Chapter Text
She boarded the 9.30pm train a half an hour early at the South Station in Boston. Finding a suitable spot for herself, she sat by the window, throwing her bag down on the aisle seat next to her. She looked out the window, replaying the evening's event before she left for the station.
The evening would have been like any other; except, she had been invited to an ex-boyfriend's wedding.
They've been broken up for about a year and agreed to remain friends. But it was always hard to maintain a friendship with an ex, especially when they were your first love.
"Jasmine." Her ex-boyfriend said, eyes lighting up the moment he saw her.
She smiled. "Hey Riker."
"I was afraid you weren't going to come." He said, giving her a hug.
She stiffened a little as he wrapped his arms around her back. Sensing the tension, Riker hurriedly broke the hug.
She awkwardly smiled at him. "Um, yeah... I said I wouldn't miss it. Besides, gotta see who the unlucky girl is right?"
Riker laughed. "Well, thank you for coming. Natalie and I are rather nervous. She's afraid she'll trip and I'm afraid I'll mess
up my vows."
Jasmine looked at him. "You'll do fine."
Riker smiled. "Thank you."
Watching them exchange their vows would have been a painful process but after having seen Riker standing happily anxious at the altar and his bride happily anxious to get to him, she felt all sense of awkwardness leave her.
It was as if that moment had snapped her out of her long-induced loss-of-a-first-love withdrawal disorder. These two were more meant to be for each other than she would ever have been for Riker. She couldn't see herself moving out of her life in New York just for him in Boston. She could never do what Natalie did.
Shaking her head slightly, she got up from her seat and headed out the church doors. She wrote an additional apology note on the guest book and hailed a cab for the train station.
So, here she was, half an hour early on a train back to her life in New York. Now that she's finally moved pass the emotional block of her life, she was ready to start anew. She'd probably let her colleagues sign her up on Match.com, OkCupid or e-harmony. Heck, she might even let her friend create a Tinder profile for her!
Oh-wait. No, scratch that. Definitely not Tinder. She's comfortable with having a dating profile online but she wasn't THAT comfortable.
She chuckled slightly at her internal conversation in her mind, as she reached over to pull out a book. Just as she was about to begin reading, she heard sniffles coming from behind her. Curious, she stood up to look for the source.
There were several seats taken with a couple of passengers talking quietly or sleeping. She spotted a young boy about 10, looking out the window and wiping his eyes every few seconds. Though he was seated 2 rows behind her, Jasmine could tell he had been crying. Putting her book down on the table in front of the seat her bag was on, she got up and walked over to the boy.
"Hi." She said. "Mind if I sit here with you for a sec?"
He didn't respond and taking it as a sign, she sat down next to him.
"I'm Jasmine." She said. "And, I know you must be feeling scared to be taking the train alone at night... My parents did the same to me when I was your age."
He stopped looking out the window and turned to look at her. "They did?"
She nodded. "Yeah. I was so scared, they had to stop the train shortly after it left the station."
"Why?" He asked.
"I was screaming really loudly and I may have accidentally punched the train conductor." She replied.
The boy laughed. "Did you get in trouble?"
"Thankfully no." She said. "The train conductor was really nice. He knew I was scared so he kept coming by to check on me and he'd sneak me ice cream and snacks from the cafe in the first cabin."
She tilted her head slightly. "Look, I may not be a train conductor, but I definitely know how it feels to be traveling alone at your age. Just know that if you're feeling scared or need someone to talk to, I'll be 2 seats ahead of you. All you gotta do is holler for me, okay?"
The boy nodded. "Okay. My name's Zachariah, by the way."
She smiled and ruffled the hair on his head. "Nice to meet you, Zachariah. You should dry your eyes and get some sleep, okay? The train ride will be over before you know it."
He nodded and got comfortable as Jasmine left him to head back to her seat. She was all excited to get started on her new book when she noticed someone occupying her space.
