Myth. L.A. Mango

simultaneously. It didn’t make me feel comfortable, especially since the train had started to move. I needed to clutch on to something without anyone noticing, otherwise I’d start screaming like a maniac. I went back to sit next to Mason.

      “That fast?” he asked skeptically.

      I shrugged, “I didn’t really want to go after all,” I replied as I tightly clutched the windowsill, trying to breathe slowly.

      The leader of the group, who was sitting near me at the back of the train, stood up and walked towards me. I remembered him now; his name was Brook Wright. He used to pick on my brother when he was in third grade. I recalled my brother and I coming back from school the other day in third grade, my brother’s hand was over his eye, trying to cover the bruise Brook gave him at school.

      I also recalled Isaac giving me hints as to who Professor Wright was. He had asked me if her last name rang a bell. And it did now. Professor Wright was Brook’s mother. That was why everyone hated her. Her son was the biggest bully in school and she had homeschooled him herself after too many complaints about her son’s violent behavior. Everyone was relieved to know that Brook was gone, but that did not last long since his mother decided to teach at our school.

      I boiled inside when I remembered him. He had bullied my brother. I also felt pained at the same time. I wished that I could go back in time to tell Isaac that I remembered. I tried not to remember Isaac, but it was too hard. Memories of him seem to haunt me everywhere.

      Brook came up to me.

      “Hey, you’re Iris Abernorth. You’re the twin sister of that wimp I used to bully, right?” he snickered.

      “And you’re the son of that witch who used to teach me,” I gritted my teeth, still clutching the windowsill.

      “Whoa, take it easy Abernorth. I was just stating a fact. I didn’t even think your brother would last a minute in the Unknown, and I was right.” Brook said with a smirk.

      I felt like wiping that smirk off his face with a good punch. I rarely felt that way, but I wanted to avenge Isaac. Now that he was dead, I had to fulfill one of his wishes.

      Mason stood up.

      “Hey, lay off her…” he said in a low threatening tone. Mason and Brook were almost the same height, with Mason being only a couple of centimeters taller. Brook laughed as if he had heard a joke.

      “Stay out of this Westfield. Do you know who I am?”

      “Well, do you know who this is?” Mason balled his fist in front of Brook.

      “Hey, hey, boys break it up.” The Phoenix leader came up to them and separated them. The guards tried to convince the leader that they would take care of the fight instead, but Demetrius just ignored them.

      “I don’t want anyone fighting on this train, agreed?” Demetrius said sternly.

      Mason backed away obediently, giving Brook a disgusted look. The leader walked away slowly making sure they would not break into a fistfight.

      Brook’s eyes shifted to me and back to Mason.

      “I suggest you both watch your backs from now on, ‘cause it ain’t gonna be pretty when you let your guard down for one second.” He walked away with a snarl.

      Mason sat back down, his face red with anger. I had never seen him so angry. Mason and I grew up together for a period time until we were eight, but I knew him as a very humble and calm person.

      I watched Brook walk away as I clutched onto my seat tightly.

      ++++++++++

      I stared out the window for a long time. Mason and I didn’t talk after the fight ended. I saw the enormous expanse of farmlands under us. What should have been a green field was all covered with dirt. I saw some farmers picking fruits or vegetables, and others planting more seeds. There were some small barns lying around far beyond the gardens of fruits and vegetables where they kept the animals. One of the most accessible jobs was farming, but the problem was that farmers didn’t receive a lot of money. The same applied to working in factories, which were way too far away from the Land of the Undecided, and near the edge of the island, close to the ocean.

      The hills suddenly turned from yellow to green fields. I stopped daydreaming and looked outside the window in awe. Mason did the same.

      The field was so huge that it seemed endless. I saw a huge mountain, a rectangular tall tower and a big castle beyond the fields. I also saw some woods that lay between the mountain and the castle and a beach in the far distance.

      The place looked amazing, nothing at all like the Land of the Undecided. No paper bags flying around, no glass, cans, or anything harmful on the ground. It was all so clean. I couldn’t believe I was so scared to enter the Unknown. I was more than grateful to have survived and entered the Unknown now.

      There was no place that looked like this in the Island of Purlieu, except for The Valley of the Myths.