Chapter Nineteen
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Chapter Nineteen
Portwillow Passageway Station - October 6, 11:32 a.m.
"Inside," he said, pointing toward the double doors.
I could barely make out the towering doors, distracted by Eastvale citizens roaming back and forth through the station, plenty dressed more sophisticated than the Arborview locale. Were they the businesspeople of Eastvale, scurrying to attend work or to meet up with a friend for lunch at this hour?
Their world appeared drastically different than my own, days on end spent bumming the Internet or sleeping in after a night of reading, the sunshine of this autumn sky a pipe dream. Orin held the door open for me and herded me into the interior terminal.
"Just a moment, I need to make a phone call. So you can get picked up."
"Okay," I said. His fingers poked the screen options on his phone quickly, clearly no stranger to the utilization of a cellular device unlike me. Every comparison I made of myself to an Eastvale resident made me feel more inadequate.
He smiled, his teeth shone with a slight overbite somewhat like an albino rabbit in his sprightly mannerisms and reddish eyes. I imagined him hopping through clover energetically with his childhood friend Sanu, the imagery suited them. His throat cleared and his voice altered to a more professional tone, "Good morning. Is Miss Abbington in?"
"Well, someone needs to come to Portwillow Passageway and retrieve the dar--oops. Oh, great. So you'll be on your way?"
A few pauses and Orin responded, "That's right, Portwillow Passageway, the station. Sounds like a plan. See you here."
How many individuals had this happen to? How many individuals were similar to me, living their simpleton lives like leaves in flow with each season? I thought of how immortal the reputed connection was between a person and his or her family and home. In just several nights, everything could go astray and betrayal could take place.
"Could you promise me that I'm going to a place that's safe? After all I've been through in the previous days, I just want to be safe. Please promise me that," I broke the continual hush that oftentimes plagued my interactions with others.
He stared forward and observed those passing by. Individuals full of errands and plans for their busy days, trekking the terminal on their phones. "I can promise you that you'll be getting more than safety - your life is going to change, it'll be a better life than anything you could have expected in Arborview. I'll promise you that much."
I felt relieved and I trusted in his voice, which seemed almost yearning that he could have this free, radical change in his own life instead of mine. "I've heard wondrous stories about Eastvale. I hope Eastvale is everything I had depicted it to be."
"Yea, I hope so too." It took him a moment to respond. Was he truly desiring this change for himself? His mind wandered, he wasn't here but inside of his head, elsewhere. The hospitality of the scarlet roses overshadowed the staggered conversation.
Orin's expression changed altogether and I managed to smile in accompanying his sheepish simper, "Hey, so…can we go someplace quieter?"
"If you'd like."
"Follow my lead." Following his lead was a ritual that felt natural to me by this point, from my prison in underground Arborview to the Unquiet Forest, through the train to this station, and from the interior of the station to wherever he intended for us to traverse next. I stood up after him and followed his lead.
Down the aisles of people strolling the station, passing trains' whistles whined and wheels hauled over the tracks. In Arborview, Appaloosa horses paraded the dirt roads and pavement like dandelion seeds in the draft, they were as standard in Arborview as steam trains in Eastvale. At least we had a once-a-day town bus.
The change in foliage demonstrated itself too, trees singed with coral and gold hues, brass leaf jewels, te colors of autumn in Eastvale further impressed me with its elegance.
"Let's sit here," he said.
Birch trees swayed, delivering a tepid breeze from the port's outskirts. Eastvale's trees transformed into crimson much like the rest of this appealingly crimson-ridden kingdom, emerging more affected by the seasonal transition than Arborview. A strange electrical light hung above us, like a stream of pearls on a chain that held some secret meaning.
I lifted my face to the outlandish contraption embellishing the street corner, discerning its three color-changing lights.
"I need to ask a favor of you," he blurted.
His expression turned frustrated, "I know that you and I haven't known each other that long, and that you don't owe me a damn thing. But if you could consider it, could you please not mention the fact we actually boarded a train if anyone asks you?"
A pause and then Orin collected his thoughts once more, "My instructions were to escort you to Eastvale in the most solitary way possible but you fainted back in Arborview. I wanted to get us out of dodge fast, so I thought it would be best to board the train. I just don't want to lose my job now." His voice crackled in uneasiness with his final statement.
He didn't need to wait for me to consider his request.