She cleared her voice and the guy looked up at her. He had on a pair of glasses but even with that she could see his clear blue eyes that distracted her for a bit. Not to mention, there was also something familiar about this guy.
"Sorry, did you need something?" He asked.
She shook her head, snapping out of her thoughts. "Uh, no-I mean yes. You're-uh-sitting in my seat?"
"Your seat?" He said.
"Yeah, I didn't think it was a full train so I left my bag on the aisle seat but the window seat was where I had been sitting." She said.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know." He said.
He moved to get up, picking up his MacBook that sat on the table. Jasmine took a quick glance at the next row on the other
side of the aisle to see the seats fully occupied. The seats opposite them were also occupied. Figuring she shouldn't make things difficult, she stopped him.
"Hey-wait-It's okay." She said. "You can stay where you are. I have no use for 2 seats anyway and you clearly require the use of the table."
"You sure? I can just go to the next cabin." He said.
She nodded. "Don't worry about it."
He smiled gratefully. "Thank you. But, I insist on swapping with you since the window seat was your original pick."
She shook her head. "And I insist you stay in your seat. I've got to keep an eye on a 10-year old anyway. The aisle seat works for me."
"Okay." He said.
She picked up her backpack and put it on the table as she sat down. Jasmine was just about to open up her book when she saw the guy looking up at the couple that were directly opposite them. He gave them a polite smile which made the two of them flush in excitement.
The guy half of the couple cleared his throat and whispered across the table. "I'm sorry to bother you... But... Are you Chris Pine?"
Wait-What?
Jasmine took in his side profile and mentally smacked herself in the head. No wonder he looked so familiar!
She took a peek at his expression and was relieved he didn't make a big deal out of it. She's seen a couple of obnoxious celebrities on the streets of New York before and would have voluntarily smacked Mr Pine if he got smug.
"Yeah. That's me." He said.
"Oh. I loved your portrayal of Kirk in Star Trek." The guy fan said.
Chris smiled. "Thank you. That means a lot to me. I'm always trying to make the Trekkies proud."
"Oh-I loved you in Princess Diaries 2." said the female fan opposite them. "You were so dreamy."
Chris chuckled shyly. "I wasn't known back then since that was feature film debut so thank you for saying that."
The couple both smiled widely and turned to each other to continue their private conversation. Jasmine tried to go back to reading but the fan girl part of her was getting excited at the prospect of sitting next to Chris Pine for the next 5 hours.
Not able to resist saying something, she turned to him. "I thought you've got some comedic chops in you. Your role in Horrible Bosses 2 was pretty funny."
He turned to her. "Thanks. It was one of my favorite movies to film."
They both exchanged a small smile and Jasmine hurriedly turned back to her book when she felt her cheeks turn warm.
She opened her eyes and immediately sat up straight when she realized she had just dozed off on her famous neighbor's shoulders. He himself had fallen asleep, as did the couple opposite them, so she was able to save herself the embarrassment. She looked at her surroundings and found some other passengers who were still awake. She looked at her
watch, expecting an hour to have passed but it was only 10.15pm.
About 45 minutes had just passed. They must have been been moving away from the Providence, Rhode Island station, where they picked up the next group of passengers. Figuring she should check on Zachariah, she stood up and turned around. Instead of seeing his head from where she was standing, she saw him standing by the cabin door. He thought of calling his name but seeing that there were people asleep, she decided not to.
Instead, she walked over to him.
"Hey kiddo." Jasmine said. "Whatcha doin' here?"
He didn't look at her, nor did he answer.
She looked through the window to the other cabin, wondering what he was so fixated with.
"Are you spying on someone?" Jasmine asked, trying to pick out what he had been looking at.
Zachariah shook his head. "No-Not really... Just wondering why that lady over there looks weird."
Following the direction he was pointing at, her eyes found a lady who seemed to be looking paler by the minute. It could have been the lighting but even that couldn't really explain the draining color.
