Chapter 2: The Green Car
The first thing Mary saw was green. Green everywhere.
"Ugh…" Mary groaned as she woke up, unsure of what happened. She rubbed her eyes with her hands. How long had she been asleep? She didn't know. Last she checked, it was still morning when she ran away from home and saw...a train?
The memory shocked her awake. The train! She had walked onto a train. Mary instantly shot up and looked around, letting out a yelp at what she saw. The room she was in didn't look like the inside of a train. Instead of seeing rows upon rows of seats with passengers, she saw...she didn't know what she saw, other than one thing.
Everything in here was every shade of green possible.
The sky was green. There shouldn't be a sky in a train, and the sky wasn't supposed to be green. There was an abandoned beetle car sitting in a patch of grass, though it was in spotless condition. A vase sat right on the roof of the car, with three green flowers in it. How did it even get on there? She saw a plush chair, banana trees, a bookshelf filled with large books, grass as far as the eye can see, a cactus, balloons, a pile of shoes and boots, a praying mantis statue, a cluster of shamrocks, a hot air balloon that stayed in place and never moved, and a bunch of other items that seemed piled together without thought of making it look neat.
"What is this place?" Mary asked out loud, unable to comprehend what she saw. She had to admit though, it did look pretty cool.
She felt something cold and smooth against her legs. Looking down, she saw that she was sitting on the bottom half of what looked to be a silver oblong pod. When had she entered this? Mary had no idea. She remembered stepping into a train. Wasn't she supposed to get a ticket and sit with some people? Mary felt her backpack straps against her shoulders, so at least that was still there. Mimi was lying on her stomach, floppy ears trailing over Mary's shoulders. Mary lifted her hand up to push her braid out of her face.
...Only to find something on her hand that isn't supposed to be there. A glowing green 120 on her palm.
Mary screamed. "What is this?!" She rubbed it with her other hand, hoping it'd come off. It didn't. It was still there. "Why can't I get it off?!"
No matter how hard she rubbed, the glowing number wouldn't come off. She even used the hem of her dress to rub against her palm. That didn't work either. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. What even was this?
"Welcome aboard, new passenger!" A surprisingly chipper robotic voice answered back.
"Wha?!" Mary cried out, as the new voice scared her into almost jumping out of her skin. She looked up to find the upper half of the pod showing a monitor, like a small TV. On the monitor was a silvery white sphere the size of a volleyball, with short, stubby little legs—one of which was waving at her—and a black, vertical stripe going across its body. Two smaller white circles dotted the front of said stripe. Mary could only assume those were it's eyes...whatever it was.
"I'm your conductor, One-One," The sphere introduced itself, but the first One sounded happy, while the second one, with a different, more morose voice, sounded depressed.
"One-One?" Mary scooted closer to the video, wondering if this would give her some answers. But who called themselves One-One? That was a weird name if she ever heard one.
"Once you wipe those groggy little peepers," One-One continued. "You'll probably have a lot of questions like 'Where am I?' 'Why am I here?'"
Accurate enough.
"Are there any snacks on board?"
Mary narrowed her eyes in confusion. That one...not so much. Who would ask if there were snacks on board? Then again...Mary held a finger to her chin. She had contemplated that just a little bit. She hadn't eaten anything except for a banana, and she was sure she'd be hungry later on.
"For those of you attempting to talk to me like I'm here in real life, I'm not!" One-One continued, still chipper, before switching into sad mode. "I'm a cold, steely, pre-recorded video."
"This is what's known as the Infinity Train, and it's a train where you sort out your problems!" One-One explained, raising his front legs in the air.
"Problems?" Mary asked out loud. She wasn't sure if she had problems. Actually...did her mother and her overzealous control freak tendencies count?
"See the number on your hand?" One-One used one leg to point to the camera. "Pretty cool and green, huh?"
Mary looked down at the number again. A 120. That was a random number. When did it get there? How did it get there? She had no idea. Maybe it happened when she was...asleep? Was she even asleep? Mary could feel some dizziness coming on. But one thing she knew for sure: "No! Not cool!" She exclaimed. Having a random number on her hand wasn't cool.
"Every passenger has one! The numbers are made by the train based on your life in order to help you have the most personalized experience we can offer! If you want to go home, you need to get your number down to zero, and poof! Away you go!"
"That still doesn't explain how it's even on me!" Mary protested. "What does personalized mean? And no, I don't wanna go home! Ever! And how do I even get the number to go down?!" She shot back, even though she knew the video wouldn't respond back, being pre-recorded and all.
All she got for a response was "Ugh, I'm a zero," From the sad One-One. But it did mention passengers. So Mary wasn't the only one on here? There were other people who got on here, too?
So she wasn't alone. Mary found herself smiling at the thought. Maybe other people who had troubles came here as well. She secretly hoped she'd find a couple of them. Would some of them be autistic, too? Just like her?
"But always remember there are lots of denizens along the way to help you on your journey. Don't be afraid to reach out!" One-One mentioned.
The screen changed to show many different creatures. One was a large, watery blob with two dot eyes and a big smile holding a pipe in its arm. Another was a yellow and white, long tailed corgi with a fancy crown on its head. A third one was a small silver service bell, also with two dot eyes. The fourth image showed a grey, crystallized humanoid thing with a large hat and a bushy mustache. The fifth one showed a cute bunny plushie with cyan fabric who wore suspenders and a purple beanie.
The monitor quickly changed back to One-One. "Unless the denizen is one of those monsters with more teeth than body," He warned in his morose voice before changing back to being chipper.
"Remember, you can't spell 'escape' without 'companionship!'" The happy One-One grinned before he looked up, lost in thought. "Uh, companion-shape? Companion-scape."
"Uh, no," Mary knew the words escape and companionship had absolutely no correlation to one another whatsoever. What even was this thing?
"Of course, the train is filled with all sorts of things that can help you learn about yourself and grow as a person."
Grow as a person? How? "I'm not a plant," Mary said. Or did One-One mean grow up into an adult? Or learn lessons?
"Personal growth can be exhausting," Sad-One piped in.
"That's because each car on this train is like a pocket universe where anything can happen!" Glad-One continued. "You can either find a fun car full of talking corgis, or a terribly dangerous car with acid slime!"
