Moonlight pierced through the darkness of her cabin. Even though the curtain was drawn, a sliver of light landed in a line across her bed. The steady rocking of the train usually soothed her to sleep.
However, sleep eluded her as she lay awake, thinking about Theresa and how she was going to pull off switching with her. Abigail’s diary laid next to her, open to a page with messy scrawl.
She had written down as much as she could remember about Theresa’s life, her mother and father, her fiancé Richard, and even about her best friend, Margaret. If she was going to go into her life, she needed to know as much about it as possible. The more time she thought about Theresa’s life, the more she longed to claim it as her own.
The food, the gowns, the staff,she thought as she brought the thin sheet up to her cheeks, to hide her smile in the dark.
The only task left was to find the right time to make the switch. She thought of many scenarios, trying to figure out the best option. She was running out of time since they were only a couple days away from their destination.
Nothing seemed like the right fit without causing a scene. Just as she was drifting off to sleep, the train made an awful, high-pitched noise and jolted harshly as the brakes engaged. Her body collided with the bare floor.
She recovered quickly. Her natural instincts kicking in that danger was close. She checked her head for any signs of blood, because she felt it hit hard on the floor, and on an unknown object. There was no blood, just throbbing from the location of impact.
Maybe someone saw my tether and is coming to collect me.She waited to see if anyone would burst into her room, but it was silent.
After a few quiet minutes, she surmised that the train had some mechanical issue. She peered out her door to see if there was anything interesting happening. It looked as though all was quiet until she heard distant yelling.
Abigail looked side to side down the hallway, contemplating which direction the voices were coming from. Theresa popped her head out and looked at Abigail. Fear covered her face in the dark. Abigail was surprised to see Theresa’s cabin was so close to hers, as she hadn’t seen her anywhere except in the public cars.
Suddenly the voices were loud and close.
“Come on. Get out, and bring anything of value,” a man shouted at another passenger in the car next to them, but they were even closer than before.
“Get your hands off me! Do you know who I am?” A boisterous female voice screeched in response, followed by the sounds of a dog barking.
Abigail suddenly had a pure moment of genius. This was her best way to switch and leave Theresa, or rather, Abigail, in the dust.
She rushed to Theresa’s room, pushing her inside and closing the door behind them.
This would be so much easier if I could keep Theresa’s body here, away from danger,Abigail thought as she glanced around the room for any place to hide. There was no place that would offer enough space to shield them from the man coming to them.
Theresa paced around, her body shaking in the moonlight. Abigail crossed over and embraced the crying woman. She put her hands on either side of her face.
“I think the train is being robbed,” Abigail whispered. Theresa just nodded her head, but her face was panic-sticken.
A train car door slammed. A man’s voice continued moving close to them, giving orders to the other passengers, his voice getting louder as he moved closer to Theresa’s room.
“I have an idea to save everyone,” Abigail said. “I am going to sacrifice myself and go with them. I will tell them that I am worth a good amount of money as a hostage and ask that they spare everyone on board.”
“No, please, you can’t leave me! There must be another way.” Theresa cried and clung to Abigail’s nightgown. The guilt Abigail felt caused her stomach to tighten.
Can I really send an innocent person to certain death?She shook the thought away.There is no way of knowing she will die. It’s possible she will be rescued and live a long, confusing life.
Another door slammed nearby, and Abigail refocused on the task at hand. If she was going to do this, it needed to be now.
Theresa will manage somehow.I have spent too much of my life focused on feeling guilty. I deserve to have a new life full of comfort and wealth!
“This is going to all work out.” The words were meant more for herself than Theresa. Footsteps stopped just outside the door. “Just follow my lead and keep quiet!” Abigail whispered urgently.
The door swung open, and a gruff, angry looking man stared at the women in their nightgowns, locked in an embrace. He smiled, revealing a row of brown teeth with one missing in the front.
A new arm came into view and shoved the first toothy man out of the way, revealing a second gruff man with a giant scar down the left side of his face.
He didn’t smile at them. He just came in and separated them, pushing Theresa out to the waiting man. Abigail was grabbed and pushed out the door next. Ahead of them, she saw the robbers had gathered all the passengers into the lounge.
An older, plump woman holding her small dog was belligerent. “You have no idea who you are dealing with. Don’t touch me! Oh, Snoodles, it’s okay. Mommy is here. We are okay.” The small dog barked wildly at everyone as it shook.
Theresa wasn’t fairing much better than the dog, minus the barking. The men grabbed them and moved them toward one of the couches. Abigail put her arms around Theresa. She needed to start telling a story to the other passengers for her plan to work.