Shrugging, Jasmine said, "That lady is probably not feeling well or, maybe, trains make her nervous."
She turned to look at him. "You should be getting some shut-eye instead of solving this mystery."
"Something's wrong." He said. "I think she's been bitten by something."
She chuckled at his grim expression. "Kiddo, I think you've been reading or watching too much of The Walking Dead."
"Look over there." He said, pointing at another person. "I've been watching him too... Unlike that lady, he's been twitching a lot. It's weird."
"He's probably got a nervous tick." Jasmine said.
Zachariah shook his head. "No, it's definitely something else... Something bad."
"Kiddo. Perhaps you-"
Before she could finish her sentence, loud screams pierced the silence of the train. Jasmine looked up and felt her throat dry up.
In the cabin before her, passengers leapt up from their seats and were frantically screaming. She couldn't really see what was happening until she spotted the woman she had seen earlier sink her teeth into another man's arm. The man who had been twitching was now stuffing another man's guts into his mouth. All of a sudden, the calm cabin exploded into one of chaos.
Passengers from Jasmine and Zachariah's cabin were now fully awake and standing behind them at the door, watching in horror. No one was able to move.
Jasmine spotted several passengers running towards the door which led to the cabin, which they were in. One man managed to get through first, and Jasmine instinctively pushed Zachariah behind her. Some thought she was going to lock the door but when she moved to open the door, many started to protest in fright.
"No! You can't do that!"
"You don't know what's happening over there!"
Ignoring their protests, she was held the door open with her shoulder as she extended a helping hand to the man. "Hurry!"
He grabbed a hold of her hand and she pulled. She just about succeeded when an automated voice came blaring out of the speakers.
"This is an announcement. The emergency lock-down has been initiated. Please be warned that all cabin doors will be locked until we've arrived at the next station where assistance will be available. Passengers, please stand clear of the doors."
In their haste to get out, the passengers from the other cabin started to push and the man fell, his grip slipping out of
Jasmine's. Before she could do anything else, a pair of strong arms pulled her back in, just as the doors slammed shut.
She felt something wet spray across her face and shirt. She reached up to touch her cheek before looking down. Blood had splattered across her chest in bright red.
Jasmine didn't know how to react. She kept blinking and felt tears leaving her eyes. She felt the same pair of hands lead her away from the door just as the other passengers gathered round it. Some shrieked and covered their eyes while others shook their heads as they cried.
She didn't know where they were going until she felt someone sit her down on a hard surface. From what she could make out in her stunned state of mind, they were in the cabin's washroom.
She looked down at her shirt again.
Realizing what it was, she began to try get the blood off it. She balled her fists up and started to rub the fabric-covered part of both hands together. Her hands were starting to bruise up from the friction and death grip when the hands appeared again.
"Hey, hey, hey-stop."
She showed no signs of stopping until he physically brought the action to a close with his hands on top of hers. Jasmine looked up to see the calming blue eyes of Chris looking back at her.
"We're going to get you cleaned up, okay?" Chris said.
Jasmine merely looked at him as he continued to hold onto her hands.
He turned away from her. "Hey, kid, you know where she was sitting right?"
Zachariah nodded.
"Good. Go get me a clean shirt from her bag." He said.
As soon as Zachariah ran off, Chris turned back to Jasmine. "We're going to get the blood off you, alright?"
She nodded and Chris helped her to stand up as he led her over to the sink where he turned on the tap. The water washed away the blood that had stained her hands and noticing that her hands were shaking, he helped to dry them with the paper towels.
He sat her back down on the toilet seat cover and tears started to fall again. "I could have saved him."
"It wasn't your fault." Chris said. "You tried your best."
Just then, Zachariah came in with a new shirt from Jasmine's bag. He handed it to her and she gave him a small but grateful smile. Chris stood up and lightly pushed Zachariah out.
"We'll leave you to get changed."