The sight of Bartie already at the tracks when I walked along them in the bright sunlight filled me with hope that things had returned to normal.245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGzZzJDpgEy
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He took a few steps forth when I passed him, wagging a finger. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW6SrMDSlED
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I knew what was coming and smiled at it. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Qh3Z4XA04
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"She's worried sick about you, Soup!" Bartie grumbled at me "running off on her like that. Shame on you for having her in tears!" 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEi2FFa8IAM
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I paused and turned back to him. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZHUizsxDo7
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That wasn't his usual warning. He was supposed to tell me not to hurt her, like he always did. He never changed it. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsMsYCizPKN
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What was going on here? 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡizOst3pIAs
245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGY6RrHAlQa
Missy's face poked from the newsagency and lit up at the sight of me before she rushed out of it and for the tracks. Her pale pink dress billowed around her when she ran, kicking up around her legs to glimpse the red under-fabric. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIMQ9RRQu8K
245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ17vZwFyHoH
What was she doing here? She was supposed to be home! 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhMsB1WKJlQ
245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY8YfAixthZ
"Soup! Don't be scared! I only want to find out a few things!" she blurted on her way. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡviLsJWcf10
245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRIPPOze7nk
No, no, no! She was meant to be happy, not chasing me! 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMscKesvh0b
245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0AOySxjJNr
I scurried for the bridge, pausing at the beginning of it to see Missy throw her arms down in defeat. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPQzuIjrFX
245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF8TuQOeACz
She wasn't going to follow me. She knew it was too dangerous to be tempting fate on a place like this. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡamgbdsTJX4
245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJPahM1ClzY
"No, don't go!" she whined out to me "Soup!" 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNIcwc5QPqr
245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhOloUHVN9h
She had her dreams of solitude. Why was she trying to ruin it all now? 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlIN1tsQ5kv
245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiUC4xu6iwL
I rushed over the bridge and kept going until I was safely over the river. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk7hbh4FLXv
245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcjTQWUWidc
She just needed more time to realise. Then, we would be back to normal again.
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245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYhrGGewzXX
Unlike my hopes, Missy was relentless in her pursuit for answers. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKWUwaoe3uu
Every afternoon I approached the tracks, she would be there, waiting. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEfS7jiiMeY
245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSXGU5pclmc
She tried giving me distance at first from Bartie's shop but realised that I had too much time to dart back to safety on her sprint down toward me. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0VDPTx1tvs
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After failing that tactic a few times and giving up on it, she tried ambushing me from the side of the track as soon as I walked out into the open. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYk1n7nRc07
I was too quick for her, even with her advantage. She still refused to step onto the tracks that I darted along to escape her hunt for the truth. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡledGD0uquR
245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfchkMI68bv
I could see it was breaking her spirit at how wary I was being of someone I had cherished so highly. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaseu8ywO7U
245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKaimMQwrev
Missy started to give up whenever I spotted her across the river and refused to close the distance between us. She didn't call out to me anymore and just watched hopelessly while I backed away to continue my scavenge for food elsewhere. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLrC8t7Bk7G
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Starvation was bringing me back to those tracks every day to only be met with disappointment once again.
