Chapter 1: Journey into the unknown.
It was a brisk Autumn afternoon. The weather was cozily warm and the sky was a stretch of blue canvas, with the odd cotton wool-like cloud littered about. The sun was faded into the background, like a splodge, and I was stuck at a train station. On a glorious day like this. Typical.
I had spent the past few days visiting my Nan, and was now at the station, waiting for the quarter-to-two train to take me back to my hometown. Despite the fact that it was a Monday and most people would be at work, I found it strange that I seemed to be the only person there. Surely there would be at least a few people coming off of holiday? Visiting relatives? Or at least people working at the train station, porters and the like? I should have realized then that this day would bring unexpected surprises to my ordinary, boring life.
I got up and walked over to the ticket booth. This too was eerily deserted, surely there should have been a guard stationed here? I shrugged it off and turned to the board with the time table pinned to it. After all, I already had my ticket, a return from my previous journey.
The words seemed to be faded, but I managed to just make out the times of the train. It appeared on the hour, every twelve hours. Only two trains a day? Very strange. This definitely wasn't the station I arrived at. I began to panic, there was no destination written next to the times, there was no people around and I was in unknown surroundings. I was lost! I slid down the wall, tears pricking my eyes. I was never going to get home.
A few minutes later, I noticed smoke flowing onto the platform. Oh great, now I was being gassed? Had they decided to blow this whole station up, on the day I had foolishly stumbled across it, lost? It seemed the world was completely against me.
'Choo choo.' A whistle blew loudly, making me jump. A whistle. A train whistle. A steam train whistle. Oh my god. Wiping my tears away, I peered through, what I now realized was steam, and gazed upon the green steam train that was now stationed in my platform. A miracle, the world had finally decided to give me a break. But, hang on….
I looked back at the time table and scanned down to the first train time. Twelve o'clock. Midday. It was now quarter to two. The exact time on my ticket. Strange. This was my train, but this train, my train, wasn't supposed to be at this station, just like I wasn't. If I was smart, all of my instincts would have screamed at me not to get on this train, that there was something extremely odd about this whole setup. I guess that makes me incredibly stupid then, or maybe just deaf. Yes that's right, like a fool, I approached the train and clambered aboard. I guess my excuse was that I just wanted to get home. It was surprising how much worrying could take it out of you.
It was empty inside too. Maybe it was just me getting used to it, but for some reason, it didn't faze me any more. I chose a seat next to the window to ease my travel sickness, and watched the door automatically snap shut behind me. I was getting used to what I would class, normally, as strange, but I couldn't control the feeling fluttering around inside me, the feeling of being trapped, the instinct that something was wrong, something different, unusual was taking place.
The train began to shudder, starting to pull off, beginning my journey home. Well, I assumed I was going home anyway. Scenery blurred past me, as we picked up speed, the flashes of colours, as trees and sky mixed, soothed me and I felt less nauseous than I usually did. I found myself being able to read signs without the urge to heave afterwards. Unusual signs. I certainly didn't recognize places such as 'Paradise Isle' and 'Fantasy Road' on my way here. Mind you, I had spent most of that journey curled up in a ball, trying to sleep my travel sickness away.
After what seemed an hour, or less, the train came to a halt. I was a million percent that this wasn't my stop. No, make that a billion percent. The sun shone far too brightly, the sky was too blue and bright, the trees were the exact Autumn colours you would expect the leaves to be, but slightly more so. Everything seemed so bright, cheery, almost fake. I didn't recognize an ounce of it.
"Last stop." A patient, but clearly firm, voice rung out of the speakers, I detected an odd accent that I couldn't pick up on. It was English, but quite… squeaky? The door creaked open, letting in a breeze that was rather pleasant. The air smelt different too.
I shook my head, this wasn't the last stop, it couldn't be. I was adamant that we hadn't passed my hometown, mainly because the train hadn't stopped at any platform other than this, but also because I hadn't spotted it. However, it seemed that I had no choice, other than leaving the carriage and setting foot into, yet another, unknown place. I guess I could always ring my mum and ask her to pick me up, once I found out where I was.
Once on the platform, the train took off. I watched it race around the corner and then took a deep breath, ready to face this colourful town. I planned on getting this all done with as quickly as I could. I longed to go home and curl up in my comfy bed, to dream away this nightmare of a day. Until then, I had things to do. The first of which was to find out where I was.
"Welcome Miss." I spun round at the sound of this squeaky, strange, but still English, voice and almost screamed. A monkey in a porter's outfit was talking to me, standing up on it's hind legs. That's right, a monkey. Talking. "You must be new here, I don't recognize you." He (I assumed it was a he) tipped his hat. "Welcome to Animal Crossing."