Mary made a mental note to avoid anything involving acid slime. "What does acid slime even look like?" She did like the idea of a train car full of talking dogs.
"Statistically you're more likely to fall off the train and die alone," Sad-One added.
Well then. Mary stood up. She had no intention of falling off the train. How could she even fall off the train when the entire room was solid? And green.
"Okay, I'm done," Mary walked out of the pod, leaving the informational video to prattle on, possibly forever. She was glad Mimi was still in her arms.
No way did Mary want to go home. Not now, not ever. Mary wanted to make sure she never went back home. Not when all that was waiting for her was Greg bullying her at school and her mother, who not only hated her, but practically shouted it on the entire internet and wanted to do...God knows what to her! Mary shook the blog posts out of her mind. Just thinking about them made her want to throw up. But here she was, on a magical train. This was going to be her safe place from now on. But she couldn't stay in the pod, so what else could she do except look around and see where she was?
Mary had to admit, this place was oddly beautiful. Sure, there were lots of items scattered about, and the car looked like someone just piled a bunch of junk in here without thought of making it look organized. But the green was easy on her eyes and didn't hurt. Did the whole train look like this? One-One mentioned there were other cars, and that they were all their own different worlds. Maybe this one car just happened to be all green.
"Hey, Mimi! Wanna explore?" Mary asked, holding her plush bunny to her face.
She used her hand to move Mimi's head up and down, making her simulate nodding.
"Cool! Let's go exploring!" Mary chirruped. "Maybe we can find something cool here!"
Although Mary preferred things to always be the same, there were some perks to the thrill of being in someplace new and finding new discoveries. Plus, since her mother wasn't here, Mary was free to do whatever she wanted and not feel like she was being needlessly punished for every little thing. The grass was soft against her sneakers, and she didn't notice any bugs or creepy crawlies lurking around as she walked. She did notice the hot air balloon was suspended in the sky, but didn't seem to move at all.
"Aren't hot air balloons supposed to...y'know, fly?" She asked.
Mimi said nothing.
"Maybe it's stuck," Mary walked up and tried to reach for it. Seeing as it was ten feet up, she couldn't reach. She jumped five times, hoping to at least try to touch it. The attempt was futile, and she conceded defeat.
She trotted over to a set of banana trees. "Are these bananas safe to eat?" She wondered aloud, then remembered her father mentioning that when a banana is green, it's probably not ready to be eaten yet. "Maybe not. Don't wanna risk getting sick," She concluded before heading on her way.
She then noticed she was in front of tall grass. Knowing there was no way else to go but forward, Mary pushed through the tall grass. It was easier to move through than she thought, but she didn't like the blades of grass tickling her arms. She wished she had brought a long sleeved shirt with her.
"Uuuuugh!" Mary shivered as several tall blades of grass brushed against her skin. After a minute, she was out, and she kneeled down, held her hands against her exposed arms, and rocked to push that shivering feeling out. Thankfully, it worked this time around. "I hate it when tall grass tickles me. What do you think, Mimi?"
Mimi's head slumped over Mary's arm, with her ears simply hanging limp.
"Yeah, same here."
There were other things about the car that made just as little sense as the suspended hot air balloon that didn't move. At one point, Mary went over to a wall and saw that an umbrella was hanging upside down. From nothing.
"How is that thing upside down?" She asked. "There isn't even a hook or anything."
This place just got more and more confusing. But Mary noticed something else as well. "Does anyone even live here?"
Not once did she see anyone—person or denizen—in this entire car. She walked further and saw no one. Was she the only one here? Mary found herself smiling at the thought. She began skipping and flapping her free hand as she made her way through the car. There was nobody here! Nobody to yell at her, touch her, tell her what to do, tell her everything she did was wrong, nothing of the sort. Mary felt light as a feather, skipping happily through the room, lost in her bliss. It was just her and Mimi.
But something caught her eye, so she stopped in her tracks. A big bookshelf stood against the wall, but Mary noticed bags at the very bottom of it. Bags with dollar signs on them.
"Whoa! Is this real money?!" Mary scurried over to the bags and gently undid one of the ties to see if there really was money in them. She pulled the bag open, and inside were stacks upon stacks of dollar bills. All of them in the hundreds. "Whooooooa! Free money!" Mary couldn't believe her eyes. She found random bags of money lying around. She was rich!
...Wait. Did these even belong to anyone? Mary looked around, seeing no one as usual. But just because there was money here, that didn't mean she could just take it. For all she knew, all of this probably did belong to someone. Her bliss immediately faded, and she slowly closed the bag.
"No, I shouldn't. It's wrong to just take money that isn't yours," Mary reminded herself, leaning back to the side of caution. As tempting as taking the money was, Mary knew she couldn't take it. Even if she wanted to, the bags would probably be too heavy for her to carry, and her backpack was already close to bursting. Another worry picked at her brain. What if other train cars had shops? How would Mary be able to pay for anything? Would she even be able to? How does one get money here?
She turned around to find a big pile of shoes behind her. Shoes of all kinds formed a small mountain. Boots, sneakers, high heels, flats, leather shoes, every shoe under the sun was in this big pile.
"Wow. Whoever made this pile really needs to clean them up," Mary mused. If her mother found her with a big, messy pile of shoes like this, she'd tell Mary to spend the day cleaning it all up. Mary walked closer to see if she could maybe find the second halves of all these shoes. Cleaning had to start somewhere, right? But as she reached for one big boot that was close to falling off, something caught her eye.
Something that was...purple. Not green.
"Huh?" Mary leaned closer into the hole. Was she seeing things? Was there actually something here besides herself that wasn't green for once?
The purple sphere turned around, showing a wrinkly forehead, dotted eyes, and a...grey mustache? A yellow bow tie? "Hello there!"
"Yeeeeek!" Mary screamed and fell on her rear, unable to comprehend what she saw. There was someone here after all! Or...something. Whatever was inside that pile of shoes didn't look human. Her heart hammered in her chest as she held Mimi close for protection, trying to make sense of what was inside that pile of shoes. "Wha-wha-wha-wha-wha…?!"
