**a week earlier**
Lyda Perry closed her suitcase, if you could call it that. The poor bag had been used by her mother and her grandmother countless times. The leather was cracked and worn, held together by two brand new leather straps.
She sighed. Everything was ready for her new life. Lyda had always wanted to be a Navy nurse, and she had gotten her chance. In less than three hours, she was planning to be on a train headed to New York, where a military base was.
Lyda had dreamt for years about wearing a new white dress, not a wrinkled and torn hand-me-down. Saving lives was another issue. The young girl longed to make a difference to even one person. For so long, Lyda had been nothing, living in the middle of nowhere. She did not have any friends and considered herself to be cut off from society.
It was all Lydia's fault. Lydia was Lyda's grandmother, whom she had been named after. Lydia was what you could call disturbed. Many years ago, Lydia had been raped and almost murdered in New York City. After, she ran away to the small house fifty miles away from any city, where Marie, Lyda's mother, was born. Lydia never let Marie go more than five miles from the house in her life. When Marie was sixteen, she ran away from home to the city. There, she met a thirty-five-year-old man named Thomas Spellner and had slept with him. Soon after getting the girl pregnant, Thomas left her. Maria had no choice but to come back to Lydia.
When Lyda was seven, Maria told her everything about the city. She told Lyda to be sure and escape from the house at the first possible opportunity. Soon after, Maria took her own advice and left Lyda with Lydia for eleven years. Lyda considered this to be her "first possible opportunity", and was taking it.
She snuck down the hallway to her grandmother's room and peeked through an open crack in the doorway. Lydia always kept the door open slightly when she slept so that she could hear everything Lyda did, if she did it loud enough. After Maria, Lydia had grown very protective of Lyda, always making sure that she was not planning to run away. She failed.
Seeing that Lydia was asleep, Lyda moved quickly yet quietly down the hallway and out the door. Being out of the house, she hurriedly walked toward the station, which was twelve miles away. Ten minutes into her trip, dark clouds filled the sky, hiding the sun.
"Damn it," Lyda muttered, "I should have worn my jacket." Upon hearing her own words, she laughed out loud. Her jacket was made out of old, thin material that would not keep her dry in humidity, let alone actual rain.
As promised, the clouds started to let loose a hard rain that seemed to come down in sheets, not drops. Lyda was instantly soaked, and to make matters worse, not only was her suitcase coming apart, but she was also running very late.
"There is no way I'll make it to the train station in time," she told herself. Well, then you will just have to move faster, her thoughts replied. And so Lyda did. By the time she reached the station, Lyda was soaked and exhausted. She ran to where the train would be leaving from, only to see nothing. She had missed the train, and would have to wait six hours for another to come.
Lyda Perry closed her suitcase, if you could call it that. The poor bag had been used by her mother and her grandmother countless times. The leather was cracked and worn, held together by two brand new leather straps.
She sighed. Everything was ready for her new life. Lyda had always wanted to be a Navy nurse, and she had gotten her chance. In less than three hours, she was planning to be on a train headed to New York, where a military base was.
Lyda had dreamt for years about wearing a new white dress, not a wrinkled and torn hand-me-down. Saving lives was another issue. The young girl longed to make a difference to even one person. For so long, Lyda had been nothing, living in the middle of nowhere. She did not have any friends and considered herself to be cut off from society.
It was all Lydia's fault. Lydia was Lyda's grandmother, whom she had been named after. Lydia was what you could call disturbed. Many years ago, Lydia had been raped and almost murdered in New York City. After, she ran away to the small house fifty miles away from any city, where Marie, Lyda's mother, was born. Lydia never let Marie go more than five miles from the house in her life. When Marie was sixteen, she ran away from home to the city. There, she met a thirty-five-year-old man named Thomas Spellner and had slept with him. Soon after getting the girl pregnant, Thomas left her. Maria had no choice but to come back to Lydia.
When Lyda was seven, Maria told her everything about the city. She told Lyda to be sure and escape from the house at the first possible opportunity. Soon after, Maria took her own advice and left Lyda with Lydia for eleven years. Lyda considered this to be her "first possible opportunity", and was taking it.
She snuck down the hallway to her grandmother's room and peeked through an open crack in the doorway. Lydia always kept the door open slightly when she slept so that she could hear everything Lyda did, if she did it loud enough. After Maria, Lydia had grown very protective of Lyda, always making sure that she was not planning to run away. She failed.
Seeing that Lydia was asleep, Lyda moved quickly yet quietly down the hallway and out the door. Being out of the house, she hurriedly walked toward the station, which was twelve miles away. Ten minutes into her trip, dark clouds filled the sky, hiding the sun.
"Damn it," Lyda muttered, "I should have worn my jacket." Upon hearing her own words, she laughed out loud. Her jacket was made out of old, thin material that would not keep her dry in humidity, let alone actual rain.
As promised, the clouds started to let loose a hard rain that seemed to come down in sheets, not drops. Lyda was instantly soaked, and to make matters worse, not only was her suitcase coming apart, but she was also running very late.
"There is no way I'll make it to the train station in time," she told herself. Well, then you will just have to move faster, her thoughts replied. And so Lyda did. By the time she reached the station, Lyda was soaked and exhausted. She ran to where the train would be leaving from, only to see nothing. She had missed the train, and would have to wait six hours for another to come.