A cold wind crept in with the late hour rustling restless as a child through the birch trees of the long ravine. It leaped from branch to branch slipping around me like an opaque coat of auburn colors. I made my hiding place in the gravel beneath the dark roots of an old oak, my hands tucked into the furrows of my oversized red sweatshirt against the sudden chill. The noise of my watch alarm clicked jolting me out of near sleep. I glanced down at the illuminated numbers there. Midnight! Where was Jessie?
Reaching into the big pocket of my jacket, I found the cold steel shape of my flashlight and switched it on. Everything around me was inky black except for the faint light I now had. Below me I could just make out the shimmering outline of train tracks at the very bottom of the ravine.
“You’d better not stand me up, Sis,” I thought. “Would be just like her to leave me out here while she stays all nice and comfy back home.” I felt something clinging to my head. Reaching up I brushed it off, a few leaves falling to the muddy earth.
Suddenly, bony fingers grasped against my shoulder from behind. I felt my hair stand on end. A prickle went up my spine. I came up like a rocket whirling around with my flashlight ready as my only weapon of defense and stopped dead still. It was only Jessie.
“Did I scare you, Justin?”
“You just startled me, Jessie,” I said glaring her down. She looked like she was going to Antarctica dressed in a bulky parka and scarf over those same blue-grey overalls of hers. “You look like a yeti in that get up. Where are you going, Alaska?”
“Oh, that’s funny coming from you, nature boy. I warned you that the news said it would get cold tonight and here you are in just your jeans and that measly little sweatshirt.”
I rolled my eyes and lied like the good twin brother I was. “It’s not that cold. Besides, you were supposed to be here at midnight, Jessie.”
“It’s not like I can just waltz out right under Dad’s nose. You’re lucky he didn’t ask where you were when he got home and just fell asleep on the couch like always. We shouldn’t even be out here this late. He’ll go ballistic if he finds out.”
“He won’t find out! Did you bring the camera?”
“That was my end of the deal. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going back home.”
“Hey, hold on! Who’s going to take my picture so I have proof I did this?”
“You’re the one who made the stupid bet with the kids in your class. You take the picture, Justin.”
I held onto her arm. “I can’t take a picture of myself going into the tunnel. It’s too hard to get the image right if I can’t see it. Come on. It will be quick … I promise.”
{So begins my posting of some parts of Aboard the Phantom Express}
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