“This…this is my body,” I said before touching what felt like denim jeans.
“Um…. You good?”
My head snapped up; eyes wild like a mad king as I looked around the foreign place. The two women were standing there holding bags with long braids. One is the complexion of ember, and the other is born of the sun like me but the makeup… I sawthe powder covering the tiny bumps along their chin and cheeks. I started to get up before a stack of papers fell to the floor and that’s when I heard the loud cranky voice.
“EVERYBODY OFF MY TRAIN! TRAIN IS SHUTTING DOWN FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR!” The man shouted as I heard his footsteps. “AIN’T NO TURNING BACK NOW! YOU AT DREW COLLINS NOW! EVERYBODY OFF MY TRAIN!”
The two girls quickly hurried off while glancing back at me. I looked around again before pausing to see my own reflection in the window that faced a dark cement wall. My head was a little warped, features exaggerated but I saw my wooden beads, my natural face, and teeth. I slowly opened my mouth, inhaling sharply to see the blue flame ignite briefly in the back of my throat.
“Baby girl!”
I jumped at the harsh voice as an elder with silver hair lowered himself to meet my gaze in the reflection of the window.
“You ain’t the only one that can light some shit on fire, but you’d know that if you get off my damn train!”
I hurried to get off, almost stumbling from the seat when the man called out for me again.
“You need this I’m assuming,” holding out a piece of paper. “You need to know who you are and where you’re supposed to be, right?”
I stared at him before looking down at the paper. He turned it over to read to himself with his eyes growing smaller into his wrinkled face, much like the witch I just encountered.
“Says here…. ya’ name is Danielle Jackson,” he said as his jaw moved in a circle. He chewed on his cheek like the elders back home. “Oh you one of them older gals,” he huffed. “You’ll like the school… Just find ya place and mind your own magic. Everybody ain’t made equal out here and you’ll find that out soon enough.”
He flipped the paper back towards me. With a trembling hand, I brought it close to my chest before nodding.
“EVERYBODY OFF MY TRAIN!” He went on, pushing past the door to get to the next part of the train. “EVERYBODY OFF MY GAH DAMN TRAIN! You ain’t pay all this money to go to this school just to sit here on the train!”
I stepped off as the humid air felt like walking in the middle of steam. The heat felt moist unlike the dry landscape I was used to. I found myself looking back at the paper to read.
“Danielle…Jackson…Mother…Marani…Marani Jackson…”
Marani was the name of my mother’s sister who died when I was born. Could this be her? Could this be my sister? I looked back up at the disappearing people moving down a set of stairs before I quickly moved. Surely Minka is around to help me.
“Minkaaa?!” I whispered, lowering my body to peek underneath the seats. I clicked my teeth knowing she hated being treated like an animal or pet despite the obvious. “Minkaaaaaa pleaseee… I know you are here!”
I clicked my teeth together with my body swerving around until I heard something. The sound was coming from around the corner of this…brick like structure. I slowly circled around, eyeing the artwork and words before freezing at the sight of a map. Gasping, I stepped closer seeing the word “Kingdom” witha red circle next to it. Slowly, I began to smile just as the banging noise started again. I stepped around, seeing a metal door rattling on the hinges and thought, this must be where Minka is…this must be where she is…
“Maintenance,” I whispered at the sign on the door. “Minka!? Minnnnnnka?”
The door suddenly burst open as I jumped back. A woman eyes the color of coal, empty pockets of darkness stepped out as she wiped the smeared red stain from her lips. She blinked once as her eyes turned to a natural honey brown. Her dark sandy brown hair was damp with sweat as she stepped closer to me while adjusting her black dress.
This was certainly not Minka. I have seen her human form, and it was nothing like this.
“Can I help you?” She asked, voice delicate, and soft. Her eyes widened with intrigue as I stepped back with a shake of my head, afraid to speak. “Are you a student?”
“I…”
I looked down at the paper just as we heard a commotion from afar, cheers and screams. Horns and drums, everything beginning to play at once.
“Come with me,” she said, taking my hand. I started to follow her only to look back to see some sort of tall dark…man with the figure of a creature that had two horns curled back from his head. He slipped around the corner with his shoulders rolling and body contorting into its human form before disappearing. She turned my attention towards the steps as we walked down like close sisters. She kept her arm linked with mine as I looked in awe at the artwork around us. The walls were freshly paintedof a school with students running towards it with their books high in the air.
“This way,” the woman guided.
“Where am I?” I suddenly asked. The woman turned her head towards me with an innocent blink.
“You’re in the Underground…Drew Collins University,” she said before motioning towards the large crowd waiting outside. I gasped when we stepped out of the train station and onto the leveled ground. There were large iron gates in front of us with an entrance opened that led directly to the building. I could hear the drums, the horns and trumpets playing in the distance and even more chatter from inside the iron gates. The woman began squeezing her way through the tight packed crowd of men and women in all shades of deep brown to my complexion. Hairstyles I have only seen in videos and the faint mutterings and whispers of accents I could only hear in the movies.
This is it.