"Oh dear. I'm awful sorry for scarin' you outta yer wits," The purple sphere crawled out from the shoe pile, revealing himself to be a giant grape, with a wilted leaf on the stem, and brown vines for arms and legs.
"You...you...you're grapes! And you talk?!" Mary yelped, still struggling to process what was standing in front of her. Gradually, her nerves eased as she remembered the video in the pod. That One-One thing did say the train had magical fantasy creatures on it. Plus, the talking grapes didn't attack her, so...was he safe?
"Yep. I'm Ben! Ben Greene. Ben the grape person!" The talking grapes—Ben Greene—introduced himself with a friendly bow. His voice was kind and pleasant, and sounded like a slightly middle aged man. Mary thought he almost sounded like Mr. Bryant in a way.
The unstable rhythm of her heartbeats finally slowed as she saw that Ben wasn't going to attack her. Maybe he was nice? He did apologize for scaring her, so that had to mean something. Mary took in a deep breath and stood back up. "I'm...Mary. Mary Summers"
"Well now," Ben the grape crossed his viny arms. "You must be a passenger. Nice to meet'cha!"
"So...is this your pile of shoes?"
"Yup! This here's my home!"
Mary blinked. His home? By that, did he mean his house? "You mean...this is your house? You live there?"
"Yup."
This made absolutely no sense at all. Shoes were supposed to be worn, not used as material to make...whatever constituted Ben's idea of a house. "But...piles of shoes can't be houses. Don't you not have any room to move around? And aren't you afraid one of the high heels might...I don't know, cut your skin and make you bleed...grape...juice or something?" She knew for sure grapes didn't bleed blood. But did Ben bleed the juices inside of regular grapes?
Ben turned around to his shoe pile—his house—and lifted one high heeled shoe out from it with one hand...vine. "Nah, I'm pretty tough to break, if you know what I mean. I don't really move around much anyway, so it don't bother me one bit. Besides, I can maneuver my arms and legs however I want, so getting around ain't much of an issue."
As little sense as his explanation made, Mary did at least appreciate that he actually answered all of her questions. She also noticed that he never sounded bored, annoyed, or irritated when she did so. Even asking her mother one question would result in a condescending retort or an annoyed comment. Sometimes, others would just laugh and brush her off like she was just being silly. Mary hated that. She already found herself liking Ben Greene.
"I take it you're looking for the exit, right?" Ben inquired. "If you want, I'd be happy to take you there. It's a bit of a trek, though."
Mary shook her head. "I don't mind at all! I'd love to walk with you!"
Ben flashed a smile as the two of them found themselves walking together. "So...should I call you Mr. Greene or Ben? I don't wanna be rude, since you...sound and act like an adult. Mom and Dad say it's rude for kids to call adults by their first names unless they say so."
"You can just call me Ben."
"Ok! So...Ben, are you the only one living here? In this green car, I mean?"
"Pretty much."
Mary almost stopped in her tracks, but reminded herself to keep going. Ben was really the only denizen here? He lived here all alone? That had to be really lonely. As much as Mary liked her solitude and quiet time, she couldn't imagine living all alone in the same place every single day.
"Don't you get...I don't know...lonely?"
"Not really," Ben answered, cordial as always. "You'd be surprised at how many denizens and passengers stop by every now and again. Some just come by to sleep on the couch or beds that are scattered about," He waved his vine, showing Mary some regular beds and single mattresses that happened to be close by. "Many of them stop to talk to me, which happens more often than you'd think, so I don't get too lonely. But I admit I don't like to talk to people for too long, as it can get kinda exhausting after a while."
Mary knew that feeling all too well. Even talking to a stranger she didn't know, or wasn't comfortable with, always seemed to suck the energy right out of her. Most of them hardly ever bothered to talk to Mary for very long anyway, which she didn't mind. But she remembered the times her mother insisted that she talk to new people all the time, and didn't let her leave, even when Mary had to go to the bathroom or wanted to do something else. Her mother said it was to help improve her social skills, and that she needed to learn to talk to people. But what good was there in making Mary talk to people she didn't know unless she wanted to get to know them? Even when Mary told her mother no, Dana wouldn't take the hint and would force her to talk to people, especially when Mary made it clear she, and even the other party, wasn't interested in keeping the conversation going.
If she didn't want to talk to people anymore, why force her to do so? It always felt so draining. Yeah, that was the word. Draining.
"I agree," Mary replied. "I don't like it when people want to keep talking to me even after I tell them that I'm not interested. But my mom always says it's rude to say so."
"That's gotta stink. As long as you're polite about it, it's okay to let someone know you don't want to keep conversin'," Ben assured.
"Really?"
"Sure. There's lotsa ways you can do so."
Before long, the two of them found themselves immersed in conversation. Mary found herself liking Ben more and more. He always answered her questions with a smile, and in detail, without looking angry or annoyed. Even when he didn't have a straight answer, he was honest about it and answered her questions as much as he could, even with limited knowledge on certain subjects.
"Do you know how many cars there are on the magic train?" Mary asked.
"An infinite amount. One-One is in charge of the train. Y'know, the little white ball?" Ben replied. "He told me once that there's as many cars on this here train as there are grains in sand. But I never saw no sand before, so I don't know—"
"Oh! I have!" Mary exclaimed, beaming. "There's lots and lots and lots of grains of sand! Billions of them! I've been to the beach lots of times before, and it's really big, and there's so much sand, you can't ever count every single grain! Oh!" It was here that she realized she had interrupted Ben's answer. "Sorry! I didn't mean to...interrupt. I wasn't trying to be rude." Just like that, her shoulders deflated in shame. She could already picture her mother scolding her for interrupting him, even though she wasn't doing it on purpose. Not that her mother would care about that.
Oddly enough, Ben kept his cordial smile. "It's alright. I think I get it now. Thanks for helpin' me understand the concept of sand!"
Ben really didn't know what sand was? Mary's eyes shrunk. She had no idea there were people—or magical creatures—who had never seen beaches or sand before. Then again, Ben did live in a car where everything was green and there were items and junk scattered about with no thought put to making it look somewhat neat. But it didn't smell bad, and Ben himself was a nice guy. He couldn't help how his car was. One whole car must be tough for one person to take care of on their own. Mary wondered if he could use some help.
