I'll Burn With You (MXM)

Chapter 27 : The Trains Home

Neither slept. Even as the first light chased away the night, a fresh glint of frost against the ground, neither closed their eyes for longer than a few minutes. They did not speak as they readied themselves in separate corners; their eyes turned away as the fire still burned. They did not say their thanks to the Inn's employees when they checked out, only nodding. The stroll to the Meyer, Jonestown, & Mill Creek railroad station, only accentuated by the distance between them, seemed endless. Yet before they even arrived, Jack trotted ahead, purchasing the ticket in his place just as the ticket window opened.

"You didn't haveta," Ben said, his eyes still low, hiding under the flat cap's brim. Hands in his pocket, his fingers brushed against Jack's letter, the elongated coin, the money given, and the remaining money he had left. They all felt so heavy.

"You would not take it," he sighed, "and I said I would reimburse for my actions."

"Then – !" Ben fumbled out the dollar and offered it. "Please take it. I-I don't need it anymore."

Jack stared for a moment before shaking his head. "...no." Before he could ask why, Jack continued, "I behaved badly to you, after wishing to meet you for so long, even if we...misunderstood things. It was...unjust of me, as well, and blame cannot solely fall on you, like you believe it does." He met Ben's eyes again. His head dipped, the brim of his derby hat covering his face. "I do hope we can keep writing, as friends. I –" His foot moved forward, but Jack did not. "I meant what I said."

Sighing, Ben slipped the bill back into his pocket. "...thank you."

Adjusting his hat back onto the crown of his head, Jack nodded. "Mr. Price."

Ben, his hand on his flat cap, bowed his head. "Mr. Byrd."

Jack tipped his hat to him. "Safe travels home, then," he whispered, turning, and heading back into town and towards Mill Creek Union Station.

He lingered by the station waiting room, watching the figure stroll away until he turned a corner and disappeared. The ticket, the railroad's name elegantly emblazoned on the top, was handwritten with the date and time of departure and destination in fluid cursive, price and all – forty-two cents. The thick paper, coarse to the touch, was tinted a pale green, contrasted with the black ink.

Ben glanced to the two-faced clock hanging underneath the station canopy – 06:27. Three minutes until his train – a three-carriage consist with two freight cars in front of and three behind the passenger cars – pulled away. He stepped up to the platform, white smoke and gray steam obscuring the blackened locomotive. The conductor glanced over his ticket, telling him to board, that he would be charged just before the train started towards Jonestown.

As he moved towards the last passenger car, his breath hitched. Ben glanced down at his ticket again, then looked out towards the rail yard and the town beyond. In the distance, he could just barely see the yellow-brick headhouse rising behind the other buildings. Glancing forward, Ben's eyes fell on the train car's number. He turned away from the sight. His gaze moved to the loading docks just beyond. The grain elevators towering like mighty medieval towers into the morning sky. The endless collection of riverboats drudging up and down the river, noisily unloading passengers and cargo. He'd be back in Durmont, tiny quiet Durmont, in a matter of hours.

Somewhere in the distance, a locomotive's whistle cried out.

The conductor checked his pocket watch and started down the carriage, checking tickets.

It was 06:29.

The city's people continued to rouse.

Mill Creek Union Station's waiting room, its dirty windows bathing the room in the harsh white light of the cold morning, held itself with a sense of regalness. The cavernous, square, tan-stone-clad space radiated a warmth that Jack could not source, though he also did not care, either. He bought his ticket without hassle, the waiting room nearly empty and deathly silent as if waiting in anticipation for him to return to the other station.