The Train of Lost Destinations and Newfound Hope

PART TWO
Ecrits Blogophilia Week 32.16 – Hike in the Woods

Hard Bonus: Have a character “walk on fire” or include the phrase in your blog

Easy Bonus: Incorporate lightning
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Lightning suddenly flashed, and the train went dark, completely dark, “Are we in a tunnel?” I leaned over to grab Simon’s hand. “I’m not sure,” he whispered.
“Don’t let go, I’m frightened.” I felt as if I were free falling. The sensation was unmistakable, the kind of fall in dreams or a nightmare. “Why do I feel like we’ve left the train?”
“Shhh Celeste,” Simon seemed to be going through his own terrifying experience. “My feet are on fire, they feel like I am walking on fire.”
I squeezed his hand for reassurance.
“Just breathe Simon. Take a deep breath with me, we are going to be okay.”

After what felt an eternity the falling ended, still it was silent and pitch dark. I felt the velvet chair beneath me and Simon across from me. My eyes were open but I could not see a shadow or glimmer of anything.

“Celeste? Am I still here?” Simon’s voice was shaking. I had never heard him like this before, he had always been my anchor and my rock. “We are not alone”

“What do you mean?” there was a soft hand on my shoulder and I could smell her expensive perfume, the scent may have lingered but it seemed fresh.
“It is time you two,” Lady Winterbourne announced, “Do not be afraid, we are merely going for a little hike.”

Screeching metal on metal sounded as the train brakes slammed and a fierce jolt sent us out of our seats to the floor. A blinding white light drenched the space around us, exposing an icy range of imposing mountains.

Lady Winterbourne still wearing her tweed suit and brown leather, no coat, scarf or hat, as she stepped off the ledge of the train into the powdery snow. “Come come, you won’t feel a thing.” she smiled.

It was true, the temperature felt a balmy seventy degrees, the white mounds beneath my heels, slippery and pliant but not cold. I looked over to Simon, he seemed relieved.
Lady Winterbourne walked ahead of us effortlessly up the slope, we must have walked a good twenty minutes before we came to a granite slab, jaggedly pieced into the side of the mountain. Lady Winterbourne cupped her hand to her mouth and sounded a call something between a yodel and a howl. The earth shook and the slab miraculously slid to the left revealing a world l could never have fathomed.

Simon glanced anxiously in my direction then turned to Mrs.Winterbourne, “Mother are you sure she is ready for this?”

My heart sank, as my world turned upside down, “Mother??” Simon told me his mother died in childbirth. How was this possible?



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End part 2
Written By Christine Wichman c. February 2, 2025