"Darling, you can't be up there forever, the train is on a schedule."
"Yes, mother." Zel shouted down as she stopped pacing.
Sophie was sitting on Zel's vanity playing with the makeup brushes like they were dolls.
"Sophie. He's not coming."
Sophie dropped the brushes and looked up, "What? Why wouldn't he come?"
"I don't know!" Zel unknowingly shouted, lowering her voice as she continued speaking, "I'm not him. I don't know what goes through his mind. But I literally can't wait any longer. Maybe we just don't like each other."
"We?"
"Sophie. It's only been a few days since I've met the guy. I don't know how I feel. I was probably just caught up in the moment."
"Then... why are you still wasting time?"
Zel sighed, "You're absolutely right." she grabbed her bag off the floor and scampered to the ladder, "I have to go now." she admitted, holding back tears.
The car ride to the train station was a long and silent one.
And in and out of the car, she hoped he would come.
She even waited until the last call before boarding.
As soon as she took a step onto the train her heart shattered.
Jack squirmed around while howling in pain.
No matter how hard he tried he couldn't reach the knife that was lodged in his gut.
The longer he spent reaching for it the bigger the tear became and the more energy he lost.
His eyes were pouring tears and the color drained from his skin.
"Z-zel..." he groaned for support.
"I can't... leave her... not again..."
He yanked his right arm until his fingertips could brush the weapon. He was finally given a sense of hope and kept reaching despite the agonizing pain.
He was able to grab hold of the weapon's blade, cutting both his thumb and index finger as he gripped it.
He winced but continued anyway.
He inched it out slowly as the blood covered his jacket.
Once he got it out he was able to move more.
He sat up and grabbed the reddened weapon and hit the blade repeatedly into the old wood that held the chains.
Eventually, he managed to break it and after freeing one arm he was able to slide out.
He clenched his gut and panicked as he looked around the room.
All that was in there was his broken staff and some stones varying in sizes.
He needed to cover the wound so he took his chances with the objects.
He grabbed a big stone with faded painting and pressed it against his abdomen.
He removed his hoodie and wrapped it tightly around his waist.
He took a minute to lean back onto the cold wall to catch his breath.
He then reverted his attention to the stick that was broken in half.
Breathing heavily he grabbed both pieces and tried to press them together.
"Come on Jack, you did this once, you can do it again."
His experiment failed the first few times until he reminded himself what he was fighting for.
His reasoning for wanting to escape so badly.
He covered his hand over his mouth and cough out blood, without realizing he used the same hand to wipe the sweat off of his forehead before continuing.
He closed his eyes, first, he thought of his family. His friends from his previous life.
It didn't work.
Then he thought of the blonde Rapunzel.
There was a blue spark, but the staff didn't repair itself.
Then he thought of Zel, her smile, her voice, her goofy little subtle jokes that barely anyone could understand, and even her jumping at every little thing that moves.
The blue light shone bright enough to fill the entire room and the staff was mended.
He coughed between his laughter.
And wiped his face. He opened the trap door and clenched his gut before flying off to Jamie's house.
He burst through the door and ran straight into Zel's room, ignoring the pain and his red jacket turned blue.
His skin was covered in goosebumps as he had been flying in the cold with no shirt on for a while.
"Zel!" he cried before going into her room and seeing no one was there.
Before seeing the clothing in the closet gone and the room almost completely bare.
"Zel?" he whispered, gasping for breath.
Sophie followed his sobs and went into the room, "Jack! What happened?" she asked horrified.
"I... I'm fine, nothing. Just... Where's Zel?" he tried to ask between breaths.
"She... she left almost two hours ago... Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." he insisted. "Where is she at?"
Sophie furrowed her brows, "Well, mom dropped her off at the Burgess train station and it's about an hour drive. She should be on the train by now."
"Am I... too late?"
"It's never too late."
Jack nodded and left out Zel's window once again.
He flew above the train tracks for hours until he found a train headed the same direction as him.
He immediately went down and started from the back, peeking into every window so he could see the passengers.
To cars down from the locomotive was a more casual space.
The people on it weren't speaking to one another and classical music silently played. The warm lighting seemed to have given the riders more intent to read.
And in the front booth, he saw her.
He finally saw her.
Her cheeks were stained and her eyes were irritated. Her face was closer to the book than normal.
She was trying to block everything out.
Jack knocked on the window and Zel looked up and down the aisle.
All was quiet, perplexed she turned back to her book.
