It's Just Like Magic!
"Im guessing you just...run, at it?" She whispered to herself.
Emilia had just watched a large family (she assumed they were related as they all had the same fiery ginger hair), accompanied by an averaged height dark haired boy and a messy mouse brown haired girl, walk straight through the barrier between platform 9 and 10 of Kings Cross Station.
She was first made curious by the sound of an owl coming from the platform.
Now she was 13, she was allowed to go to the local shops unaccompanied but she often wandered a bit too far. Today, Emilia had found herself at the train station and decided to get some lunch. She had just joined the queue for Cornish pasties when, all of a sudden, a hooting had reached her ears. She flicked her head sharply round to see a flash of silver; a shopping trolley? No. It must of been one of those trolleys people use to carry luggage around the station, she thought to herself, but concluded nothing of it. A few moments passed and she heard the hooting again. This time, curiosity got the better of her. She jumped out of line and hastily started towards the sound. Were there owls nesting in London stations? Pigeons certainly but, owls? And in the day...
That's when she saw them; the family, standing by the barrier. Frozen to the spot, Emilia blinked, and every time she did, one of them just, vanished. It took her a moment but she finally saw where they were vanishing to... They were going through the barrier! Just as the last red head disappeared, that's when she found herself contemplating how these odd people were there one minute, and not there the next, and why no one else was concerned or had even noticed that a group of people, who stuck out like a sore thumb, had just gone; poof!
"Im guessing you just...run, at it?" She whispered to herself. She giggled, "oh what the hell" and she ran.
A small breeze licked her face. She blinked. She blinked again. A scarlet steam engine manifested itself majestically in front of her.
"Holy mackerel! I must be dreaming."
Pinching her arm, she slowly shuffled forward. She finally saw the owl; white and more regal than any bird she'd even laid eyes on. It was beautiful. Then, more appeared. Emilia started to spot all kinds of out of place objects and animals: lots of owls on top of old brown trunks, a few cats prowling around children's feet, and...
"Trever! Not again, come back!" A boy shouted as he ran across her path, chasing after what looked like, a toad of all things.
Emilia's eyes were getting tired of blinking so much. She pinched her arm even harder. What was going on? "What have I run into?" She questioned as she turned to face where she had somehow managed to successful run at a solid object and not be even the tiniest bit hurt. She stood staring, as more people entered the wondrous train platform, seemingly out of a different time, and couldn't help but smile. If all this was real, then, she thought, maybe, just maybe this was her ticket out. A chance to get away from Miss Davis's terrible shouting, a chance to get away from the chaos of sharing a home with other kids who wouldn't know what privacy was even if you shoved it under their noses. Emilia laughed at the thought of the others sneezing dreadfully every time they barged into her room without knocking.
She turned back to the train. She'd made up her mind, or at least her feet had made up theirs. She jogged up to the end of the train and hopped up through one of the skinny doors before her head could protest.
With her heart in control, she took a deep breath, and started to look for and empty compartment.