Station, part 3

By Alex, 7^th grade

Finally, I made my decision. I dropped the keys, got back out of the truck, and slammed the door.

“I’m glad you’ve decided to come with me,” Miss Brunswick said happily.

“He’ll kill us,” I whispered, not making eye contact. “You told me before he would kill us if we went back there.”

“Yes, I know, but if all goes well, we’ll be okay.”

I was dying to know what exactly was so important for us to do there that we were going to risk our lives to do it, and as if she had read my mind…

“My plan is to rescue them.”

It didn’t take any specification to understand that.

“Fine. I’ll go. But we’re not dawdling. We rescue and we get out. And I don’t communicate with Julius at all. I can’t believe he did that to us. I hate him.”

“He was scared, Nat. You have to understand that. But don’t be so quick to judge. Your feelings might be a bit different than you think.”

“You’re wrong,” I argued.

Miss Brunswick smiled mischievously. “I have eyes, you know,” she said. “I’ve been paying attention for the past ten years, and I think you two have something.”

I didn’t say anything, but I felt my face turn bright red.

“We need to get going.”

The rest of the journey was quiet and uneventful. I was still a little angry at Miss Brunswick, so I stayed to the edge of whatever road we were walking on, kept my eyes on the ground, and didn’t say anything.

Finally, after a few hours, the big gray building came into view. Miss Brunswick stopped abruptly and turned around, slipping into an alley and ducking behind a trash bin.

“What?” I whispered, jumping down behind her.

“I thought I saw someone,” she breathed. “There was someone at the window.” 

“Uh, okay. Let’s think. In the optimistic spirit, who could that be?”

“Julius, any of the kids, really.”

“Cool. And…in the we’re-probably-going-to-die spirit?”

“One of the guards. The Commander.”

Oh.

Great.

We weren’t even in the building yet and we were busted.

“It could have been anyone,” I whispered, trying to make myself believe it. Miss Brunswick turned around and gave me one of those looks.

“Okay, okay, maybe it is someone who wants us dead. What do we do?”

“Nat, would we be hiding if I knew?”

She had a point.

I stood up and walked around the trash bin.

“Nat. Are you trying to get us killed?”

“No, I’m trying to see if I can tell whether or not we’re going to.”

I couldn’t see much, but the figure was tall, the top of their head just meeting the top of the window. I also caught the distinct twinkling of a pair of brown eyes that I recognized.

“It’s Julius!” I called in a hushed voice. “It’s okay, I think.”

Miss Brunswick emerged.

“Should we go in?” she asked.

“Yeah, I think it’s safe,” I said. And, nervously, I pushed open the heavy wooden door and we went inside.