Train Window

By  Emily Wilkinson 

The girl sat and stared out of the train window at the emerald-hued scenery zooming by, with her hands folded properly in her lap and a docile expression on her porcelain face.

If any of the train's other passengers had been able to read her thoughts, they would have been surprised at the ecstatic rebellion swirling about within this insignificant-looking young woman.

She was free, finally free from her horrid family and the expectations that had always weighed down on her. She was free from an arranged marriage and parents who were perpetually disappointed in her lack of domestic or social leanings. She was free from a drab life of being nothing but a socialite, a wife to a wealthy but arrogant man whom she could never love.

The only way to be free was to flee, and that's what she had done in the wee hours of this morning. It was nearly noon now; surely her parents were furious over her absence by now. Elton would be furious as well, but he would find a new wife- some bubbly blonde, perhaps- and recover in no time. Of that the young woman was certain. She wouldn't have to deal with them, anyway, so what did it matter?

She was moving on, to the big city where she could just see her dreams of becoming a writer coming to fruition. The world was changing, and she wanted to be caught up in the beautiful insanity of it, and the city was where all the action would happen.

And now, finally, her life could begin at last.