It was cloudy night; I could feel a soft breeze blow across my face. I was walking along an old dirt road. The wind would blow the clouds across the sky. Which would cause the road to be lit from time to time by the full moon. A small animal scurried past me; most likely it was a rat.
My mind was preoccupied, thinking of why I was in this world, what was my purpose in life? I couldn’t seem to find any answers inside of me or anywhere I looked.
I grew up as an orphan, you see. The police, in a park, found me on a small bench. I was about four years old and unconscious. They brought me to a small orphanage on the outskirts of town. When I came to, they asked me some questions. I couldn’t remember anything at all, about where I came from? Who I was? The only thing I had, that was some sort of clue, was a small necklace with a red gem on it. On the front of the gem, were black flame marks. On the back of the gem, was my name engraved on it, “Michelle Nogard Retnuh”.
It’s been fourteen years, since that day, and I have yet to find any information about who I am or where I came from.
I kept walking for quite a while. Suddenly, a bright light began to head towards me. I don’t know what it is, but I moved over to the side of the road so I wouldn’t get hit, if it were a car. As the light came into view, it began to form a strange object. It was a red rusty passenger train. I was very confused. There has never been a train known to come through this area. Plus there were no tracks lane down on the road for the train to follow on. The train came to a slow stop as it approached.
A man walked out of the train. He was a small old man who looked simple and kind. He had gray hair and sweet blue eyes that were behind small silver glasses. As for the way he was dressed, it was the usual train conductor like uniform, with a blue suit, black shiny shoes and a cylinder shaped blue hat. The old man turned and looked at me. He began to walk up to me. Stopping right in front of me, he politely asks, "May I please see your ticket?”
“Excuse me?” I said, confused. He seemed to be the train’s ticket collector.
“Your ticket?” he asked again.
“Sir, I haven’t bought a ticket for any train.” I replied.
The old man gave a look of concern and reached into his blue coat. From it, he pulls out what looks like a small black handbook.
“Name?” he asked.
“Umm…Michelle, Michelle Nogard Retnuh.” I replied.
“Hmm…Retnuh, eh?” he said, scanning through his book for a match. “Here we are! Yep you’re listed here as having a ticket. So I don’t see why you shouldn’t have one…”
“I don’t mean to be rude, but like I said before, I never bought a ticket for a train.”
The old man burst into laughter. “Buying the ticket? Haha! It’s impossible to buy a ticket for this train.”
“Then how the heck do you know that I have a ticket then?” I snapped.
“Well my book here has a listing of all the people who are able to ride the train. Everyone in this book is registered for the train when they are born. And to prove that they are the real person they claim to be, I am here to inspect their tickets. Tickets are something that the people of our world are born with. It can’t just be anything though, like a teddy bear or blanket, but actually “born” with it like a birthmark. Do you have one of those?”
“Hmm…a birthmark? Yeah I am told I have one my back.”
“May I see it, please?” the old man asked.
I turned around and lifted the back of my shirt to show him my birthmark.
“Hmm…I haven’t seen this sort of marking for quite some time.” he finally said.
“What does it look like? I have never really gotten a clear look at it myself.” I asked.
“Well, it looks like a pair of small dragon wings. Interesting though…the skin color of the birthmark is that of an unusual color, silver. There was only one clan of people who had markings like these, but the last family member of the clan, supposedly, died along time ago. Strange that you have the same one and it is real deal too…not a fake one, like a tattoo.”
Suddenly, the train behind him let out a loud toot of its horn. The train seemed to be getting impatient with the ticket man.
“Whoops! Looks like time slipped by on me again.” he said cheerfully. “Well it’s the real thing and I approve it. So, you may get on the train now.”
I put the back of my shirt down and followed the ticket man toward the train. I felt that for some reason I had to get onto this train. It may just lead me to the information I need.
As I entered the train, I thought hard about what I was getting myself into.
“The ticket man had already given me some clues. He mentioned that no one could get onto the train with out being registered from their world. Somehow, I am in his register book. He also knows some things about my birthmark. He said that my birthmark came from a clan of people. Maybe, that clan could be apart of my family? The only problem is that the clan supposedly died out. But if I have their traditional birthmark, then that there is proof that there still has to be some survivors of the clan. I mean I can’t be the only one left right?”
Inside the train, there was no one around in the hallways. The train began to move forward. The ticket man came over to me and directed me to one of the rooms in the car. I walked in to it and sat down on the red cushioned seats. As I sat there, I watched the stars roll by in the night sky from the window.
Suddenly, a knock came to the door of the cabin.
"Come in" I said.
The door slid slowly open. A young boy about the same age as me, 18, popped his head in. The boy had short brown hair, green eyes, and a fair complexion. He was wearing a black shirt, blue jeans, and had a pair of tennis shoes on. For some reason, he looked a little familiar.
“Sorry I don’t mean to bother you,” he said, “but may I sit in here, the other cars are bit full.”
"You may." I replied.
“Thank you”
He walked into the room and sat down across from me. I tried to take a good look at him while he wasn’t looking.
“He seems so familiar. Where I have met him before?” I thought, to myself.
The boy turns around and faces me.
“You don’t remember me do you, Michelle?” the boy says.
“You know my name?!” I shouted.
“Of course I do. We were once very good friends.”
“I have this feeling that I met you once before but I can’t put my finger on it. Sorry.” I responded.
The boy gives out a small sigh. “We grew up together in the orphanage, remember?”
I gave a long hard thought. At first, nothing came into my mind, but finally an image of a small boy appeared. I was playing and talking to him as if we were best friends.
“Now I remember!” I said, “You’re Steven Blue. We used to play together, till you got adopted by a nice pair of folks.”
“Yep that’s me! Whew! I was worried there for a second. I’m glad that you still remember me, Michelle.” Steven said, smiling.