However, something else lurched in Mary's little heart. Even though she interrupted Ben's conversation, Ben didn't get angry at all. In fact, he was genuinely happy with Mary's explanation and thanked her for it. Not once did he claim she was being nosy, talking too much, that she ought to be more considerate of others even though she was trying to help, that she shouldn't be so rude. He didn't know what sand was, Mary helped him understand, and he just...accepted it. Being praised and thanked for her help wasn't exactly a foreign concept to Mary, but most people she knew weren't exactly receptive of her attempts to help them out or be nice. So having a magic talking grape actually be happy with her help was...surreal.
Freeing.
"You're welcome," Mary said, cheeks flushing from the unexpected praise.
"By the way, are you hungry by any chance? I think I got some green grapes around here…" Ben found a refrigerator and began rummaging through it. "Hmm...I coulda sworn they were here somewhere...Ah!" Having found what he was looking for, he pulled out a batch of actually green grapes. Unlike Ben, these grapes were actual food, and didn't talk. He walked over to Mary and held them out. "Would you like some? You don't gotta take a whole lot if you don't want to."
Mary held a hand to her stomach. She hadn't eaten anything except for that banana earlier, and for all she knew, it was probably still early in the morning. She liked grapes okay, but they weren't exactly her favorite food either. The textures could vary wildly depending on the ones her parents bought at the grocery store. Sometimes they'd be firm, which Mary liked, and sometimes they'd feel weirdly soft, soggy, and limp, which made eating them feel like she had worms in her throat. Mary didn't touch them once they started getting wrinkly. Looking at the grapes Ben had, they looked perfectly pristine, without a single blot or mark on them whatsoever.
"I'll just take six. Is that okay?" Mary asked, taking exactly six grapes from the batch. Ben smiled and nodded, watching as Mary threw one in her mouth. It was firm, just the way she liked it. Not limp, overly soft, or soggy. The juices were sweet against her tongue, and she didn't taste any lingering seeds either. "Wow, these are good!" Mary proclaimed, eating the rest of the grapes one by one as the two of them resumed their walk.
"I'm so glad you like them," Ben told her. "Sometimes passengers or denizens bring food and leave it here, or seeds that I can plant to grow my own food. See that garden plot over there?" Ben pointed towards a plot of dirt about the size of two refrigerators put together. The dirt was green, obviously, and clusters of vines covered it from corner to corner. "That's where I grow my food."
"That sounds nice," Mary mused. She wondered if there would be a time in her life where she could plant seeds and grow vegetables, like broccoli or brussel sprouts. Lots of people, mainly farmers, do it all the time. Her big sister was a huge fan of a video game series about farming, and even let Mary play her farming games whenever she said it was okay to do so. Granted, real farming was very different from pretend farming. But if Mary were to be a farmer, she could make her own rules and grow whatever she wanted.
"Oh!" It was here that Mary remembered she had forgotten to do something important. "I forgot to say thank you! Thank you for the grapes!"
Ben smiled once again. "It's alright. I can tell just from the look on your face that you're mighty grateful, so it's no skin off my hide."
Mary actually stopped walking. Ben wasn't making an issue out of her forgetting to say thank you? Mary couldn't believe her ears. Normally, her mother would jump on her if she thought Mary forgot, even when Mary was taking a minute to let the words come into her head so she could say them the right way. She did so right when Mary was about to thank that red-haired girl for letting her have the last available copy of the pet vet manga. In that moment, one of her mother's blog entries came rushing back to her mind.
It's a struggle to get Mary to remember her manners. She's always so eager to do what she wants and is always so excited whenever she receives a gift or someone does something nice for her. I should be happy about this, but knowing what she is, I can't help but be vigilant. She gets so lost in her wild, primal emotions that she always forgets to thank the person going out of their way to be nice to her. I have to constantly remind her to say thank you whenever this happens. It'd be one thing if this happened on occasion, but it happens all the time. When is Mary ever going to say thank you on her own? Half the time I'm wondering if she's genuinely that forgetful or ditzy, or if she's just flat-out ungrateful. She certainly never acts grateful whenever I try to do anything for her.
Mary pursed her lips, remembering how scandalized she felt upon reading that particular entry. How was Mary ungrateful? It was true that when someone did something nice for Mary, she'd be so happy and excited that she would bounce around the room and shout it to the world. That was just to get it all out of her system. She always made sure to thank people afterward, so it wasn't like she was intentionally putting it off or trying to be ungrateful. She had seen people act ungrateful before, like rejecting gifts because they weren't the right color or model.
Another memory hatched into her mind right then. One time last year, Mary and her dad went shopping to buy a birthday gift for her mother. Mary knew her mother really liked hummingbirds, so she picked out a glass hummingbird figure in a fancy store in the mall so her dad could buy it and say it was from her. When her mother saw the figure and Mary told her she picked it out, her mother...just stared at it for a bit, then set it aside and didn't look at it again. She said thanks, but the eight-year-old Mary knew she didn't actually mean it. Her voice was low, her eyes were narrowed into slits, and when she said thanks, it had absolutely no enthusiasm in it whatsoever. She didn't even smile at Mary or give her a hug. Mary had seen Caitlin and Leo get gifts for their parents, and that was how they reacted, by hugging them and telling them thanks with big smiles and cheerful voices.
Mary clutched onto Mimi tightly, tasting bile in her mouth. Dana had the nerve to claim Mary was ungrateful, when it was she who was exactly that more often than not. The hypocrisy of it all hurt like a punch in the stomach.
"Mary?" Ben's voice pulled her out of her reverie. "Is everything okay? I notice you stopped."
"Oh!" Mary shook her head, pushing the bad memory out of her brain. "Sorry. I was thinking about something."
Ben took no issue with that, and the two of them resumed their walk. The two of them went back to their friendly conversing, and it was here that Mary realized...Ben Greene reminded her a lot of Mr. Bryant. Mary asked him question after question, and he always answered them with a smile on his face. Not once did he ever look or act annoyed or irritated with her, and he never told her to be quiet or anything. He never questioned why she did things or make a big issue about them, nor did he make her feel ashamed of her occasional slip-ups. She wondered if the train put her in the Green Car first on purpose. Ben had no reason or obligation to be nice to her in any way. As far as Mary knew, she was an intruder who was unceremoniously dumped into his world. He had every reason to believe she was somehow barging into his abode, yet he was going out of his way to be as nice to her as possible.
