~Back Home~
*One week later*
The postman's familiar rat-tat sounded on the door, our hearts beat faster with apprehension.
"Astrea!"
I snap my head out of the book and see Susan calling me.
"Come on, we are not missing the train and I want to pick up a magazine before we get on,"
I close my book 'A.B.C Murders' and catch up with Susan.
As we exit the library, the sun shines on my face and the outside brightens. I squint my eyes to adjust to the light and keep walking.
"Fix your skirt," Susan whispers to me.
I look down and see that it is all bunched up.
"Thank you," I say quickly pulling it down. That would have been super embarrassing if someone were to see my undergarments.
Susan smiles at me and we head to her favorite magazine stand.
She sorts through the piles examining each one.
"Susan just pick one, we don't have all day," I tease.
"You're one to talk, you spent 45 minutes searching for a good book," Susan rolls her eyes and smiles.
She's right
I shake off her comment and let her keep looking.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see two boys walking toward us. One of them speaks up.
"You two go to St. Finbar's?" One of the blonde-haired boys asks.
Susan turns around and nods
"That's correct," she says turning back around to her magazines.
The other boy with light brown hair speaks up.
"Um we go to Hendon House across the street, we've seen you two... mostly alone," he mutters out the last part.
"I like to be alone to read, reading with people around me is a distraction," I answer.
"Yes well I just prefer to be left alone," Susan says, turning again from the boys.
"Us too." The blonde one smiles.
"What's your name?" The light brown-haired one asks.
"I'm Alice," I lie with a small smile.
"I'm Phyllis," Susan says.
"Well, do either of you have-" Lucy interrupted the brown-haired boy by yelling our actual names across the street.
"Astrea! Susan!" Lucy runs up to us.
Me and Susan share a look at each other wondering what's going on.
"You better come quick," Lucy says and takes off towards the train station.
Susan drops the magazine she was holding and we run off to follow Lucy
***
Once we went down the stairs to the station all I heard was yelling and shouting.
What is going on?
My question was quickly answered when I saw Peter throw a punch at a guy, then another guy punched Peter.
Another fight, really?
Other guys jumped in the fight and started to hit Peter. I look around for Edmund and I see him on the bottom step of the platform. He turns around and makes eye contact with me. I already know what he's thinking.
I shake my head no and he ignores me. He jumps on the back of one of the guys and starts to hit him.
"Edmund!" I shout and he ignores me again.
I push past my way towards the front so that he can hear me better. Unfortunately, that plan didn't work. When I got to the show I was about to shout his and Peters's name but one of the guys Peter was fighting hit me in the nose.
The guy looks horrified and everyone lets out a gasp.
"Oh my god. I am so sorry Astrea. I will-" his apology was cut off by Edmund turning him around and punching him in the face.
Men
Fortunately, a soldier came by and broke up the fight and picked Peter off the ground.
"Act your age!" the soldier shouts and everyone breaks apart going their separate ways. I go over to Edmund and sit him down on the bench alongside Peter.
"What were you two thinking? You both could've gotten seriously hurt. Why would you fight next to train tracks?" I slightly raise my voice at them.
I first check out Peter and see that he really doesn't have any bruises. I look at Edmund and see that he has a cut. Luckily enough I had an extra bandaid in my school bag and put it on him.
"You're welcome," Edmund spits at Peter.
"I had it sorted," Peter gets off the bench.
Did you?
"What was it this time?" Susan asks annoyed at Peter's actions.
"He bumped me. " Peter huffs.
"Are you joking? You started a fight because he pushed you?" I ask baffled.
"So you hit him?" Lucy asks him.
"No. After he bumped me, he tried to get me to apologize. That's when I hit him. "
Men
"Why can't you just walk away?" Susan whines.
" I should ‟t have to! Don't you ever get tired of being treated like a kid?"
"Uh, we are kids." Edmund points out the obvious
"Well, I wasn‟t always. ... It has been a year. How long does he expect us to wait?" Peter wonders and sits back down on the bench next to Edmund.
" I think it's time to accept that we live here. It's no use pretending any different." Susan reasons.
Susan looks up nudges my leg and motions to the boys walking towards us.
" Oh no. ... Pretend like you're talking to us," Susan asks Lucy
" We are talking to you." Edmund sasses.
All of a sudden Lucy jumps up. "Ow!"
" Be quiet, Lucy." Susan shushes her.
"Something pinched me!" Lucy says while rubbing her arm.
Then something pinches me.
"Ow! Peter!" I quickly stand up.
"It wasn't me." Then he jumps up. "Hey, stop pulling!
"I'm not touching you!" Edmund defends himself.
"What is that?" I ask
The train at the station starts moving at an incredible speed that seems impossible.
" It feels like magic." Lucy smiles
"Quick, everybody holds hands," Susan says and I hold Lucy's hand.
Edmund then turns to Peter I'm not holding your hand!"
"Oh for crying out loud," I yell and go in between him and Peter.
I grab Peter's hand then Edmund's. Edmund squeezes my hand securely and it makes my stomach do flips.
The train races past us at an even faster rate than before and the bricks that made up the station were pulled away. The luggage around us, the bench, and even the platform completely vanished into nothing.
The hard concrete floor that we were all standing on started to morph into a tan-like substance.
What is this?
I let go of Peter's hand and touched the grains that covered the ground.
It's sand!
I stand back up and look around us. We were under some sort of shade and we all stepped out from underneath it. I look off to my right and see the ocean and waves crashing into each other.
We must be at a beach.
A smile appears on my face when it finally hits me where we are. Narnia. Lucy starts laughing then takes off towards the water.
I can't believe we're back in Narnia. I can't wait to see the Beavers and Oreius again. I have missed them terribly.
I let go of Edmund's hand and pushed him back.
"The last one in the water is a rotten egg," I shout following after Lucy and Susan now.
While running through the water and take off my overcoat and kick off my socks and shoes shoes. I roll up the sleeves of my shirt and hop in the water to start playing.
I start splashing Lucy and Susan then feel water on my back. I turned around to face the culprit which was Peter. I quickly splashed him back and laughed. Edmund finally joins in on the fun and splashes me.
"I am so going to get you Ed," I jokingly threaten.
He rolls his eyes at me and splashes me harder.
Suddenly he stops and looks up as if something caught his eye.
"Where do you suppose we are?" Edmund ask.
"Well, where do you think?" Peter laughs and walks over to Ed.
"Well, I don't remember any ruins in Narnia."
I look up to see what he's talking about and on top of a hill, I see ruins.