Leaving Quietly

"I can't imagine how Thomas would react if he knew that the only girl in his social class even remotely interested in marrying him was a lesbian."

"You've been laughing for thirty minutes, don't you ever stop?"

"I mean, I'm not laughing at you for being a lesbian. I'm mainly laughing at-" She had to stop because her laughter began to dominate the remaining air in her lungs. "At him…"
She burst out again, hysterically keeling over.

"What'd be worse than Thomas finding out is my parents finding out." The pirate's laugh sighed out as the lady said this and then regained her posture, staring out onto the city and the people and the weathering cobblestone street in front of them. Another day was fading out into twilight as the late afternoon softly slipped out from between the buildings of the city.

"So what do you want to do?" Ara asked.

"Aren't you going to throw me over your shoulder and carry me off?"

"You're not my type."

"Do feel free to hold your tongue whenever you're ready. I'm not offended by silence."

"Ah yes, the ever trending female flirtation technique in today's upper class…silence." That did it. Chrys stood up and began walking back into the train station with quick and determined strides. Ara darted after her to catch up. "So wait, why'd you run after Thomas?" She asked with a spark of enthusiastic curiosity. Chrys ignored her, only lifting her chin to find the train that had just arrived. "Where do you think you're going?" The lady jolted when Ara grabbed her arm and pulled herself away, practically knocking over a pile of luggage behind her.

"If I'm desperately running after a man, no one would assume my hidden motives." She began explaining sharply and then darted her head around before staring back at the pirate with a hesitant gleam of trust. With a sigh, she said "I ran after Thomas because it was an opportunity. I can find him, I can tell him everything, we can fake my death as an accident, and I can live here in the states with my family back at home assuming that I died a desperately in love, straight woman." Ara pondered for a moment at the situation. It wasn't like she had to be involved but the one flaw she could point out was drastic and it felt like obligation to bring it up.

"Thomas could be blamed." She said and Chrys gawked at this, suddenly realizing. "That didn't even cross your mind? What else could that look like? Think about it." Ara moved forward and put her arm around the girl's shoulder. "Thomas runs to the states to escape marriage to you, you go after him, you wind up dead, and whether Thomas suddenly comes home or stays in this country, what would that look like to everyone else who didn't know the truth? They would think he killed you! He did wind up in jail for burning down his flat."

"He did that himself? When did he go to jail?" Chrys stopped short. and Ara hushed her, examining the conductor and then shoving two pieces of paper into Chrys' hand.

"He won't check them." she said and they began moving towards the train before handing the tickets to the sleepy conductor and moving into the car.

They sat across from each other, looking out the window and watching the hustle and bustle of the platform. "So now that Thomas' reputation is at stake, what's your plan?" Silence. Ara nudged Chrys with her foot but the girl only stared out the window.

"I don't know anymore. I just want to go home." She finally said after the silence. Ara raised an eyebrow.

"What happened to, "I'm running away to America"?" She questioned. Then Chrysanthemum stared at her, thinking, pondering in further silence. "Chrys?" A tear welled up in her right eye and she took a deep breath, shaking her head before standing slowly. "Chrys." The girl smiled and grabbed Ara's collar. "What the actual fu-" Ara gasped as Chrys threw her into the couple sitting on the other side of the train car. Having the wind knocked out of her, she looked up at Chrys with an irritable look in her eye.

"Get the…shitting….hell….up and fight me!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. So Ara stood and did as she asked. Whatever this girl was up to, the pirate had no idea. But there was certainly no PMS or adrenaline seeking in the moment. There was just something that seemed so, incredibly…fake? Nevertheless, the two women pulled at each other's hair and knocked each other with punches and kicks and screams until they were both being pushed into police carriages. It wasn't till a policeman came into their jail cell with a thick southern accent and explained it loud and clear…

"It's to my knowledge that you two girls are here illegally. We're going to have to deport you back to your country."

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