It wasn't as though Mary had never experienced kindnesses like these before. Of course she did. Mary knew that much. But having been subject to her mother's constant and ceaseless barrage of criticism every single day, she'd take anyone being genuinely nice than all the riches in the world.
"So you say you wanna write your own stories when you grow up, huh?" Ben inquired, curious to know more."
"Mmm-hmmm!" Mary nodded vigorously. "I really like reading storybooks. My big sister sometimes lets me read her books or comic books. Only the ones for kids, though. Not for teenagers or grown-ups yet. I'm too young for those," She replied, her joy bubbling over like soda fizz. "I'd love to write my own stories someday, though!"
"Got any favorites?"
"Yeah! There's this one called A Little Princess, and it's about a girl whose dad has to go away to India, and she's sent to a fancy boarding school for rich girls in England," Mary explained, her voice rising with delight, practically bouncing on her feet as she walked. Someone was actually interested in hearing her talk about her favorite books? Mary couldn't contain herself, and words came spilling out of her like a waterfall. "But years later her dad dies and all of Sara's money is gone because he lost it, and the school principal gets mad and makes her into a slave who does stuff like clean the floors, cook food, and put coal in fireplaces. The principal is always mean to her and yells at her if she does anything that's not her chores, and she's not given food or nice clothes or a warm bed or baths or anything.
Ben's wrinkles furrowed upon listening to Mary's description of the story. "Hmm. That sounds like a real sad story," Ben said.
"At first it is, but it gets a happy ending! Want me to tell you?" Mary suggested. Ben nodded, and Mary continued on, happy to oblige. "It turns out Sara's dead dad had a friend who left India to try and find Sara but he didn't know where to look and didn't have any clues that told him where she could be. The friend managed to restore Sara's riches and when he found her, she was taken out of the bad school and got to be a rich girl again! Richer than a princess, even!"
Upon hearing this, Ben smiled once more, looking up at the green sky as he became lost in thought. "Now that you mention it, I think I do have that book on one of my shelves. Can't remember which one, though…"
"It's funny. I don't really get to talk about stuff I like with other people all that often," Mary found herself saying out loud. "Most kids at school don't know about the books I read, and they stay away from me when I tell them about them, thinking I'm weird. Mom's no help, because she says I need to learn to be more interested in other people and not talk about myself and the stuff I like so much. But I never know what to say to other people. Why would I want to be with or talk to people who are just gonna make fun of me or the stuff I like? What's wrong with being with people who like the same stuff I do and...like me just fine?"
She thought of all the times her mother would drag her to random places without telling her beforehand, just saying "You're coming shopping with me," "You're going to this party with me," "You're going to talk to these people, make friends with them, make eye contact with them, and not bore them by talking about books and drawing," "You're not bringing your earplugs, book, or stress ball to this family trip we're going on." No matter how much Mary said no or wanted to make things easier on herself by bringing earplugs, stress ball, Mimi, favorite books, or anything of the like to make her feel safe in a new situation, her mother always told her she couldn't. Normal kids didn't bring stuff like that with them to outings, Dana had said.
Ben crossed his vines and stopped to think for a bit. "I admit, I can somewhat understand where she's coming from. In life, you're gonna end up meeting people you're gonna have to deal with at some point, and I can understand wanting to teach you the tools to do so," Ben said. "On the other hand, I don't see the harm in wanting to make things a little easier on yourself in doing so. I do agree that it'd be better if your mother gave you a choice in the matter, or at least told you about it earlier, or offered to let you take a break if you're tired of it."
Mary gasped. That was it! She had rarely, if ever, been given a choice in anything! Her father and Reagan always made sure she had a choice in things, and even if the choice of not going wasn't possible, she still had a say in wanting to make things easier on herself. For her mother, it was always do this, do that, go here, go there, don't do this, keep quiet, don't act up even if you're sad, scared, or anxious, look at me, say something nice, don't run to another room, so on and so forth. She had only been with Ben for...she wasn't sure how long. A few hours? There weren't any clocks so she couldn't tell what time it was. She could tell from the way her legs started to hurt that she had been walking with him for a long time. But in that time, Ben acted like more of a parent, or a friend, to her in that short time than Dana, her own mother, had ever been in her whole life.
In that moment, she felt like she was...being listened to.
On impulse, she found herself hugging Ben, wrapping her arms around his grape body, taking care not to squeeze him too hard lest she make him bleed...grape juice or something. His eyes widened at the sudden gesture, but he was quick to hug her back, wrapping his vines around her without question. The two of them stayed like that for a few minutes, and Mary could smell the fresh water scent in the crevices of his body. Mary had to admit, Ben smelled nice.
Who knew that a talking patch of grapes would make a great friend?
Mary slowly released Ben from her grasp and looked up at him. She had to admit, it was easy to look at his eyes, because they were dots, and they never changed. "Thanks for listening to me, Ben. It's rare that I talk to someone about my...problems and they don't get annoyed."
"That's an awful shame," Ben agreed. "Well, I'm glad I was able to help you in some way, even if it's not much. Oh!" Something caught his eye and he ran towards it. "This here's the exit!"
"Really?" After so much walking, the two of them finally arrived at a red door with a circular top, with the handles consisting of two yellow semi-circles separated from one another. Mary turned the handle with one hand, and when she opened the door, wind blasted at her face, whipping her braids in all directions. She was quick to keep Mimi close so the wind wouldn't blow her away, but when she opened her eyes, her mouth fell open at what she saw.
A bridge connecting the current car to one in front laid out before her. "I really am on a magic train!" Mary exclaimed, walking out from the Green Car to get a better look around, with Ben following suit. The train cars themselves were huge, so tall that Mary could jump as high as she could and still not be able to reach the top. She looked up and saw a swirl of orange and red clouds hanging overhead. Mary took her eyes off the sky and scanned the surrounding area. There was nothing here but a red orange, desert-like landscape and a few dead trees. There weren't any houses anywhere.