"Sir Orin," I began. The knight hearing his name when he hadn't even introduced himself startled him. "Of course I won't tell. I would never want you to lose your job over me. What you've done for me in the last day is to change my life forever, I think."
Two birds chirped nearby, their feet dotting the concrete gingerly, their near silent footsteps reminded me of my own life in the grand spectrum against the world and what a minuscule difference I had made. I obscured myself from the world inside of my Arborview home with my father and mother. The Dark Council.
"And sorry for misjudging you as part of the Dark Council. All of this is very confusing to me, and I'm still frightened, and I still don't know why I've been rescued among others in need of help, but I promise to say that we traveled to Eastvale in solitude."
"…Great, thanks," Orin replied, still caught off-guard by me addressing him with a name, his face painted with a sigh of relief as numerous cars passed by. "That's really, really nice of you, by the way."
A pedestrian crossed the street, wearing clothes like a gypsy of some sort. She was a sign, indicating the reality of sitting above Eastvale soil and not that of Arborview, her clothing meant I was in a foreign environment, she drifted in her bright bohemian silks. Orin's eyes watched her maneuver from one side of the road to another.
"You know, Orin, about the train earlier, I -" His phone rang.
I wanted to apologize for mentioning his eyes, guilty for making him uneasy by my topic of choice. If only I could explain myself, my past of not holding many discussions. I'm sorry that I made your job more difficult by having to deal with me.
Several cars pulled up and the knight's eyes noted each one. "Alright, we're heading to the vehicle right now."
I saw Orin shove his phone into his denim pocket, his face hardened. He looked to me, garnet eyes flaring with tenacity. "Let's go."
We forded the street together, fall leaves infesting the sidewalks and the road itself. Cars, there were so many cars. In Arborview, owning a car was an anomaly, only the wealthiest could consider constructing their own vehicle. Eastvale looked almost the same in terms of those who drove but cars were in much more abundance, prosperous denizens behind each wheel.
"Wait, Orin."
"Yeah?" He showed exasperation, his patience worn thin with my presence. Was he that wanting to send me off to this next destination? I felt as though I had been picked from underground Arborview like a root vegetable, and now I was being delivered to the merchant by the middleman.
Frightened, I spoke aloud, "Are you sure nothing bad will happen to me here? Nothing bad will happen, right? I know I made you promise before…I'm so scared." It was the most emotion I exposed in front of the knight and he looked taken aback by it.
His tone softened, his voice gentle with re-assurance, his eyes a splendid match for the autumn canvas behind him. Orin lowered himself to match my height and stared into my eyes, "I understand how you feel but look at my record - have I gotten you hurt yet? No. I'm a knight of Eastvale, and I've given you my word that nothing bad is going to happen."
With that, he opened the door to the car and peered in. "Hey! That didn't take long at all. By the way, this is her."
"Her?" The driver took a solid stare at me as though she hadn't expected me to be her target for pick up. I wished I wasn't her target, the backside of this Eastvalian station in its composure and seasonal beauty was the best place I'd been to and now I had to migrate elsewhere.
"Yeah, her."
"Oh, you're right. Very well, then. I will take her to Overseer Abbington at once." Overseer Abbington? I had questions for Orin to answer but like most of our interactions, conversation was cut short.
"Nice traveling with you. Anyway, our journey ends here. Farewell." I wanted him to stay, he was pushing me away at the same pace he had entered my life.
This was a knight, whose duty it was to bring me here, but I couldn't comprehend it. He was just doing part of his job, nothing more, and I felt myself drifting toward the car.
The journey never ended, or so I thought. I peered through the window and gazed longingly at the knight disappearing with the willow trees lining the station, in a dawn turning into afternoon. A sign welcomed me to this portion of Eastvale, Portwillow.
"You're going to love it here, young lady," she said. I acknowledged her voice but my eyes chose to savor the scenes of never-ending beauty outside.
Continue to Chapter Twenty
Return to Chapter Eighteen
Notes
Narrator (Spoken in a deep, manly voice): Where is Moss going this time? Is she safe? What will happen to her now? What of the Dark Council? Find out on the next episode of Dragon Ba--Eastvale: Through Her Eyes!
I created a new, stylized notes section as shown here, I will add it to previous chapters too. \o/ I hope it's easier to read any chapter notes now, hugs!