Long ago right before Emily a single Stirling engine came to Sodor she lived in a railway like no other she was treated very nicely and was built on the great northern railway. The great northern railway was her home but sometimes it can be daunting at times when there are no visitors to see. Emily had a brother and sisters. First there was Bernard who was kind, brave and courageous. Then there were two sisters Tracy and Charlotte. Now Tracy was sweet, beautiful just like her sister and helping others out by working and giving engines a chance to shine. Charlotte however was rude, spiteful and wanted all the attention she could ever want. Emily hates Charlotte because she only bullies the others and takes herself at risk which makes her very cross. But as time went on Charlotte would do less work and do what's right for her. this annoyed the others as well.
i will only do the work when i am comfortable with and no more to be said about you other steam kettles she would say.
You are lucky to have a controller who knows right and not to see you lazy. Emily said crossly.
It would only moan her to do the same. At last Emily gave up. Why don't you take the passengers instead of me said Emily and she fumed away. Charlotte was thrilled to take passengers and she did the work with no fuzz or complaining. This made her revolutionary indeed but All soon changed years later, When she found out that Emily was going to sodor instead of her that made her furious and started to complain.
Why did Emily have more attention than I did ? She is nothing but a golden kettle. Said Charlotte.
It's the kindness that you didn't have, replied Bernard crossly, Emily is one of the best that we had on this railway you should be glad for her or she would not be picked at all. You may need to have sense before you say something and rudeness does not take you anywhere. I also got a word from the controller that you will have to take some trucks to the harbor then bring some oil for our new track that's right behind our shed.
Charlotte groaned she hate pulling trucks especially when given it would make her feel unreliable but she did not disappoint the controller so she puffed away looming .
Now The trucks liked Emily, Bernard and Tracy because of how they do things and respect them properly but when it came to Charlotte it became a misery for them. They decided to hatch a plan to play tricks on Charlotte. Charlotte came into the yards. The trucks stayed silent which made her calm but still was in a bad temper.
Bernard is nothing but a strict engine that I hate. If I had it my way everything would have been fine. She thought she was coupled onto the trucks. Now I don't want any nonsense from you thank you very much you hear, said Charlotte rudely.
Will give her nonsense, said one of the trucks.
As she puffed away with the trucks she began to complain and that was also harsh to the engines as well. As she was halfway to the harbor the trucks started to put on their breaks making her uncomfortable to move on their own that made Charlotte lose her temper but not talk at all.
The driver had to made sure that everything need to be put right and mended their wheels as soon as possible. Finally she set off again and made it to the harbor.
She was still on time however Tracy was cross with her for damaging the brakes on the trucks but she said nothing and laughed. Trucks will be something for us whether rude or spiteful Charlotte grinned.
I will be careful if I were you because the crane has been breaking apart lately, warned Tracy better take luck with care then.
Ha said Charlotte i will see to it by my fame and glory just this crane is suitable for a fine engine like me. . What happened next with Charlotte no one knows, that crane was lifting gas tanks for the fuel station up ahead and Charlotte never saw this when she got coupled up.
The train she was pulling next to was filled with oil tankers. Charlotte was just about to puff away when the crane snapped and some of the gas had landed on her which made her undignified. But there's worse to come Tracy started to smell the smoke and knew that fate would be delivered. She puffed away to tell Bernard the news knowing what was about to happen next .
Charlotte's crew dashed out and went to the nearest shelter as they could. Then Charlotte started to smell something. Do I smell smoke? She looked at her footplate and it started to glow an orange color.
What's happening to me Charlotte quivered. Charlotte's fire had just turn into a blaze to burn her entire livery from buffer to footplate and it was not pleasant. Somebody please help me. I'm dying. I don't want it to end. Charlotte was screaming like she had never experience before. Her eye had started to melt and her buffers were molded, her paint started to rust and it was a pain in her boiler to bear Charlotte was in terrible pain. The crane also burned a few ashes towards her which made her other eye go blind. Charlotte felt that her own behavior finally got what was coming to her. Then her face melted away from the engine that once was new now a burning engine in pain. After 30 minutes of suffering and screaming there was silence in the air. Charlotte was gone.
Tracy and Bernard came to the scene and it was a shock to both of them. The rust was still in flames but the sight was horrifying. Firefighters came and took care of the flames. What was left of her was taken to be scrapped. Bernard and Tracy looked down at the remains. I did tell her ,but she never listened. Tracy said sadly Bernard buffers up to Tracy and she looks at him . None of this is your fault, said Bernard. But what goes around comes around and her luck went out. None of them said a word afterwards as they took the remains of Charlotte to the scrapyard.
Years had passed since Charlotte's death Bernard and Tracy made letters to Emily each day but never talked about Charlotte's tragic day. Emily on the other hand fell in love with Thomas the tank engine they made a connection over their fortunate circumstances and soon sir Topham hatt understood their love and made a rule called work before play it's when any engine is told what to do before for they have free time and work always come first on his railway. Emily and Thomas kept each other company day and night no matter what the weather.