"What is this place?" Mary asked, feeling a shiver run up her spine. It looked like they were in the middle of nowhere.
"This is what they call the Wasteland," Ben explained. "It's awful dangerous out there. I wouldn't recommend leaving the train to go out there at all," He pointed into the distance. "See those creatures?"
"What creatures?" Mary held a hand over her eyes to block out the sun and find what he was talking about. In the distance, she could see three black specs flying around. They looked like large bugs, but she couldn't make out their features except for translucent wings and mouths with wiggling appendages that looked like worms. "Those roach thingies?"
"Yes. They're called Ghoms," Ben continued, putting a protective vine hand on Mary's shoulder. "They pray on passengers and suck the life out of them. They make you shrivel up and turn into dust."
Shrivel up? Turn into dust? Mary dreaded the thought. She flapped one of her hands to push the idea out of her head. She didn't dare imagine dying at the hands of...one of those ugly things.
"If you see one, don't try to fight them. It's a losing battle, so you'd best run for your life," Ben advised.
Mary nodded. She didn't want to go anywhere near those things anyway. Thankfully, the entrance to the next car, with the very same door design, was just a bridge away, not very far on foot.
"Thanks for helping me, Ben. It really means a lot to me," Mary told him.
Ben's cordial smile returned. "You're welcome, dearie."
"Oh!" An idea popped into her head, and she found herself verbalizing it before she could think on it. "Maybe you can come with me! We can have magical adventures together like they do in the books I like to read!"
Just as quickly, Ben's mouth turned inward into a frown. "I'd sure love to, Mary, but I don't think I can do that."
"Awww. Why not?" Mary groaned, unable to hide her disappointment.
"Well, I've been hearin' gossip about this group of ruffians who destroy cars and hurt denizens willy-nilly, y'see, even killin' em," Ben explained. "Since I'm the only one who lives in the Green Car, I gotta hold down the fort and make sure nobody vandalizes it. If I'm not here to protect my home, the ruffians could mess it all up and I won't be there to at least stop them. For all I know, I might never see them, since the train goes on forever, but until I know for sure they're gone, I can't afford to take any chances."
Mary deflated at the thought. She really grew to like Ben and wanted to go on adventures with him. But as much as she hated that he didn't want to come with her, she understood why he couldn't afford to leave his car right now. His home, as strange as it was, is important to him. What right did she have to force him to come with her? Her father told her that if she asked someone to do something and they said no, that she respect their no and move on to something or someone else. It was rude to pester them until they said yes, because that meant she wasn't respecting their boundaries. It would be like if her mother kept pestering her to stop reading her favorite book even after she said no, annoying her and bothering her until she said yes. Plus, he had no one to help protect the fort, and she was sure she wouldn't be able to protect his home from whatever enemies were out there. What if they were monsters? And what if they had guns? What could she possibly do about it?
"I can't exactly ask you to stay with me, as staying in one car forever isn't what passengers should be doing," Ben elaborated. "Plus, I think it'd be pretty boring to stay in the same place forever. Sorry, Mary."
"It's okay!" Mary replied. "I'm not mad. If it were me, I'd want to protect my home, too."
"On the other hand…" Ben held a vine to his chin, lost in thought once more. "It'd be awful dangerous for a kid like you to go off and not have anything to defend yourself...Oh! I have just the thing!" He announced before running back into the Green Car. Mary walked back in as well, but not too far in. She saw Ben rummaging through a green wooden box, looking for something. After a bit, he found it and showed it to Mary.
"Here. You can have this," In Ben's vine hand was a shiny purple item, shaped like a grape.
"What's this?" Mary asked, taking it gingerly into her hands. "Is it a toy?"
"Nope!" Ben answered, shaking his head. "That there's pepper spray!"
"Huh?" Mary looked up, eyes wide from surprise. "Pepper spray? Like the stuff people use to spray in people's eyes if someone's attacking them?"
"Yep. See this button here? The stem?" Ben kneeled down to point out the stem-like structure on the canister. "Press it, and it sprays out the pepper spray. Be careful not to spray yourself, though. It hurts somethin' awful."
Wanting to see for herself, Mary gently pressed it, pointing it towards the air. A tiny bit of pepper spray came out, and Mary released the button, not wanting to waste it. She found herself smiling. She had something she could use to defend herself! It wasn't an actual weapon, like a sword or nunchucks, but it was serviceable enough, and Mary didn't like fighting to begin with. The two of them walked back outside, watching the eternal wasteland pass them by. The guard rails on the bridge were metal bars, and seemed safe enough, but Mary knew she had to be careful. She wondered if this was what One-One meant by the possibility of falling off the train.
She put the pepper spray in her pants pocket before looking at Ben. "Thanks so much for helping me. I'm sad we can't travel together, but I'm glad we got to be friends."
"Same here, Mary. Now you take care of yourself out there, and if you ever want to come visit, don't be afraid to stop by!"
A part of her wished Ben could come with her. She thought he'd appreciate the company. But if he didn't want to, she knew she couldn't force him. Still, he was kind to her, and knowing that he liked her made her feel a little giddy inside, like a baby bird's wings were fluttering in her heart. Because of this, she didn't feel afraid when she waved goodbye and crossed the bridge to the next car, with Mimi by her side. But she did wonder if the number on her hand changed. She looked at her left palm...to find that it wasn't a 120 anymore. It had gone down by four digits, now at 116.
"How'd this happen?" She asked.
She had no idea how her number managed to go down. But she knew one thing for sure: Maybe this train and all of its passengers and denizens could be her new home. She decided she was going to live here. Far away from Dana. Where she didn't have to go to school, wouldn't get yelled at for flapping her hands or talking about books, forced to go to weird doctors and ABA, or be told she would never be normal. Here, she could be...free. As long as her number never reached zero, she could stay here forever!
Without hesitation or shame, Mary made it to the next car, used one hand to turn the handle, and walked right inside, wondering what new adventure would await her.
