Strangers on a Train

The man's mouth had fallen open, a gaping hole of muted darkness. Underneath the body was a sticky, reddish-brown tint of a mess. The worst part, the most horrible aspect of this cruelty, was the eyes. They stared at her, two nearly opaque spheres that had masked the life that once existed behind them. Adrienne Parker stared in abject horror at the scene of madness before her. Leading her away, her brother Lawrence attempted to comfort her with words. But all she could think about was how this had all began.

"Lawrence!" Adrienne called out for her younger brother as she strode down the narrow corridor of the first class train car. The few people sitting in the cushioned seats glared at her, but she didn't care. All she knew was that they hadn't been on the train for longer than one evening and already she had lost track of him. Where is that boy? She didn't even want to imagine what her mother would do to her if she appeared in New York City without her younger brother in tow.

At least there aren't very many places he can go, since we are on a train, she mused. Adrienne tried to comfort herself with this thought as she searched for him. Unfortunately, if there was one thing Lawrence parker did well at his thirteen years of age, it was to get himself into as many places and inevitable scrapes as possible, especially—according to Adrienne—when his twenty-two year old sister was supposed to be watching him.

"Have you seen my brother? He has the same brown hair, except he has brown eyes, and is much younger." Adrienne added to a steward as she passed through the darkened hallway that divided the rooms and the sitting area.

"I believe I saw him last in the dining room, miss." Her rosy-red lips curling up into an expression of distaste and annoyance, she hurried back in the direction from which she had come.

"Lawrence!" Storming up to the table where her brother sat watching a game of cards, Adrienne tried to get her brother up from his enthralled perch. "I've been looking everywhere for you. Think about what Mother would do if I arrived without knowing where you were!"

"It'd serve you right," Lawrence said, not even looking up from the game. None of what she had said had made any effect on him. Suddenly conscious of her surroundings, Adrienne noticed the three men, who had been playing cards, staring at her. In an act of nervousness, she brushed her wavy brown hair back with her hand.

Two of them were rather ordinary, looking away after she stared curiously back. However, the third man, who sat to the left of Lawrence, did something odd. After his chocolate brown eyes met her pale blue ones, they hastily slid downwards to examine the cards in his left hand while his right hand scraped desperately through his short blond hair. Yet, as swiftly as his eyes had moved previously, those same brown eyes flickered towards her again. It was his expression that affected her the most. There seemed to be an impression of familiarity radiating from his gaze, although Adrienne was certain she had never seen him before that night. His face even paled from her thorough inspection of him.

After a moment of awkward silence, the blond-haired man stood up to leave.

"I suppose I'm turning in for the night." Throwing down his set of cards, he draped his coat over his arm as he glanced in Adrienne's direction. "Good evening, miss," he said before leaving.

"Well then, we'll have to continue this game another day," one of the remaining men said. "Lawrence, is this your sister?"

"Yes, I am," Adrienne said, breaking into the conversation. "Since the game is over, I believe we must be going now." With an air of finality, she dragged her brother away.

"I told you to stick close to me!" A furious Adrienne reprimanded Lawrence as they walked down the corridor to the sitting area in the first class car.

"You only go to your boring parties. Never anything fun." With a sullen expression on his face, Lawrence wandered slowly towards a booth.

"Just sit." Adrienne gestured towards the seat next to her, where she had immediately situated herself.

"Can I go over and talk to Mr. Walker?" Lawrence pointed to the man who had left the card game a few minutes before them. He was sitting alone at a nearby table, reading a newspaper.

"He doesn't look like he wants to be bothered by a kid," Adrienne said.

Lawrence shot her a fierce look. "I'm hardly a baby! Besides he was going to show me some of his drawings." With her interest piqued, Adrienne leaned towards her brother. "He's an artist?"
"Yes. Can I go now?" he said in an impatient voice.

"Stay in this room. That's all I ask."