Evy
April 3rd, 201X
11:00 AM

As we all trudged along the train tracks, you could tell that most of us were miserable. Why wouldn't we be? Our train crashed and we were soaking wet. It was cloudy and cold, so it didn't look like we'd dry off anytime soon. We all walked in uncomfortable silence for a while, most people staring at the ground.

Ellie sighed and walked to the front of the group, turning around. "Argh, I can't stand this silence! Since it looks like we'll be walking for a while, we might as well get to know each other!" We all looked at her, some in surprise and others in confusion, as she cleared her throat. "My name is Ellie, and I… like coconut ice cream!" She looked expectantly at the rest of us. "Well? Who wants to go next?" Nobody stepped up. "Okay, what about you, Marina?" she sighed, a bit annoyed.

"Uh… as she said, my name is Marina… and I… like pasta?" Marina said, unsure.

"All right, who's next?" Ellie asked, looking at all of us.

Victoria volunteered to go next. I went after her, and one by one we all gave our name and a fact about ourselves. Aside from the people we already knew, there was Kyle, Sophia, Luis, Lucas, Crimson, and Sharon. Thirteen people in all.

After introducing ourselves, the ice seemed to have been broken. We all calmly chatted among ourselves, talking about whatever popped into our heads and laughing like old friends. The gloom had left us. I had a little conversation with Paranoia Leaf, who wasn't as scary as I initially thought. Though, when I asked why her dress appeared to be stained with blood, she didn't answer. As my conversation with Paranoia ended, I noticed a few drops of rain falling from the sky. Those of us who noticed reached for our umbrellas, and everyone else noticed those people getting their umbrellas and reached for their umbrellas as well.

As I pulled my own beach umbrella from my bag, I noticed that Jack didn't seem to have one. "Don't you have an umbrella?" I asked, walking over to him.

"No, I don't really need one," he answered, shrugging.

"Really? I mean, we're all just starting to dry off from falling in the river…" I looked at him. "Well, you can share my umbrella, if you want." I stepped closer to him, shielding both of us from the rain with my umbrella.

"Thanks," he said, giving me a smile in return.

"So, uh," Ellie said after a while, thinking. "That's a nice umbrella. Blue and white is a nice color combination!"

"Yours is, too," I replied. "Yours has a cool pattern! Why those colors, specifically?"

"It's the flag of my hometown, Aniville," she replied. "I think it's an interesting color combination!"

"Red, pink, green, and blue… it is a bit unusual! Not something you'd particularly expect."

"Yeah, but it does looks really cool."

"Hey, stop your filler conversation for a moment," Jack interrupted. "Is that what I think it is?" he asked, pointing.

"That depends on what you think it is," Ellie replied, looking to where he was pointing. "If you think it's a fancy Santa figurine or a harlequin doll or something, then you're probably wrong. If you think it's a train station, on the other hand…"

"We made it!" Crimson cried. "Yesss!"

"It's about time," Luis said, rolling his eyes. " How long has it been since we started walking?"

"Noooooooo idea," Mia replied. "But holy crud is it actually there?"

"No doubt about it," Victoria answered as we got closer. "Ah, we finally get to stop walking!"

We began running to the station, with Ellie leading the group (since she was the first one to start running). Before entering the station, Ellie asked who was going to talk to the porter. Victoria volunteered.

As we walked in, Victoria led the group. She went up to the Porter, and though I couldn't hear the conversation, I could tell she was probably telling him the situation that happened and where we were headed. She turned back to us.

"Okay, so, the next train headed for Willow Falls is scheduled to come tomorrow morning," she explained. Most of us groaned, annoyed we had to wait.

"Um, so, where are we going to stay the night?" Marina asked.

"I believe the nearby town has an inn you can stay in. Eek!" the Porter said. "It only costs a few bells, I think."

"So, we have to walk some more?" Sofia asked, her dismayed expression probably matching the rest of the group.

"Actually, I think I know which town he's talking about," Ellie piped up. "It's really not that far!"

"How far, do you think?" I asked. I wasn't actually that tired, but I figured I'd ask for everyone else in the group.

"Aww geez, I'm not good at estimating distances… or anything, really," Ellie responded, a bit sheepish. "And I haven't even been there in a while… All I remember is that it's close enough to the train station to walk. Only a few minutes, if I remember correctly."

"That certainly doesn't sound too bad," Victoria said. "Let's just hope the inn has enough room for all of us." She turned to Ellie. "Do you happen to remember well enough to lead the way?"

Before Ellie could respond, the Porter said, "No need to worry, eek! I can give you directions. You just go straight once you leave the station, then take a left at that really big pine tree."

"Thank you," Victoria said, smiling. "Now then, we'll finally be able to get going in the morning."

We each thanked the Porter on our way out of the train station.

"By the way, Ellie," I said in a low voice as we made our way to the town. "Just out of curiosity, when did you go to that town?"

"Oh, my mom used to take me to visit my aunt lived there awhile ago! I was really little, though."

"Used to? Why not anymore?"

Ellie looked up in thought. "Er, I can't really remember. Like I said, I was really little. Maybe she moved somewhere different?" She shook her head. "Anyways. I'm sure it won't have any future significance."

I agreed with her on that as we entered New Town.

A/N: I'm really sure it won't have any future significance guys

On another note, "dismay" is a really cool word to use.