Waiting for a train, she realized the more things stayed the same the more they changed. She had travelled so far across the land and was quite weary. Her valise covered with stamps from around the world sat at her feet.

Time slipped away not in mere moments but decades at this small station far from the city from whence she came. Afraid that the barking in her head about what regret really meant wouldn’t stop, she shifted her focus out on the platform.

Travellers shuffled with their leather bags with worn handles earthy toned slightly shifted from foot to foot. The weight of the world ran across the face of a young girl standing still among the crowd. She held in her hand a single thornless rose bringing it to her nose on occasion to cover the stench of coal and sweat. Her brimmed hat tilted awkwardly mussing her hair and would have gone unnoticed had it not been for her lifting the rose towards it and knocking it off. A young gentleman passing by in a long dark day coat swooped it up and handed it to her. She thanked him with a shy smile which lit up her face.

Just beyond the young girl stood a couple in a lover’s embrace saying their goodbyes. “No crying”, said the boy dressed in a soldier’s khaki uniform, “Keep the home fires burning, darling. I’ll be home before the blink of an eye” as he wiped away her tears.

The conductor called out “Allllllll aboard!!!” as the last stragglers climbed upon the steps to the cars lined up like a loyal brigade. They all were beginning an adventure of various sorts.

She sat still for the first time in ages in a state of peace as the train pulled away in a plume of steam and decided to wait to watch for the next arrivals. She had no particular place to go and that was fine. She was finally home.