Page 2 of The Hellkeeper

Amelia

I’m soaked to the bone by the time I get onto the train. My legs feel like they’re going to fall off from the distance I walked, and the rain turned the dirt road into a muddy mess, staining my feet and the hem of my white dress. I wring the water out of my long hair and watch as it splatters onto the train floor.

I’m cold. I’m scared. But most of all…I’m alive.

The train is packed, even this late. Farmers heading home, their hands rough and their faces tired. Some glance at me with something like pity. Others sneer, their expressions twisting into something darker. Something hungry. I don’t understand why. Do they know what I’ve done? That I’ve put my entire village at risk?

A voice crackles over the speakers. At first, I think the Hellkeeper is speaking to me from the sky, but no one else reacts. It’s just an announcement.

The train slows, and a few men stand. One lingers. An old man with a limp and sun-worn skin. He quickly shrugs off his jacket and puts it in my lap.

"Stay safe, girl," he croaks out.

He doesn’t wait for a thank you, just shuffles off the train. I blink down at the jacket, pressing the warm fabric against me. The elders always said the outside world was cruel, but that man just gave me the only thing keeping him warm. What else have they lied about?

The train jerks to a stop.

"Downtown," the voice announces.

I step off, shaking the weight of those men’s eyes off my shoulders. The city is loud. The air is sharp and chemical, nothing like the clean, open fields back home. Lights pulse everywhere, flashing, glowing, unnatural.

A horn blares, and I nearly leap out of my skin as a man leans out of a car window, cursing at me. People around me don’t react. They just stand there, waiting, and I stand close to them. A woman steps toward me, rummaging through her bag before holding out a few bills.

People just give money away here? But her eyes are not kind. She’s staring at my too-big jacket, my muddy feet, my stained dress. Her lips purse. She waves the money at me again, rolling her eyes this time, as if this is some grand favor.

It doesn’t feel right.

I push her hand away gently. “No, thank you.”

She huffs, shoving the bills back into her bag before turning her back to me. Weird.

The little figure on the post turns green. The people move. I follow.

I wander past towering buildings that stretch so high my neck aches to look at them. How can something like this exist? Humans built this? It’s too grand, too impossible.

But I don’t stop. If this is my first and last day of freedom, I won’t spend it staring.

Food stalls line the street, the smell of hot oil and grilled meat wrapping around me, making my stomach twist painfully. I hesitate. I have a little money left, but I need it for the train ride home. Still… if not now, when? Hell doesn’t have street vendors, I’m sure of it.

I buy a hotdog on a stick. When I hand the vendor my money, he frowns, then sighs and hands some of it back. Right. I’m bad at this. We rarely used money in the village. I don’t know what things are worth.

Sadness creeps in.

I’ll never get to learn.

Further down, a glowing machine catches my eye, stuffed with plush toys. A boy, maybe a few years older than me, steps up to it. He slides a bill in, moves a little joystick, and a claw drops down, grabbing a red plushie. He wins on his first try.

Excitement sparks in my chest.

My turn.

I feed a bill into the slot. The machine hums to life. My hands tremble as I maneuver the claw over a teddy bear and press the button. The claw drops. Misses.

I try again. And again. And again.

Just one more try. Just one more.

Finally, the claw grips the bear and drags it to the chute. A victorious jingle plays. I snatch the bear up, pressing it to my chest.

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