Reagan Summers sighed as she got herself dressed for the day, choosing a long sleeved olive green shirt, grey miniskirt, and blue vest. The memory of last night's awful incident flashed through her mind. Not even going on her computer and checking her email helped alleviate the anger that continued to simmer. She knew her mother had gone too far. Then again, her mother freaking out if Mary did so much as anything at all wasn't exactly a common sight. But she was growing tired of it. Not for her own sake, but for Mary's. Mary didn't deserve to be treated like a continual troublemaker on a regular basis.
She really didn't want to be here right now. Good thing today was Saturday, and she had no intention of sticking around the house for much of today. She pulled out her phone and texted someone she knew would be happy to have her.
Hey Oliver. Mind if Mary and I come over and hang out at your place? Reagan sent the text out and read a couple pages of the new manga she bought. Her phone pinged a couple minutes later, indicating a response.
Sure thing! Come on over! Mom and Dad say yes, too!
Reagan smiled. "Good ol' Oliver. Where've you been all my life?" She asked no one in particular. Her phone pinged again, showing another text.
Everything ok?
Reagan was quick to type out a response. No. I'll tell you more when I get there. How's 10 AM sound?
Cool with me!
Oliver was Reagan's boyfriend. The two met last year when she first started at the local high school. They became friends and found they had a lot in common. Several months later, they found themselves in a relationship. As far as Reagan was concerned, Oliver was the best boyfriend she ever had. Her first one, sure, but he had come through for her on so many occasions. She couldn't wait to spend time with him. But it was still early yet, and she needed some breakfast. Reagan got her stuff together—mainly her phone, some video games, and books, and set it down on her bed, along with her oboe case.
Hearing her stomach grumble, Reagan walked downstairs and into the kitchen, pulling the toaster out of the cabinet next to the sink to make some French toast. She could smell the coffee in the maker machine nearby, and stole a glance in the dining room. There was Dana, looking over another pile of bills and drinking coffee. Reagan could only scowl. She was just sitting there, looking so calm and serene, like she hadn't hurt Mary by cutting her wrists with her fingernails, pinning her down, and screaming at her in a public place. And for what? Reagan found her mother's nonchalance to be utterly offensive. She scowled as put the bread slices in the toaster and pulled out two jars, one with syrup in it, the other with cinnamon.
"Morning, Reg," Her father walked in soon after.
"Hi Dad," Reagan replied, flashing a smile at him. "Coffee's ready."
Todd took a minute to pour some coffee into a plain red mug. Reagan's toast popped out of the toaster, and she drizzled the bread slices with butter, syrup, and cinnamon, just the way she liked it. The two of them eyed Dana in the dining room simultaneously. Obviously, she was going to try and broach the subject of last night's incident. As much as she didn't want to, Reagan knew that once her mother had her mind on something, she wouldn't let it go until she got it done and over with the way she wanted it. The two of them sat down at the table, eating their breakfast.
"I'm gonna go to Oliver's place in a few hours. He and I need to do some more oboe practice," Reagan said, more to her father than her mother. She used a knife to cut her toast into manageable slices and popped one in her mouth.
"That's good. Do you plan on bringing Mary with you?" Todd asked.
"I'm gonna ask her right after I finish this," Reagan answered.
Dana set her coffee cup down. "Mary's not going anywhere. She's grounded."
Grounded? Todd and Reagan exchanged confused glances before the latter narrowed her eyes at her mother. "Since when, and for what?" Reagan fired back. Dana never said anything about Mary being grounded, nor did she tell anyone. Or maybe she just decided it on her own and didn't think to tell Mary about it. That seemed the most plausible, as Dana rarely ever told Mary anything. It was as if she always wanted Mary to be the last one to know about anything, especially important things that involved her.
"You know exactly why," Dana reminded them in a cold, tired voice. "Mary can't be allowed to throw tantrums like that in a public place. She's nine years old, for God's sake! Of course, neither of you bothered to help me when I was trying to get her under control!"
Reagan balled her hands into fists. "That's a pretty funny way of saying 'I pinned my daughter to the floor and screamed in her face and cut her wrists with my fingernails over absolutely nothing and then ignored her obvious distress,'" Reagan retorted, having zero sympathy. "She wasn't even doing anything. You were the only one making a scene."
"Reagan…" Todd attempted to ameliorate the situation, knowing this was going to get ugly fast. But Dana spoke before he could say anymore.
"Reagan! We've been over this!" Dana exclaimed. "Your sister needs to learn how to behave herself in public! She needs to understand that her actions have consequences!"
"She wasn't even doing anything, though!" Reagan shot back.
"She didn't use quiet hands!"
"So what?! She's not hurting anyone by flapping her hands to calm herself down. I don't know why you always act like everything she does is a big friggin' issue!" Reagan bellowed, slamming her hand on the table. Her glasses almost fell off, but she was quick to push them back up the bridge of her nose. "Do you even realize that you could have crushed her while she was on the floor? Or that you left cuts on her wrists?! She was bleeding when I found her outside the store!"
"Reagan does raise a valid point, Dana," Todd used this opportunity to jump in, keeping a more composed demeanor as opposed to his older daughter. "Mary only had that meltdown because you interrupted her stimming and tried to force her to stop. Her teacher has said that we shouldn't try to suppress her autistic stims. They actually help her regulate her emotions when she needs to navigate new situations. Do you really think punishing her for wanting to be herself is going to accomplish anything?"
Dana ate her sausages throughout Todd's explanation, only speaking once he finished. "You need to think about Mary's behavior issues in the long term. She's going to start fifth grade next year," Dana insisted, her voice straining further. "The longer this goes on, the more likely her future will be in jeopardy. Nobody will give her the time of day if she keeps indulging in her autistic habits and fixations."
Reagan scoffed, making no attempt to hide her disdain. "Sounds to me like you just want to turn her into your personal puppet and mold her into your idea of a perfect kid."
A sausage fell off of Dana's fork as she stared at Reagan, mouth agape, completely scandalized. "Reagan Marlene Summers!"
"Dana—"
Something caught Reagan's eye. A colorful pamphlet showing smiling kids on the cover. Instinctively figuring out what it was alluding to, Reagan snatched it and looked it over. It went into detail about something called chelation therapy and about how it supposedly cured several autistic kids.