One night , Emily was soon getting ready to pull the mail train. Percy had an accident with a few milk tankers and was sent to the steamworks to be repaired and Emily was in charge to take the mail until Percy gets back.
Thomas was worried about her but he knew her too well to make all the mail deliveries by herself and started to question her a little. Are you sure you can handle this? said Thomas it may be a little too much for you i mean it's supposed to be a 2 engines job.
I can handle this tommy plus you need to get up on your branchline tomorrow and a special. Now Thomas did not mind being called Tommy when it came to Emily but with the others calling his nickname it came annoying to him and feel embarrassed.
But what Thomas can do right now is to let Emily have her chance. Oh alright remember to shine your light. I will said emily. Take care sweetie. And Emily blew a kiss to Thomas which made him blush as she puffed away. Thomas on the other hand had to pull a diary special for the night for his branchline so he puffed away.
Emily's mail run had made good time; she delivered the mail like clockwork at every station. But as soon Emily stopped at a signal when the mist began to appear. the signal started to glitch.
That's odd, Edward normally does not tell ghost stories regularly, Emily wondered .
She started to question her own doubts when suddenly the signal box lights turned off making Emily quivering.
Who's there she said nervously. No reply was answered. As soon the lights turned off the signal began glitching red or green lighting on and off each time. she was about to scream when suddenly a light appeared it turned out to be a ghost engine. Usually some ghost engines are spirited and move to the engines without notice to make them believe but this one Emily did not know until she recognized her face.
.Charlotte said to Emily nervously is it you. Yes Emily it's me, replied Charlotte, I want you to know that I apologize for my behavior towards you and the others i felt foolish and i am here to you why. And she explained that she died over those years ago and the gas fire did deserve her to be more peaceful.
Emily was silent throughout her speech. If I ever turn the clock back I would definitely change my behavior and attitude, said Charlotte quietly. I should not complain about you coming to sodor but i am glad you now have a home. Emily stood there speechless and she can now find sympathy for charlotte.
I can understand what you went through but why did you not apologize in the first place? said Emily with curiosity
because Charlotte said i was too scared and nothing more. I should have owned up before you left but I was angry with a full mental boiler that I could not handle and you could say that I was like James but more bragging. Emily chuckled at the thought. What's done is done, said Emily firmly. You can not blame yourself anymore, you should be up there with the engines you care most about. Charlotte just smiled. Thank you Emily. I really do appreciate it.
I will let you go of my past behavior and show some care. They were just about to look one last time when suddenly Charlotte screamed.
Emily was surprised she did expect to have a twisted visit screaming and Charlotte came puffing to her. Emily closed her eyes not to dare at what was coming next and when she opened them Charlotte was gone. She looked at the signal and it was green and the signal box lights went back on as normal . Emily puffed away quickly fearing Charlotte's past getting her.
Emily was still on time with the mail train but she looked around to see if Charlotte was going to haunt her next. As time drew ten quarter to nine Emily got done with the mail train and puffed too quickly to the sheds.
Thomas was just about to park himself in knapford sheds when Emily rushed in, put her buffers on him and did not stop until the buffers in the shed touched Thomas buffers. He was surprised and shocked to see Emily in the current state she's in.
Emily are you ok? Is Something wrong? Thomas was about to say another sentence when suddenly Emily kissed Thomas on the lips tight with his eyes open. Thomas could see tears in her eyes which made him realize she saw something tragic in her view. She finally let go and breathed out her emotions.
An engine from your past came to you unexpectedly, said thomas. Yes, Emily whimpered. I had never seen the engine's accident when I left but it got a deep scar indeed for me when I was pulling the mail train. It was my sister Tommy, my own sister fully for my view. I can't describe the pain she went through but it was awful.
Thomas was about to say that the ghost was full of rubbish and does not exist but he saw that Emily is going to be crying for days on end and knew that engine Emily described his sister with a tragic end so Thomas thought it would be best to decide not to say it in front of her And buffered up to her softly to get Emily's attention. It's alright em Thomas said softly everything is going to be ok you are my angel and you have your cobalt star to heal. Thomas kissed Emily's lips in return and spent the rest of the night comforting her feelings as a mature engine.
Emily is now fully aware of her sister's passing. She did manage to calm herself down after a few days thanks to Thomas. But hopefully she will meet her sister again soon but not too scary next time but sometimes Emily can see Charlotte when she delivers or pulls passenger trains at night while Charlotte can do is look at the moon and vanish. Emily wishes that some of Charlotte's past of rude behavior can be let go and move on. I should think so too, don't you.
I hope You guys like my first story. this was written back in october last year and i thought it looked pretty good. See you next time!