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Two weeks of the same occurrence refused to deter Missy from hoping for some miracle that I would approach her. Every day she would wait at the tracks for me in silence, and every day I would turn from them when I saw her face pull up into a hopeful smile. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡehnwumLyWW
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But today, something changed. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvISNpzaQG3
Missy stepped onto the tracks. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvFgqcUYkHf
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She came marching towards me with worried glanced over her shoulder to any danger that might be barrelling past her home from the West. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEHUwubduff
245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS3ABY08EG5
I didn't dare leave my side knowing that she had nowhere to escape. Her trembling body was already over the river, trying to hurry towards me as quickly as she could over the rolling gravel sprayed over the boards she stretched her body over. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuK79BUNqn9
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I paced nervously in my own fear of being caught over the water with her. She was still so far away from land, even with her frantic pace. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHU2Lx7ar1g
I wouldn't be able to do anything but watch hopelessly if the train decided to run early. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1lPK0w70IQ
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Listening to her now wouldn't change her mind and get her to return to the safety of the roadside. She wasn't going to let me ignore her any longer. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUjxpJZ0aXp
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Determination fuelled her fight. I was going to give her whatever she wanted if it meant she wasn't going to be so reckless anymore. If she wanted to destroy her life by hunting down impossibilities, then I couldn't stop her. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLLUVMV83xd
Time had done nothing to deter her. If anything, it had fuelled her curiosity into what happened that night. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVFViyUGHYF
I couldn't chase her away with ignorance or distance. Missy was going to find a way around it, even if it tried to kill her. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTpylWyKUb0
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My whole body trembled at the thoughts blaring through my mind. They smashed through my nerves like the train dragging Missy's body along the tracks in every possibility I saw. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ17QmWttI8P
245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvHLdNSG56G
"Come on!" I cried out to her still powering along "hurry! Please!" 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv2vEVNzqsp
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I didn’t want to be here anymore. I knew the train had to be approaching this point at any moment now.245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmtFtlfvm2J
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Sure enough, I saw it in the distance behind Missy. It powered effortlessly on its approach to her house it easily passed in moments. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm7ysNQIphn
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The horn of the train screamed out to make Missy turn her head and frantically race towards me. I knew that the gravel had to be spearing the bottoms of her thin flats, but she didn't have time to stick to the safety of the boards anymore. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDaEHeDbuTD
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"Missy!"245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS4t0uhoExv
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"Soup!" she whined back.245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa2RbokJHzh
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The train ploughed past the station, screaming out frantically now. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG2M86PYyVO
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Missy was approaching the safety of the land, but still couldn't outrun the train quickly closing in on her. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh8583H2N6u
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I leapt for the grass that knocked the air from my lungs and felt Missy's body hit the grass beside me as the train barrelled by. Its brakes screeched down my ears and froze my blood that shivered down my spine. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡanwhGRkL1U
245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLPp888JcB9
Missy gasped and trembled beside me before clinging to my arms in fear while sobbing. I cradled Missy in the grass while trying to shake my own grateful tears she was safe. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡohTj1NsQYr
245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDnVTLTCvFn
She was so delicate huddled into me. Her head rested on my chest that warmed with her rigid breaths. The rest of her skin was frozen from the fear still coursing through her. Her arms tucked against me to try and warm up on my body. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2QUMxh9K1e
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"Never do anything that stupid again" I gasped out and squeezed her close. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHJooTAS86y
245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ZmXNcOeOY
Missy leant into it and didn't try to pull from me. Her trembling breath was steadying, and her sobs had subsided to little sniffles she tried to control. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQgce1xt8MY
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Her glistening brown eyes looked up to mine, searching again. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHHvAzpQ8L4
245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ37h8x2FjUN
My body stiffened, dreading that the same fear and confusion would wash over them like that night I had run from them. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSnB6CKKmCh
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I didn’t want to see that or know I was the cause of it. I moved my head away, looking at the clear sky and the drifting clouds above us finally threatening rain. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmx5l4eXZoV
245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPZigvRiax1
Glancing down, I saw that Missy's eyes softened in the same way they did when she greeted me each day. They fluttered closed just as her shaking lips gently brushed on my cheek, leaving a tear to glide effortlessly down it. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBkvVyuUvCz
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"Can I still call you Soup?" her voice breathed as her eyes found mine again, curious. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyp2sXxhzUl
245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTPUm3MOjQS
Did she want to shatter it all for me? Or did she want to keep it the way it was, blissfully ignorant? 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOaKbuorDmX
She wouldn't be able to understand my answer anyway. I was just a creature trying to escape the drag of life, just like her. Everything else was drowned in the water tower and floating in the river, like it could remain to be. 245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOFWTLxVpEt
245Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKoF9YHBtJ1
I only had the name she gave me. Whatever she wanted that to mean would be up to her.
