Chip sat with his head resting against the window. His I-pod drowned out the sound of his friends talking next to him. He looked out of the window watching the countryside fly past them. He knew he should be a lot happier than he was now. For some reason he felt almost depressed, he wasn’t sure this was such a good idea.

Pete and Charlie pretended not to notice Chip’s uncertainty and carried on with their game of cards across the table. Chip didn’t have to be able to hear what they were saying to know what they were talking about. It was the same nonsensical rubbish that they always would talk about, usually Chip joined in, enjoying the fact that no one could predict where a conversation was going. Suddenly he felt detached.

Freya had been gone three years. Her family had moved away. Chip missed her and hadn’t been able to get in contact with her since. She hadn’t said goodbye.

It had been Charlie that had found them, Chip never asked how, but they knew where her family had moved to now, and they were on their way down the country to visit. Since getting on the train Chip had begun to have second thoughts.

The music in his head phones calmed him down and the rhythmic movement of the train sent him to sleep.