Gone To HollyOak

Gone to HollyOak.

The man and the woman stepped off the train cautiously, and stared around the rest stop.
They were surrounded by green hills and blue skies, which mesmerized them to the climatic point. They had never seen such green fields and clear skies in Canada. The woman let out a sigh and looked off into the distance. “What is the matter?” The man asked her, not daring to look at her.

“I’m glad,” She said with a slight smile, “That you took me here before the end.” The man refused to cry at such a time. It was hard for him to hold in the flood of salty raindrops behind his eyelids.

“Must you always bring that up?” The man muttered.

The woman ignored him and walked towards the small bar in the rest area. The man had no choice but to follow her, and silently traced her steps with his own and made his way to the bar. Her scent floated around making the man smell her essence and shiver. He was going to miss that sweet perfume. “This is wonderful,” The woman said softly as she sat down in the booth.

Them man withdrew the booth’s curtain and opened the window. He smelled the fresh California air and closed his eyes, hoping that everything around him would turn into a sweet nothing. That way, he won’t need to worry about the girl. “Can I get you travelers anything?” A waitress called outside of the booth.

“Two beers please,” The woman said popping her head out of the curtain. The man sighed and buried his face in his hands, trying to drown out the beautiful scenery around him. He didn’t bother telling her that beer was bad for her system now. “Now, John, don’t look so down.”

It was full of sarcasm, and the man could tell. He scowled and leaned back, “I’m not down.”

“I think you are,” The woman shrugged.

“Well you obviously think wrong.”

Then there was an awkward silence. The woman felt the tension in the small space between them and smiled slightly. Her cheeks flushed a bit and her berry red lips cracked into a grin. Her dead black eyes roamed around the booth, then settled onto the window. She started to look at the hills and said, “There’s a myth they used to say down in Mexico, that hills are the graves of dead giants.”

The man looked at the hills too, and regretted putting the image of a grave in his head.

“The clouds are supposedly floating souls that look over their loved ones,” She continued. The man looked up towards the sky and realized that the skies were clear. No clouds roamed above them and looked over them. At that moment, he knew she was being sarcastic. She always said she had no one that loved her. Even after he spent half of his life being by her side and looking after her.

“My mother said to call her once we reach HollyOak,” She finished once the waitress arrived with their cool drinks. The man watched her sip the drink with caution written on her face, and then once her taste buds approved it, she gulped it down.

“HollyOak won’t give you a reception. You know that.” The man drank one gulp of his beer. The girl shrugged and shut her dark eyes with her pale lids. The intercom all around the rest area beeped loudly meaning that a message was about to be said.

“Train Thirty Three will be boarding passengers in the next ten minutes.”

“Do you have the money to tip the waitress?” The woman nodded and left two dollar bills on the table. They quickly got up and headed towards the hissing train. An overseer was standing by the train entrance, asking for the passenger’s tickets and asking one question. When the woman came up to the overseer, he asked, “Ticket?”

She showed him her ticket. After inspecting it, he asked another simple question. “Cause of Death?”

“Cancer.”

The man stepped up after the woman was pardoned to board the train. He showed him his ticket, not bothering to let him ask. And before the overseer could ask his second question, he simply answered…

“Suicide.”