"The hell?!" Reagan yelped, her anger no longer contained. "You weren't planning on signing Mary up for this are you?"
"For what? Let me see," Todd took the pamphlet and looked it over, his eyes widening in horror at what he saw described. "Dana! You can't be serious!"
"I am," Dana replied. "Everything else hasn't worked so far, and with Mary about to start fifth grade, we need to really be vigilant."
"Do you hear yourself right now?!" It was Todd's turn to yell this time. "We're already a thousand dollars in debt as it is with you going after one quack doctor after another!"
"I can't listen to more of this!" Reagan snapped, standing up from her chair and stomping up the stairs, not in the mood to even finish her breakfast. "You really give new meaning to the words Karen and drama queen, Mom!"
The nerve of her! Reagan wanted to punch the wall as she made it to the top of the stairs. Was she really that convinced that curing Mary of being autistic was the best way to go? No way was Reagan going to let Mary be subjected to yet another quack doctor and more potentially traumatizing "therapy." She had seen what ABA had done to her. What sensory exposure had done to her. Even as a kid, she could tell when Mary was in distress, as she was often not very subtle about showing it, and just how...wrong all of those so-called therapies seemed. Reagan couldn't fathom why her mother was so laser-focused on molding Mary into something she wasn't. She wished she didn't make Mary being autistic into the biggest issue ever. Reagan knew for a long time that it had never been an issue, and it never would be.
Reagan arrived at Mary's bedroom door and knocked. "Mary? You in there?" She asked. No response. I didn't like her to sleep this late. She usually woke up at seven in the morning, or half an hour before, and it was 8:24 AM right now. As much as she didn't want to enter her sister's room without permission, she assumed she was still sleeping and went inside as quietly as she could.
"Mary? It's almost eight thirty. Time to wake up," Reagan said.
She saw that one piece of Mary's comforter had been pulled back, not folded all the way. Mary's favorite purple pajamas laid about the bed, unfolded, and with the pants almost falling right off the foot of the bed. Oddly enough, Mary herself wasn't here. Reagan looked around, seeing no sign of her. "Mary? Hello!" Reagan called out. Again, no response. Where was she?
"Are you hiding?" Reagan asked, crossing her arms. "Well, I don't mind a game of hide-and-seek," She opened the closet door, finding clothes and a hamper, but no Mary. When she turned around, she noticed one of the drawers in Mary's dresser was open. Something compelled her to look inside. Several of Mary's shirts were missing.
"That's weird…" Reagan knew Mary had to be around here somewhere. As she glanced at Mary's bed again, she noticed something else was missing. "Where's Mimi?" Mary never went anywhere without Mimi except school. Other things were gone as well. Her backpack, her shoes...Reagan's blood ran cold.
She couldn't be missing, could she?
Something white appeared in her peripheral vision. Reagan looked at one of Mary's pillows. Something was sticking out from the corner. A white piece of notebook paper. As much as it pained Reagan to do so, knowing that she might be invading Mary's privacy, she took the folded paper out from the pillow, opened it, and read the contents.
Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw.
"Reagan?" Todd walked upstairs, poking his head in Mary's room. "You wake Mary up yet?" He strided inside, stopping in his tracks when he saw the deer in the headlights look on Reagan's face. She looked absolutely ghost white.
"Dad…!" Reagan choked out, immediately tearing up. Todd saw the paper in her hands and read the contents.
I'm leaving forever. Don't bother looking for me. Nobody loves me. My life is a big fat lie. All everybody wants is for me to be normal. I'm done with this. I'm gonna find a new family that'll actually love me.
Bye-bye forever.
The writing was rather crude, probably as a result of either being written in a hurry or in the dark. But it was legible enough for father and daughter to understand what was written. Neither of them spoke for a solid minute, in complete disbelief as to just what they had in their hands.
"This can't be true, can it?!" Reagan yelled without meaning to. But the meaning of the words written on the hastily folded paper was not lost on father and daughter. If she wasn't in her room, and planned to run away, then...
Todd sprinted from Mary's room and immediately began searching all over the house, with Reagan following suit.
"Mary?! Mary!" The two of them looked everywhere they could think of. The living room, the den, the kitchen, the basement, even the room way in the back of the basement. Every nook and cranny big enough for a nine-year-old girl to fit in. There was no sign of Mary at all.
"Todd? Reagan? What's going on?" Dana asked as she saw the two of them zipping around the house.
"Mary's gone!" Reagan cried out. "She's not in her room, she's not anywhere!"
For once, Dana fell silent as she took in Reagan's words, only managing to blink twice, hoping the statement would make sense the third time around. It didn't.
Todd had already explored every inch of the house and found no trace of her. His heart hammered in his chest a mile a minute as he tried to find any semblance of his youngest. He opened the front door and ran outside, in the middle of the street, screaming Mary's name at the top of his lungs.
"Mary! Maryyyy!" He howled mournfully, praying to God that she'd be here somewhere. She just had to be! He saw a neighbor watering her plants and ran up to her in a panic. "Lilac! You didn't see Mary around, did you?"
"No, I haven't," Lilac answered. "Is something wrong?"
Todd swiveled around. People were beginning to exit their houses upon hearing his screams, wondering what the commotion was all about. His legs burned from so much running, but this was nothing compared to not knowing where Mary was. She couldn't have run away. She wasn't the type, and a nine-year-old couldn't have gone far on foot. He barreled back into the house to get his car keys, passing Dana on the way.
"Dana! Call 911! Now!" Todd bellowed.
This time, Dana didn't hesitate. She got her cellphone out and called the police, bawling as she told them what happened. "My daughter's missing and we can't find her anywhere! Please send help!"
Upstairs, Reagan found herself back in Mary's room, reading the hasty letter over and over, hoping she could make sense of it. She couldn't. So many questions swirled in her mind like a tornado destroying everything in its path. Why does Mary think nobody loves her? Did she actually run away, or was she kidnapped and was forced to write this? Reagan knew the latter couldn't be the case. Kidnappers often took the kids straight up without stopping to make them write notes. That would take too much time and effort, if all the crime shows she watched taught her anything.
But more importantly...where was she, and was she okay?
Reagan held the note to her chest and cried.
"Mary...where are you…?"