nowhere to run, nowhere to hide // patricia&lysander

Eerie.

It’s the only word Lysander can think of to describe the silent train as it moved quickly down the tracks headed for home. A place she thought she would never see again. A place she had given up long ago, even before she had said those two words and stumbled towards the stage. Home had not existed to her for a long time. Over a year she had been lost and alone.

But finally, home was in sight.

The train seemed entirely empty as the trees flashed by in a giant blur. No sweet melodies of birds singing and no voices traveling up and down the halls. No screams that chilled her to the bone. Silence. Lysander was left with her own thoughts and her own dreams on the rare occasion that sleep would fall upon her. She was alone, even in her nightmares there was no one around. An empty field where petals floated down from the sky and gems of varying colors scattered throughout the dirt. She stood in the middle, not a living person in sight. The colored petals would land on her head, vibrant against the paleness of her hair. Just when she would come to terms with her loneliness, when she finally would bask in the peacefulness of the silence a figure would appear. They would call out her name and it would be nothing more than a whisper on the wind. Meredith. Arabella. Terra. She would reach out, desperate for her touch, but every time she got close, they would disappear.

And she would awake with a jolt.

Her room had turned into a cage and she desperately needed to escape. Lysander squeezed through the sliding door before it was fully open, desperate for air, desperate to be able to breathe again. She stumbled down the long hallways searching for a less restricting room. The main cabin of the train was insight and without hesitation she shoved her way through. The silence of the train had convinced her it was empty aside from her. She was taken aback when a woman with red hair sat peacefully on one of the couches.

“Patricia,”

Lysander’s voice was cool and collected, making sure that not even the slightest hint of emotion betrayed her. She stood up a little taller before letting the eyes wander across the room. The crown weighed heavy on her head, threatening to shatter, but she couldn’t let mentor see her fall.

Not yet.

She wandered to the bar, her comfort zone, her favorite place to be. They had cleaned out the bottles she had finished and replaced them with brand new ones. They were full to the brim and she took her hand across them and a light tinkling sound filled the room. There was an empty glass sitting on the counter, beginning to be filled. She took her finger and gently ran it across the glass rim. Lysander spoke without looking up.
”I’m sure you’re surprised to see me here.”

There wasn’t even a hint of anger in her voice.

Because she was surprised too.