A New Perspective

Weekly Helpful Hint (that are never posted at exact weekly intervals): “If you are allergic to a thing, it is best not to put that thing in your mouth, particularly if the thing is cats” – Lemony Snicket.

And now for the next section of The End of Time. The next part is segment 1 of chapter 2. If you haven’t read the first chapter then do so.


Luke awoke to the sound of a passing train, the wooden walls shook and dust fell from the ceiling. He rubbed his eyes and, disorientated, looked at his alarm clock. 2:30. It was the middle of the night. Luke was usually immune to the sound of the train, he always slept right through the rattling.

As he was about to settle back to sleep, a slight chill ruffled through his sandy blonde hair, leaving goosebumps up his arm. He looked over to the wall opposite his bed, the window was wide open.

With a I-can’t-believe-I-was-stupid-enough-to-leave-my-window-open grunt, he got out of bed, walked the metre to the other side of his room, and slid the window down.

As he hopped back into bed another train went by, the walls shook and a pen rolled off his bedside table. But it wasn’t as loud as before. He was still half asleep and soon drifted back into the wonderful world of dreams.

At the break of dawn, Luke got dressed and headed down stairs to the shop. “Morning, Luke” greeted his mother without looking up, she stopped rolling the bread dough and wiped her forehead with the back of her floury hand. She looked exhausted.

“Morning” replied Luke, reaching out to grab a gingerbread man from behind the counter. Luke’s mum gently slapped his hand, suggesting that the gingerbread man wasn’t for him.
“Not today” she said in an apologetic, sorrowful tone. Luke would have to go without breakfast, but he understood their situation and didn’t complain.

“You’re going to miss your train, if you don’t hurry” she said hastily, looking up from her rolling for the first time. Luke knew that, even if he ran, he wouldn’t make it to the station in time. This didn’t worry him, he was in no hurry to get to the paper factory.

“I know you don’t care if you’re late for work” she continued hastily, still panicked that he would miss the train “but you’re going to have to take Annie to school today” Luke’s eyes widened, his sister would be late for school if they didn’t catch the uncatchable train.
“We’ll never make it, mum!” he spluttered, but was half already way out the bakery. The golden bell tingled above the door as it whipped shut behind him.
Annie was sitting outside the shop on the gutter, drawing invisible lines on the pavement with a stick. “Annie!” Luke called, running up to her “we have to hurry, or we’ll miss the train!” she jumped up, and with silent understanding, joined him in an impossible attempt to make it to the station in time.

Luke sped down the street as fast as his legs would let him, his lungs had no rights in this situation. Occasionally he glanced behind him to check that Annie was still close behind, amazingly she always was, how could a five year old run almost as fast as an eighteen year old? He pondered this in the back of his mind, his thoughts guided by the need to catch the train.

Ten minutes later they reached the station. It was deserted. Luke looked up to the sign, the next train was in fifty-four minutes. He swore loudly, oblivious to the mental well being of his sister and inconsiderate of her delicate innocence (which was probably just shattered.)

After the two of them had panted for a great deal of time, Luke began pacing impatiently up and down the platform, with his hands at the back of his head.
“Luke?” said his sister timidly, Luke noticed that she sounded scared, scared of her own brother. He didn’t mean to frighten her. He walked over to Annie and squeezed her around the shoulder, kissing the top of her head.

“Now” he said, trying to sound like the happy, friendly brother he should be “I suppose we’re going to have to walk” and with that, they left the platform, crossed the road and began their journey across the daisy covered meadow.

Annie skipped merrily along singing some song that Luke had never heard before. Walking contently behind her, with his hands in the pockets of his pants, Luke smiled. Annie plucked a daisy from the ground, pulled off the white petals and let them float gently to the ground.

She stopped skipping and stood still for a second, Luke continued walking towards her, she turned around and ran back to Luke shouting “Look what I found! Look what I found!” once they were close together again, they stopped walking.

Annie held up a white flowery ball, it looked much like a dandelion clock (the one’s Annie would often chant “what’s the time Mr Wolf” and then blow) but it didn’t have a stem and wasn’t as thick. Luke rolled his eyes, he had seen a million of these things before.
“It’s a fairy!” Annie informed him “you make a wish and then blow on it” Luke hated it when she spoke about fairies like they were real, he wished she wouldn’t make up such stupid tales.
“There’s no such thing as fairies, Annie” he said plainly. She looked up at him as if he were lying.
“There are so! Now make a wish, I promise it will come true” she said defiantly. Luke took the little white ball from her.
“I wish that my annoying little sister would get over fairies and shut up with her stupid stories” he said conclusively. He dropped the plant to the floor and continued walking.

After a few seconds Annie called after him “It won’t come true! You’re meant to say it in your head!” her voice was choked with tears, but Luke kept walking.