Jack winced before knocking once more, getting his blood on the window.
Zel jumped and looked back at the walkway.
She shook it off and glanced out the window to see Jack's face before returning to her book.
Her eyes widened and she looked back to see Jack was indeed there, flying at the same speed as the train.
Zel's eyes watered as she looked at his awkward smile.
She immediately opened the window, "You... aren't wearing a shirt?" she noticed.
Jack nervously chuckled.
Zel shrugged and pulled him in anyways, locking him in a bear hug.
Jack groaned when she squeezed too hard.
After the hug, blood covered her arms. "Jack!" she exclaimed, "You're bleeding!" she pointed out.
"I noticed." he joked.
Zel glared at him and returned to her worried state, "What happened?!"
"I don't know."
"I'll... I'll get some medical supplies." she stood in the aisle and looked for anyone watching the cart.
No one was there, "Alright, that's fine... I'll just check the room ahead, be careful, alright." she sweetly demanded.
Jack nodded as she watched her hurriedly leave.
Zel peaked her head through the door and looked around. The room was empty except for a few work uniforms.
She got an idea and put on the ridiculous outfit.
She tiptoed back into her car and put her index finger over her mouth once she made eye contact with Jack.
Jack who was lying down on the chair used his free elbow to prop him up so he could judge her properly, "What are you doing?"
"Shhh, I'm getting you supplies. I'm going in camouflage style." she whisper shouted to him.
Jack winced as he chuckled.
Zel tried to blend in with the other workers but she was so nervous she was stiff and almost walking robotic-like.
She traveled through a few carts with only getting occasional stares.
She nudged a female worker, the girl had gorgeous red hair, "Uhm, hey... I forgot... Where do we keep the medical stuff? Like emergency kits and whatnot."
The redhead giggled, "It's in the back." she explained, pointing to the next car.
Zel nodded, "Thank you so much!"
She crept to the other room afraid of someone noticing she wouldn't belong.
She went in and hanging on the wall was a first aid kit.
She grabbed a handful of supplies, filled her pockets, and rushed to Jack as quickly as possible.
Jack was struggling to keep his eyes opened and his vision was getting blurry.
When Zel returned in the red uniform Jack could've sworn she was glowing.
"Jack, I got everything-er most things. I'm not entirely sure." she quickly emptied the supplies from her pocket and laid it on the chair across from the hurting boy.
"Okay, I... I'm going to have to remove your shirt."
Jack flinched while laughing, "We haven't even gone on our first day and you're already trying to take off my clothes."
"Stop, I didn't mean it like that."
Zel gently touched the sleeves that were tied together and tried to untie it slowly so he wouldn't be hurt.
After unwrapping his hoodie and leaving him shirtless, Zel picked up the rock covering the wound.
One side was completely drenched in blood and the other was a faded painting of a girl with long yellow hair on a blue-ish background.
She set it aside and grabbed some peroxide, pouring it on the injury.
Jack hollered and trembled.
"Hey, hey. It's gonna be alright." she reassured him, as she slowly played with his hair to calm him down.
She wiped it with disinfectant until she could see the gaping hole.
"Jack... were... were you stabbed?" Zel asked as she began sewing his gash.
Jack pursed his lips together and looked away.
"Jack, if you don't tell me what happened I will wrap this bandaid around you so right it'll stop your breathing." Zel threatened.
Air came out of Jack's nose as he tried to cover up his laughter, "I will... Just... When I feel better."
Zel pouted, "Alright, fine."
She placed a big bandaid on the hurt area and tied a wrap bandage gently around his stomach.
"I think that's all I can do." Zel admitted.
Jack tried to sit up again.
"What are you doing? You'll break the stitch!"
"I'm getting up, we're leaving together, remember?"
Zel pushed him back down, "Not when you're in this state."
"But-"
She hushed him, "Jack. We don't have to rush this. We have all the time in the world now." she finished, holding his dirtied hand.
Sorry for the abrupt ending. I was just really excited to finish my first ever story.
Like seriously, as I'm typing this I can not believe it.
It's so amazing to me because I'm rarely able to finish anything, especially something that takes as long to create as a story.
I usually quit between the first few chapters but this is the longest story I've written and I know it sucks but it's also one of the first stories I have written... So... I deserve some credit in at least that area.
I've had such inspiration for other stories but I've been so committed to finishing this one I haven't been messing with my other ideas.
Which is probably why I ended it like this.
Who knows, maybe there will be a sequel if anyone is interested.