The sight of Bartie already at the tracks when I walked along them in the bright sunlight filled me with hope that things had returned to normal.215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmT9sXqXi9u
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He took a few steps forth when I passed him, wagging a finger. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC6pPsjrTpf
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I knew what was coming and smiled at it. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC9LIFzp9pc
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"She's worried sick about you, Soup!" Bartie grumbled at me "running off on her like that. Shame on you for having her in tears!" 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8BoyUt3cw7
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I paused and turned back to him. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbUDTjjgR6P
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That wasn't his usual warning. He was supposed to tell me not to hurt her, like he always did. He never changed it. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDizAIIhfOb
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What was going on here? 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡERbiFNSFo4
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Missy's face poked from the newsagency and lit up at the sight of me before she rushed out of it and for the tracks. Her pale pink dress billowed around her when she ran, kicking up around her legs to glimpse the red under-fabric. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE8orLIhY4C
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What was she doing here? She was supposed to be home! 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHjl3BCOrqN
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"Soup! Don't be scared! I only want to find out a few things!" she blurted on her way. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9p1VidFIGE
215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9tcGe31mkF
No, no, no! She was meant to be happy, not chasing me! 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOTkBt6XS02
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I scurried for the bridge, pausing at the beginning of it to see Missy throw her arms down in defeat. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcWYCjzKSDz
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She wasn't going to follow me. She knew it was too dangerous to be tempting fate on a place like this. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0wTxyAtYqV
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"No, don't go!" she whined out to me "Soup!" 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEm3zIGhNUC
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She had her dreams of solitude. Why was she trying to ruin it all now? 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQSHJVHha8H
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I rushed over the bridge and kept going until I was safely over the river. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIyXwOtKLBy
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She just needed more time to realise. Then, we would be back to normal again.
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Unlike my hopes, Missy was relentless in her pursuit for answers. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwJv1MqXWSo
Every afternoon I approached the tracks, she would be there, waiting. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAGKRSPjSi0
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She tried giving me distance at first from Bartie's shop but realised that I had too much time to dart back to safety on her sprint down toward me. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ23R52tPsn
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After failing that tactic a few times and giving up on it, she tried ambushing me from the side of the track as soon as I walked out into the open. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkRvnlj13Uo
I was too quick for her, even with her advantage. She still refused to step onto the tracks that I darted along to escape her hunt for the truth. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgO9NxNpfpE
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I could see it was breaking her spirit at how wary I was being of someone I had cherished so highly. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUeUnlsjI8L
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Missy started to give up whenever I spotted her across the river and refused to close the distance between us. She didn't call out to me anymore and just watched hopelessly while I backed away to continue my scavenge for food elsewhere. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡldumn8aFGn
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Starvation was bringing me back to those tracks every day to only be met with disappointment once again.
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Two weeks of the same occurrence refused to deter Missy from hoping for some miracle that I would approach her. Every day she would wait at the tracks for me in silence, and every day I would turn from them when I saw her face pull up into a hopeful smile. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiEP6f9YC4D
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But today, something changed. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq6b98Qz8Cj
Missy stepped onto the tracks. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKqH9KpfghJ
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She came marching towards me with worried glanced over her shoulder to any danger that might be barrelling past her home from the West. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDcsK20KRvP
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I didn't dare leave my side knowing that she had nowhere to escape. Her trembling body was already over the river, trying to hurry towards me as quickly as she could over the rolling gravel sprayed over the boards she stretched her body over. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPDbg4fIUyM
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I paced nervously in my own fear of being caught over the water with her. She was still so far away from land, even with her frantic pace. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4tcnAUqknG
I wouldn't be able to do anything but watch hopelessly if the train decided to run early. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdBN1nrga3E
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Listening to her now wouldn't change her mind and get her to return to the safety of the roadside. She wasn't going to let me ignore her any longer. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4z7cfM4r9e
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Determination fuelled her fight. I was going to give her whatever she wanted if it meant she wasn't going to be so reckless anymore. If she wanted to destroy her life by hunting down impossibilities, then I couldn't stop her. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3RMMl6w9Gl
Time had done nothing to deter her. If anything, it had fuelled her curiosity into what happened that night. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaXMpZRtHzJ
I couldn't chase her away with ignorance or distance. Missy was going to find a way around it, even if it tried to kill her. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVy0pxw9XVb
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My whole body trembled at the thoughts blaring through my mind. They smashed through my nerves like the train dragging Missy's body along the tracks in every possibility I saw. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHvbhEB9ZkK
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"Come on!" I cried out to her still powering along "hurry! Please!" 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuk9aS6SqT8
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I didn’t want to be here anymore. I knew the train had to be approaching this point at any moment now.215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡusJvjsahDe
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Sure enough, I saw it in the distance behind Missy. It powered effortlessly on its approach to her house it easily passed in moments. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRVPnwYYQ6e
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The horn of the train screamed out to make Missy turn her head and frantically race towards me. I knew that the gravel had to be spearing the bottoms of her thin flats, but she didn't have time to stick to the safety of the boards anymore. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZkdh7RmNd8
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"Missy!"215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyRZGccDj28
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"Soup!" she whined back.215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfYAFIQslN9
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The train ploughed past the station, screaming out frantically now. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqGVKniCvHd
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Missy was approaching the safety of the land, but still couldn't outrun the train quickly closing in on her. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDtxojRRgCv
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I leapt for the grass that knocked the air from my lungs and felt Missy's body hit the grass beside me as the train barrelled by. Its brakes screeched down my ears and froze my blood that shivered down my spine. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRlIgc3ISIg
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Missy gasped and trembled beside me before clinging to my arms in fear while sobbing. I cradled Missy in the grass while trying to shake my own grateful tears she was safe. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZe4LrR7RPP
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She was so delicate huddled into me. Her head rested on my chest that warmed with her rigid breaths. The rest of her skin was frozen from the fear still coursing through her. Her arms tucked against me to try and warm up on my body. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo0r6lcpQB9
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"Never do anything that stupid again" I gasped out and squeezed her close. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Vx4V5i31C
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Missy leant into it and didn't try to pull from me. Her trembling breath was steadying, and her sobs had subsided to little sniffles she tried to control. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWyZLGqJwHh
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Her glistening brown eyes looked up to mine, searching again. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTk28mV6IPX
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My body stiffened, dreading that the same fear and confusion would wash over them like that night I had run from them. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBFxonS73bF
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I didn’t want to see that or know I was the cause of it. I moved my head away, looking at the clear sky and the drifting clouds above us finally threatening rain. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBMIpcbPTZU
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Glancing down, I saw that Missy's eyes softened in the same way they did when she greeted me each day. They fluttered closed just as her shaking lips gently brushed on my cheek, leaving a tear to glide effortlessly down it. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd9oEs9zFlr
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"Can I still call you Soup?" her voice breathed as her eyes found mine again, curious. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz1pZlqq9Sh
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Did she want to shatter it all for me? Or did she want to keep it the way it was, blissfully ignorant? 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi2Muk72Iyu
She wouldn't be able to understand my answer anyway. I was just a creature trying to escape the drag of life, just like her. Everything else was drowned in the water tower and floating in the river, like it could remain to be. 215Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ9d8bCetlw
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I only had the name she gave me. Whatever she wanted that to mean would be up to her.
