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.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIvePlDOLB7
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He took a few steps forth when I passed him, wagging a finger. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEd3oVxi3u7
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I knew what was coming and smiled at it. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfCAvc2vziA
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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!" 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡByASh6iKcF
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I paused and turned back to him. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡES8SyapAaE
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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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLQbbTnuOnP
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What was going on here? 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2T8RBaT5Fu
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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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrYGN1xOJ0i
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What was she doing here? She was supposed to be home! 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOEOSpMKsTw
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"Soup! Don't be scared! I only want to find out a few things!" she blurted on her way. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKmYGoWdUhJ
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No, no, no! She was meant to be happy, not chasing me! 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRCGnwhcq3z
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I scurried for the bridge, pausing at the beginning of it to see Missy throw her arms down in defeat. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7hFA3tlt9I
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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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg8175kCiii
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2RKDOAdvH8
"No, don't go!" she whined out to me "Soup!" 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe9nnJh3X1s
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She had her dreams of solitude. Why was she trying to ruin it all now? 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbRAuqYbRbR
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I rushed over the bridge and kept going until I was safely over the river. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGm3jAaG4go
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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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKjRyY1UHmc
Every afternoon I approached the tracks, she would be there, waiting. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwl23iRX1Kr
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMM0Any0DX3
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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG1kbVgqIWl
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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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2WAUCdeeWv
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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjdqpvcCOVQ
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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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDJ9PEpnlEf
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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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCAsN4goIXQ
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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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWRIYVvyxw7
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But today, something changed. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYKjzdIGF2R
Missy stepped onto the tracks. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKKLYikfXpv
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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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg3tei1geA7
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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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJviEAaB0xb
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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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2B5VVoiDKw
I wouldn't be able to do anything but watch hopelessly if the train decided to run early. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhjkbFcdTZr
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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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ17jZ8Xg8pe
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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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1n9XU4Nubd
Time had done nothing to deter her. If anything, it had fuelled her curiosity into what happened that night. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsTC32HcMP5
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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzLi14VLOFV
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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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdkTnLK2p6h
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"Come on!" I cried out to her still powering along "hurry! Please!" 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8JFLqYjPqi
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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.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBQP24gSksr
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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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeMOt1pvBEg
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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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEvlH7RXFM5
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"Missy!"250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡatzZEyMAHD
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"Soup!" she whined back.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNgWSbfNFGQ
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The train ploughed past the station, screaming out frantically now. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrThdp3roTm
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Missy was approaching the safety of the land, but still couldn't outrun the train quickly closing in on her. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7lUalYBB8X
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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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFSonAb5OS9
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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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTt8F9j6UXR
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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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Yvrmy38Hr
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"Never do anything that stupid again" I gasped out and squeezed her close. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcbh5HIB9RL
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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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0SkK8Zr531
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Her glistening brown eyes looked up to mine, searching again. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeJgsQuQUxi
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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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5N04c8siqU
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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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiFMZCA6Noj
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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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdbsb3dCd8K
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"Can I still call you Soup?" her voice breathed as her eyes found mine again, curious. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpc57U9cPOf
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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? 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdRQVLirXKU
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. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWCLmGOgFwQ
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I only had the name she gave me. Whatever she wanted that to mean would be up to her.
