "Its alright." Amber cooed, stroking the girl's back, "You are safe with us. You don't have to tell us if you don't want to, but we can't help you if we don't know." Caitlin stiffened in Amber's arms and slowly pushed out of the girl's grasp. Slowly her hand went to the neck of her the turtle neck that she wore and she pulled it down to reveal light purple bruises around her neck in the shape of fingers. Startled Amber took in a deep breath as she stared at the markings, "Who did this to you?" She asked as worry and anger filled her, "Was it your new parents?" Caitlin pulled the shirt up again and nodded slowly, "Mr. K...Kline..." She stammered. Sarah shook her head in dismay, "How could he? I mean they screen the parents don't they?" Amber ignored her sister as she watched the girl before her carefully as Caitlin held her shirt tightly to herself, "Did he touch you?" Caitlin nodded and began to cry again, "He told me that no one would believe me if I told anyone." She rambled through the tears, "That they would think I'm just getting the past confused with the present and then he did this..." Her hands went to her throat, "and said he would make sure I stayed dead if I told anyone." Tears streaked the girl's face, "When I dreamed about you all I never felt so at home then ever before. That place was horrible, but at least I wasn't alone. When I found myself alone in the fog I... I..." she wailed and dropped into Amber's arms yet again. Amber held the girl, allowing for her to cry, unsure what she could say to help sooth the child that she had come to know as her sister and worrying about what had happened to their smallest edition to their family, little April. She did not have much time to think when the intercom overhead crackled to life. "Now crossing into the Shadowlands." A voice called out over an intercom overhead, "Please do not leave your seat until we have passed through the barriers, thank you." The intercom clicked off. "What barriers?" Amber inquired, but before anyone could answer the train shook violently, as if something were attacking it, "What the hell was that?" She cried out in fright and wrapped her arms protectively around Caitlin. "The walls between realities." Sarah stated uncertainly as a wave of energy passed through the train and the girl's, causing them to feel light headed and nauseous. The world outside of the window started to spiral and spin around them as yet another ripple shook the train with enough force to toss the girls against the window, as if the entire train had tipped on its side. Amber stared outside as a fog drifted around the train creating a long tunnel of smoke. Something black with bat-like wings flew beside the train, and then crashed into the side of the train causing the car to shake and rattle. The monster appeared to be half the size of the passenger car and Amber had a feeling that if it wanted to it could knock the entire car off its tracks, if indeed they were still running along tracks, and fly off with it. "I don't like this." Caitlin cried as the sounds of claws scrapped over the roof of the train, only adding to her already unsettled nerves, "Make them stop!" She screamed out. Something lightly tapped on the glass of the window several times as if it were trying to get the girls' attention. Amber wrapped her arms around her head, unwilling to look at what could be beckoning her when Sarah shouted out, "Hey, it's the Cheshire Cat." Amber glanced up to see a set of grinning teeth floating in the window, a smile that reminded her very much of the Cheshire Cat which only confirmed Sarah's notion, they really were on their way through the "Looking Glass", however Amber suspected that their trip would not be a pleasant as young Alice's. As if to confirm this notion the smile opened to reveal a set of rather nasty jagged teeth that changed Amber's image of the Cheshire cat forever. The smile outside the window looked nothing like she had envisioned they would and she could see those teeth tearing a piece off her with not a second thought. As quickly as the teeth appeared they suddenly disappeared and the train finally started to steady again. "Enter Whispering Hills." The voice called out over the intercom, "All stops for Whispering Hills." ***** To be Continued . . .
Back to A Shadowlander's Dream: Book 3 - Rules of the Flesh Index - Back to Original Fiction Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction