BASE LINE

IT’S LIKE EATING A SHOE.

IS THIS CANDY?

We’re exhausted. We haven’t slept in 40h. We’ve both been dozing off throughout the day. She even fell asleep as I was talking, mid-question, and I was left wondering if she was faking it for comedic effect or not.

I’m unsure why exactly we decided to so spontaneously order the tickets last night at 9 p.m and leave at 6:24 a.m the following morning. Maybe it’s because we’ve been friends for what seems like an eternity and have never done something like this. Or maybe it’s because we’re just a couple of weeks away from school and it’s a terrifyingly scary thought of going to a new school. Maybe this is our one last getaway before it all begins, maybe this is our therapy. There’s so much pressure and stress to come, but I think we’ll manage with the hopes and dreams of another trip like this.

We’re in a train carriage with stories straight out of a five year-old’s imagination. There’s two pet ferrets on board with us. A kind but cautious golden Labrador occasionally barking at them, causing a young girl to cling to her mother and cry. In front of us is a mother and her son. She’s ordering baby clothes for an expectant mother, I don’t know the actual nature of their relationship, but they’re close. She’s asking her son if he wants a similar outfit to match the baby. He tears his eyes away for a second from his video and shakes his head with much dismay. “No,” he sternly says, “but it’ll look nice on the baby,” he quickly adds before returning to the virtual world. His mother slowly nods in agreement as her finger scrolls further down just as we pass countless of wheat fields. They go as far as the eye can reach, but just as my eyes reach the horizon, a thick forest cuts through the scenery. I hear a loud giggle cut through the relative silence of the carriage. It overpowers the chitchat between seat-mates, excusing their way out to get to the bathroom. Suddenly, a small toddler dressed in baby blue shorts and a white shirt bolts down the aisle without his shoes on. I cringe at the thought of the amount of dirt beneath his feet, but everyone else is delighted. He stops briefly at each row to stare at a fellow passenger before he makes his way onto the next one, carrying a smile that causes all the tired eyes to blink a tinge more brightly and stretch their hands out towards him. But he’s gone before they can touch him. He’s like a rockstar at a concert.

We’re passing a lake with the most beautiful houses situated on a mountain by the lake. I want a life like that when I’m old, is all I think. Just imagine the serenity and the peace that you would be able to experience nowhere else.

We’re exhausted. We haven’t slept in 40h. We’ve both been dozing off throughout the day. She even fell asleep as I was talking, mid-question, and I was left wondering if she was faking it for comedic effect or not.

I’m unsure why exactly we decided to so spontaneously order the tickets last night at 9 p.m and leave at 6:24 a.m the following morning. Maybe it’s because we’ve been friends for what seems like an eternity and have never done something like this. Or maybe it’s because we’re just a couple of weeks away from school and it’s a terrifyingly scary thought of going to a new school. Maybe this is our one last getaway before it all begins, maybe this is our therapy. There’s so much pressure and stress to come, but I think we’ll manage with the hopes and dreams of another trip like this.

We’re in a train carriage with stories straight out of a five year-old’s imagination. There’s two pet ferrets on board with us. A kind but cautious golden Labrador occasionally barking at them, causing a young girl to cling to her mother and cry. In front of us is a mother and her son. She’s ordering baby clothes for an expectant mother, I don’t know the actual nature of their relationship, but they’re close. She’s asking her son if he wants a similar outfit to match the baby. He tears his eyes away for a second from his video and shakes his head with much dismay. “No,” he sternly says, “but it’ll look nice on the baby,” he quickly adds before returning to the virtual world. His mother slowly nods in agreement as her finger scrolls further down just as we pass countless of wheat fields. They go as far as the eye can reach, but just as my eyes reach the horizon, a thick forest cuts through the scenery. I hear a loud giggle cut through the relative silence of the carriage. It overpowers the chitchat between seat-mates, excusing their way out to get to the bathroom. Suddenly, a small toddler dressed in baby blue shorts and a white shirt bolts down the aisle without his shoes on. I cringe at the thought of the amount of dirt beneath his feet, but everyone else is delighted. He stops briefly at each row to stare at a fellow passenger before he makes his way onto the next one, carrying a smile that causes all the tired eyes to blink a tinge more brightly and stretch their hands out towards him. But he’s gone before they can touch him. He’s like a rockstar at a concert.

We’re passing a lake with the most beautiful houses situated on a mountain by the lake. I want a life like that when I’m old, is all I think. Just imagine the serenity and the peace that you would be able to experience nowhere else.