Hi there! Thanks for checking out my story! I had the idea for this story the other day. It's based on Rachel's life, and all the adventures she has had. It is a faberry fanfiction (although that's not evident in this chapter), and I am still debating as to whether it will have a happy ending or not. I REALLY hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, or any of it's characters.
She's there every day. Waiting. She sits there, her expression indifferent. Not blank, but quite dramatically neutral. Her short, grey hair, which, in better days, was long and brown, is uncared for, and left to form a nest on top of her head. She has a watch, but does not look at it. There is a sadness that drifts across her light green eyes occasionally. Her creased hands lie together on her lap, her left hand covering her right. Her fingers move while staying still, as if the beating of her heart is travelling through them, a small sign of her still being alive. The bags underneath her eyes sag, telling stories of the times when she would stay up all night, trying to find the answers. She gave up long ago. She stopped fighting, and now she just sits. Her eyes scanning the room slowly, observing without judging. Without caring. Some would call that a virtue, but to her it was a curse. The only thing that keeps her alive is the thought that she would die soon. After all, there's no better way to let go than to die.
If you sit down next to her, and ask her about her life, she probably won't be able to tell you. In fact, she probably won't even be able to tell you her name. If she even hears you, it would be a miracle. But, her story was an amazing one. One that deserves to be remembered by someone. It might as well be you. Are you willing to embark on the adventure that was Rachel Berry's life? Okay then.
The story starts on a train. Rachel's first ever train ride, at the age of eleven. She sat alone, clenching her suitcase so firmly that her knuckles had begun to look white. She had a fringe, and brown hair that went halfway down her back. She had threatened to run away from home before, but this was the first time she'd actually gone through with it. Being the drama queen that she was, this time she had packed her suitcase simply because her dad wouldn't allow her to audition for Broadway due to her "young age" and "lack of experience". 'Who needs experience,' thought eleven year old Rachel, 'when you have talent?!' She threw a fit, and when she got sent to her room for bad behaviour, she threw a few clothes in her -already mostly packed- suitcase and climbed out of the window, out onto the lawn. What she hadn't known, of course, was that her other dad had seen her do so, and a few minutes after she left, drove to New York City, where she would get off the train. It was only twenty or so minutes by train, but she had had to wait ten minutes for the train to arrive in the first place.
Rachel looked out the window, terribly scared, but admittedly a bit excited about arriving in New York. She had never been there by herself before, and she loved the idea of going to all the places she hadn't been allowed to go with her dads. A cautious tap on her shoulder brought Rachel out of her daydream. She looked around to find a girl, around her age, with braided brown hair and freckles, standing in front of her. She was slightly chubby, but it suited her, Rachel thought. "Can I sit here? My brother's annoying me." She pointed over to a small boy who couldn't have been older than 4, holding a plastic aeroplane toy, making the appropriate zoom noises to accompany the movements. Next to him was a woman, obviously their mother, with her eyes half-open out of sheer exhaustion, and her top inside out. She seemed quite content to just sit and get whatever rest she could, and Rachel smiled to herself, thinking that she would be a much better mother than that when she grew up.
She looked again at the girl, and nodded. "Are you going to New York too?" she asked, and the girl nodded, her lips pursed.
"My daddy lives there. What's your name?" The girl sat down next to Rachel, not taking her eyes off her.
Rachel sat up straight, chest out and shoulders back, as if she was about to address the President. "Rachel Barbra Berry." Then her shoulders slumped, as if she was disappointed that no one on the train had appeared to realise, simply by her name, that she was special. "What's your name, then?" She looked over to the girl sitting beside her. Who, she realised, was quite pretty.
"Innogen." The girl smiled.
"Don't you mean Imogen?" Rachel asked in her 'know-it-all' voice.
"No, it's Innogen. Mum says that Imogen was just a mistake. People thought the two ns were an m. They weren't." Rachel furrowed her eyebrows, never liking it when she was proven wrong, especially by a girl her own age. But Innogen didn't seem to notice.
"I like the name Rachel. It's a really pretty name. Like the colour pink." Rachel blinked, thinking for a moment.
"I like pink," she said, a smile growing on her face. "It's the colour of my room, and all of my school books, and my microphone."
"Do you like to sing?" Innogen asked, cocking her head to the side.
"I love to sing. It's my greatest talent. What's yours?" Rachel was becoming more and more interested in the girl whose name was not Imogen, but Innogen.
"I don't have one. Mum says I'll find it one day, but I'm not really good at anything. Except writing lists. I'm really good at that. I write lists for homework, for names that I like, bucket lists, lists about books I've read, books I haven't read, the different pets I would like to have- anything, really." Innogen shrugged.
"I've never heard of a talent for making lists." Rachel said superiorly, crossing her arms. Although, it may have been because she may have just found the one talent she didn't have.
Innogen shrugged again, and rubbed her eyes, yawning. "I'm so tired, Rachel. Can I rest on your lap? Just for a little while."
Rachel nodded, not knowing why she was smiling. Innogen laid her head on Rachel's lap, laying the rest of her body down on the seat next to her. Rachel ran her fingers along her braid, the bumpiness of it intriguing her immensely. Innogen's eyes closed and she smiled peacefully. Rachel stared at her, in awe. She had never been the type of girl to have many girl-friends. She simply didn't understand them. But Innogen was different. Rachel felt a weird sort of... connection to her, and suddenly, she never wanted to get to New York. For the rest of the train ride, Rachel continued stroking the sleeping girl's hair.
When the train stopped at Grand Central Station, Rachel gently shook Innogen. "Innogen?" She said, noticing that her mother was eager to get her daughter back before they got off the train.
"What? Are we here? To see dad?" Her eyes opened slightly, and she looked up at Rachel. Rachel nodded. Innogen frowned, but sat up. She saw that her mom was beckoning her to follow her off the train, and she went after her, not saying anything more to Rachel.
Rachel watched as she got off the train, and blended into the endless faces outside the train. Suddenly, Rachel felt very alone, and very afraid. She picked up her suitcase, which she couldn't remember putting on the floor in the first place, and walked outside the train doors, stepping onto the platform. Looking around, Rachel had no idea what to do next. She almost wanted to cry. So when she saw her father, standing near the public toilets, looking around for someone, she smiled largely and ran up to him.
She caught his eye, and he bent down as she ran towards him, holding out his hands for a big hug. She hugged him, with the full force of a scared girl in her tweens. "Don't ever run away again, Rachel." He said, kissing the top of her head.
"I wasn't scared for a second." Rachel lied, but he could see that she had been, and he knew that was enough to stop her from ever doing it again.
"I'm sure you weren't." Rachel shook her head in confirmation. They walked back to her dad's car, and as she was putting her seat belt on, he looked into his mirror at her.
"So, did anything exciting happen on the train?" He asked, and, for a second, Rachel thought about telling him about Innogen. But for some reason, she didn't feel comfortable telling him. There was a little voice in her telling her that she should keep it a secret.
"No." Maybe he should've realised by her unusual lack of response that there was something she wasn't telling him, but he didn't dwell on it any further. They drove in silence for the next twenty minutes, and as Rachel looked out the window, she thought about how nice it would be to see Innogen again.
So there you go! The end of Chapter 1! If you enjoyed it, or have ANY ideas, please leave a review, they mean so much to me, and I want to know if you like it so far. BIG thanks to My AMAZING beta reader, Rebecca Ripple, without whom I probably wouldn't have finished this chapter! Please, please, PLEASE review :) Love you all!