Chapter Text
Arlene Connery was handed her ticket by her former guardian, Mrs. Karen Gregory. Neither said a word. Their hatred of each other was mutual. They had done enough screaming at each other last night. Arlene’s voice was still hoarse from it.
She took the ticket. A train ticket to Mrs. Gregory’s sister on the east coast of Britain. After years of mutual hatred, she had finally had enough and was sending her away.
She was eleven years old. Brown hair dangled to her shoulders. Her blue eyes looked to the ground empty of emotion. Worn jeans and a moth-eaten shirt covered her.
Arlene looked at the ticket. It was for the 11 O’clock train on platform ten in King’s Cross station. She checked her barely working watch to see she only had an hour before the train left. They were in the parking lot outside the station, but she had never been to the station before and had no idea how to navigate it.
She looked up to ask where the station was, but Mrs. Gregory had already walked away. Back to her shiny new car which the money could’ve easily given new clothes to her and the others in the home. She had to have a new car every year though.
The station was a bustle of activity. Travelers running back and forth. All in a rush to reach their destinations. Completely ignorant of the young girl trying to make her way through. As quickly as she could she made her way towards her station.
Arlene was an orphan. She had no idea what had happened to her parents. All she knew was that she had grown up in the home her whole life. Mrs. Gregory’s home for orphans. Life in the home involved small meals, constant cleaning, and daily berating by Mrs. Gregory.
Her sister was just as bad from what she had heard.
Arlene finally arrived at the platform that she needed to. Much earlier than she expected too. Still, she hesitated before boarding the train. To go from one cruel home to another was something she didn’t want to do. She had thought that she had finally changed something last night. It turns out that she was just being sent away to be someone else’s problem.
She turned for a moment and that was when she saw it.
It seemed like a trick of the light. A child close to her age with what must been her parents ran straight at one of the columns between platforms nine and ten. A slight panic filled her as they came closer to crashing. They didn’t crash though. The child, her cart, and the parents vanished into the column.
It was impossible. Now she was intrigued though. Another family with a similar cartload approached the column. Arlene got closer and watched from an angle where she would know for sure if it was a trick of her eyes.
The family ran towards the column just like the last one. She waited for them to change course or stop. They did neither, they carried on and went straight into the column. There was no crash. The entire family simply vanished.
Her jaw dropped in complete shock. What had just happened was impossible. Yet, she had just seen it not once, but twice. Once she could attribute it to a trick, but twice was harder to pass off.
Yet another group approached. This time it was just what she believed was a mother and her son. They charged at the column. Arlene watched intently, trying to confirm what she thought she had seen.
Once again, the family hit the column and vanished into it.
There was no denying it now. People were going inside the column. She checked her watch and saw she only had fifteen minutes left before the train left. There was plenty of time to see what was in the column. She didn’t really want to make the train all that badly anyway.
She walked over to the column. It looked exactly like all the others in the station. Made of solid brick and gave no indication that anything could get through. She looked around, but didn’t see any other families trying to get in. Arlene took a deep breath and reached a hand towards the column. She barely touched it but didn’t touch it.
Her eyes saw her hand contact the brick, but she didn’t feel anything there. She pushed a little more and her whole hand vanished into the brick. She drew it back to her chest with a gasp. Trembling, she examined her hand. Nothing seemed wrong with it. She was fine.
She was more than fine. A small smile creeped out. Her first in months. She had just found something new. She didn’t know what it was, but it felt like a way to break out. To get away from this harsh and cruel life that had been forced on her.
In a moment of rashness, she plunged into the bricks and stumbled onto the other side.
The first thing she noticed was the bright red, shiny, steam train that sat in the middle of this new platform. Then she noticed the people surrounding her. Mostly families with carts full of luggage and many cages with owls. One awkward looking boy carrying a toad was towed by an older woman. Many of them wore dark robes and a few even sported pointed hats.
She looked up and saw the platform number: 9 ¾. Arlene’s gape of wonder turned into confusion. There was no such thing as a platform 9 ¾. Yet here she was.
Even with that, this place was wonderous. Nowhere in all of London could any place be this unique. This different. So much here broke the blandness of the world behind the brick column. She was completely mesmerized.
She didn’t understand how the illusion of the wall was maintained. Why didn’t people notice others disappearing into a column? What if someone just leaned into it by accident?
At some point the ticket to her normal train had dropped from her hand. She didn’t know where it was now, and she didn’t care. Arlene had to know where this train was going. If it was anything like this then she wanted to be there. Not with Mrs. Gregory’s sister.
She burst out running and leapt onto the train. A whistle sounded and other children began boarding as well. Arlene moved deeper into the train. It was a long corridor with compartments to the side. She entered an empty one. Within minutes the train jolted and began to move. That’s when the uncertainty began creeping into her brain.
She had just jumped on a strange train with no idea of where it was going. Escaping the Hell of life in an orphan home had been her priority, but now she had no idea where she was going. What if the train led to just a convention of sorts? This was all an elaborate show for something she had no part in. Did she just make herself homeless? Her arms trembled to the point of her forcing herself to grip her knees.
A knock on the door shook her free. She looked out the glass compartment door to see a pale blonde girl with wide eyes peering into her compartment. She seemed roughly her age. The girl opened the door and asked, “Are you okay? You seem nervous.”
Unsure how to respond Arlene simply blurted out, “I don’t think I’m supposed to be here.”