Chapter 13
Thaddeus cried and shivered. He tried not to let it show but it didn’t really matter anymore. This was his world now. No one had any way to get him back. He pinned it all on the sorcerers. All hope rested on their ability to get him back.
He almost turned back several times. If there was any chance at all he wanted to take it. But he kept walking. It was over now. There was no going back, not even for a slim chance. He knew they wouldn’t help him. They were even more useless than the king and queen of the Bell Forest.
Galen followed at a distance. He watched Thaddeus sadly, searching his memories for any kind of clue that might help out.
“I think we should go back to where you came in.” He said.
Thaddeus shook his head. “No,” he said, trying not to sound like he was crying. “It’s over.”
Galen didn’t push the subject.
They came to the dirt slide. Thaddeus got down and let himself slip down the fifty feet to the bottom. He jumped up and continued walking. Galen followed close behind.
Not long later Thaddeus sat down on a big rock and folded is arms.
“What is this?” Galen asked.
“I’m done.” Thaddeus announced.
“You’re what now?”
“I’m finished with this.”
“Finished with what?”
Thaddeus stared ahead, frowning deeply. “I have no reason to continue if I’m never going to see my family again. I don’t want to be in this horrible place anymore.”
Galen grew irritated. “That’s it? This is the end of the road for you? What do you think this is exactly? This isn’t something you can just quit. Get up.”
“No.”
“So what now? Are you going to sit on this rock for the rest of your life and be lonely and depressed? No! You’re not. You’re going to get up and keep moving. You’re going to put a smile on your face and never stop looking for what you need.”
“A smile?” Thaddeus said as though it was the stupidest idea ever. “I’m never going to go home again, I’m never going to see my family. What makes you think I need to smile?”
“It’s better than the alternative!” Galen snapped. “Trust me. It’s better than sitting on this rock for the rest of your life being depressed and lonely. Do you not think that everyone in this world wouldn’t rather sit here all day and feel bad? Everyone would. You know why we don’t? Because we learn that that’s not the way to deal with what’s wrong. We get back up and keep going even if it kills us because it’s better than dying alone and sad on some stupid rock.”
“You don’t get it.” Thaddeus breathed.
Galen straightened up to his full height and glared down at Thaddeus. “That’s your answer? I said that once. And then I grew up. Do you think I wanted to spend my whole life helping some bean bag man? After fifteen years I got outta there. I wanted to find my family. I wanted to get back to where I was from. That’s right, I’m like you.” Thaddeus looked up quickly. “I came over when I was very young.” Galen continued. “I have almost no memories of what it was like over there. I vaguely remember my parents and maybe a car ride but that’s it. When you said something about a high school in that bar I immediately knew you were from there as well. Things like that don’t exist here. I couldn’t believe it, someone like me. Someone who could remember the world I left. I wanted so badly to help you because I thought you might finally be the one to figure it out. You knew the most, you had to have some ideas. But no, I find out now you don’t care about getting back, not really.”
“I do want to get back.” Thaddeus said.
“Then get up and prove it.”
“I don’t know what to do!” Thaddeus yelled. “I’m out of ideas. I spent every minute since I got here convincing myself that I would get back as soon as possible. I kept all the fear and loneliness hidden away because I couldn’t bear to think about it. I had a goal when I met you, I had someone who could help and that led to someone else who could help. Now there’s no one. I don’t know who to turn to or where to go. The world is huge and it could take years to find someone else with any knowledge. By then I might forget what they look like or what they sound like and that’s terrifying.”
Galen sat down and put his hand on Thaddeus’s shoulder. “This isn’t just about you finding a way back. This is about you finding a way back for everyone who was ever stuck here.”
“I don’t even know why people get stuck here.”
“We have to figure that out. What do we have to work with right now?”
“Nothing that I know of.”
Galen shook his head. “Not quite. Don’t you remember what the king said?”
“About Yew?”
“Exactly. She disappeared. It sounds to me like she may have gotten back over.”
Thaddeus jumped up from the rock. “It does doesn’t it? But if she did—how?”
“No idea. Here, let’s walk and figure it out. We need to get to that train station. From there we can go anywhere and maybe find someone who can help.”
Thaddeus nodded slowly. He was willing to give it a try. He looked at the rock with disgust. Galen was right. Thaddeus smiled and started away from it. “There is no alternative.” He said.
Galen smiled. “That’s right.”
They walked side by side discussing what may have been said by the king and queen to Yew. They wondered if that even mattered. It had to, there’s no other way she would have disappeared so suddenly. If she really did go back through to the other side because something was said it must have been something that changed everything for her. They tried hard to figure out what it could be but to no avail. Thaddeus suggested they go back and ask, but Galen was worried about getting put in jail. Plus the king might still be running away if the sorcerer couldn’t change him back.
Sometime later they came out onto a beach. Sand went right up to a pleasant shoreline. To the left was a small building with a platform. They crossed over railroad tracks in the sand and went over to the building.
Galen went up to a little window and bought two tickets. They got onto the platform and sat down on a bench.
“Where are we going?” Thaddeus asked.
“Away.”
It was good enough for Thaddeus.
“I’m sorry about all this, kid.” Galen said after a few minutes of waiting.
“It’s alright.” He lied.
“Sometimes life doesn’t work out the way we want it to.”
“Or the way we need it to.” Thaddeus added.
Galen went into the little building and came back with two sandwiches. They ate and continued to wait for the train. The day passed painfully slow at the station. Shortly before evening a train finally pulled up. It was short and had only one car.
It was empty. The inside was a little different than Thaddeus thought. The front half of the car had benches on the sides and the back half had seats facing forward. They sat in the back facing forward.
Someone came by and took the tickets. They waited a minute to see if anyone else would show up but no one did.
The train began to move. Thaddeus stared out the window longingly. Talking to Galen made him feel a little better, but now the pain and anxiety slowly returned.
“It’s a beach train.” Galen said. “It follows the beach the whole way.”
Thaddeus nodded.
They stopped at a few small stations along the way. A few people got on at the first one and a few more at the second. No one talked. Some looked just as sad as Thaddeus.
The sun went down and for a while the train moved smoothly through grayness. The world is calm in the evenings. It’s a time to reflect on the day. The sky turned slowly to black. Everyone got off at the same station. Only Galen and Thaddeus were left.
Thaddeus sat back and tried to sleep but it was difficult on the hard seats. Galen carefully pulled him over
and let him put his head on his shoulder. Thaddeus tried to sleep. He didn’t know how much longer they had or if they would even have a place to sleep when they got there.
The rhythm of the train was soothing. Little Thaddeus Minnow dozed off sometime in the night.
He dreamed of his parents. All he remembered was that they were somewhere with him. He woke up when it was still dark out. For a few moments he was content. And then realization crept in and he remembered where he was and what happened.
Galen nudged him awake. “Last stop. We have to get off.”
Thaddeus got up and sauntered to the door. He was still very tired. They got off the train at the edge of a town. It seemed oddly familiar. “Where are we?” He yawned.
“The Town.” Galen responded.