Pixie Dust

Toni leans on her hand, staring out at the drizzly scenery whirring by.

    She’s been in the city for far too long and she’s been looking forward to this trip, to the countryside for months now, and the weather has the nerve to do this. This is supposed to be a fun trip, an adventure, boring at no turn.

    She watches animals huddle under trees, rainclouds get greyer and fat raindrops hit the window. Was that thunder?

    The door to her compartment flies open and slams shut behind a rainbow haired girl.

    “Oh thank goodness,” the Welsh accent falls from her lips. “Swap jackets with me?”

    Toni pulls both sides of her jacket together, “Who are you?”

    “My names Tegan and I need your jacket… And your hat”

    “Why?” Toni loves her jacket, it’s leather and it has zips and buckles and it’s her two favourite colours, red sleeves and black body, and her snapback hat matches perfectly.

    “I cannot divulge that information. How much do you want for them?” Tegan pulls out a wallet.

    She doesn’t want to sell her jacket either, so she throws out an outlandish number, “$500.”

    “Done.” The rainbow haired Welsh girl starts counting out notes.

    “No, I’m kidding, you can’t have my jacket. Get out.”

    “Where do we stand on the hat?”

    “No!”

    “I don’t think you quite understand, like I need it. What if, um, do you have another one, in your bag?” She steps forward, reaching for the overhead locker.

    Toni leaps up from her seat, “Don’t touch my stuff.”

    Tegan sighs, clasping her hands together, “I really didn’t want to have to do this, in fact it’s kind of what I’m trying to escape from.”

    “What?” She frowns. In lieu of an answer, purple powder is blown into her face. “The fuck?” The dust smells like it glitters, it tingles the inside of her mouth and nostrils, her eyes water, but they don’t sting, it feels kind of nice. “What was that?” Her words come out slurred and two Tegan’s appear in front of her.

    “Pixie dust, but you won’t remember that when you wake up.” Tegan catches Toni as she falls.

    “You’re a Pixie?” She feebly holds onto the rainbow haired girl as she’s sat back on the seat.

    “Something like that.”

    “You shoulda said, I love pixies and fairies and shit. I help Pixie…” She thinks she’s taking off her jacket, but everything fades to black.

…

Toni’s eyes flutter open, and she sits up with a start, the compartment is dark. She opens the window shade then immediately slams it shut again, the light burns her eyes like she’s hungover or something. It’s funny because she can’t remember drinking.

    She runs her hands down her front, smoothing out her jacket, only it’s not her jacket. It’s the purple floral bomber the rainbow-haired girl had been wearing, Tegan. “What did she do to me?” Toni scratches her head. She remembers meeting the girl, and the girl trying to buy her stuff. She feels the pockets of the jacket and found a wad of cash, Toni guesses it’s the 500 dollars. She was knocked out, so why still pay her? Also, what is so important that Toni had to be knocked out? How did the girl knock her out? Toni doesn’t remember that bit, it’s groggy, but in a sparkly way, which makes absolutely no sense.

    Toni checks on her bags, they were exactly as she’d left them. Of course, because the weird girl has left her with money, the only things missing are Toni’s jacket and hat.

    She slides open the door to her private booth and pokes her head out. Looking left and right she see’s nothing but brightness, no people. Tegan is probably long gone, could even be off the train for all Toni knows, she doesn’t know how long she was out, minutes, hours, although it is still light outside.

    Back in her compartment Toni digs for sunglasses, locating them she slams the locker shut and is alarmed at her faint reflection in the metal. Her usually blonde hair is something else, darker. Using the camera on her phone she finds her hair purple on one side and the rest of the rainbow gradient on the other, just like Tegan! She rubs her fingers through her hair, it’s dusty and there’s powder on her fingers, like chalk, must be hair chalk. This girl has gone to an awful lot of effort to make Toni look like her, why?

    Toni strips off the jacket in a hurry and vigorously rubs her hands through her hair, letting a large amount of dust settle on the wooden floor. One more check in her phone shows the colour has stuck, she needs water. Toni can’t help but think the worst, like what if this girl is in trouble with the law and has just set Toni up to take the fall? What if it’s drug money? Or worse, blood money? Toni is rummaging through her bag seconds later for her black hoodie, if it is a worse case scenario, she needs to cover up and get this colour out now!

    Hood up, Toni runs for the bathroom. Inches from the door she is yanked into another compartment and her hood is flung off.

    “Told you Rod.” Whoever said that is holding Toni’s arm far too tightly.

    “Get Adam,” says the man in the suit that Toni’s directly in front of. The man opposite him with the hipster moustache and goatee leaves to find whoever Adam is.

    The man holding her forces her to sit down opposite Rod, and he sits beside her, thankfully he lets go. She’s probably going to have a bruise in the morning, if she even makes it to morning. A cold chill washes over her and she shivers, seriously, what if they kill her?

    “I’m not Tegan.”

    Rod frowns, “Who?”

    “The girl you’re looking for, I’m not her.”

    He looks her up and down, “Adam will be the judge of that,” she pinpoints the accent as American.

    “Are you gonna kill me?”

    “Whoa, no, no, no one said anything about killing the fairy,” says the man beside her.

    “Kyle!” Rod gets loud.

    Toni’s eyes are wide, “Fairy? As in like: Tinkerbell? A fairy?”

    Neither of them say a word, they don’t look at her, like that’s not suspicious.

    “So you’re not gonna kill me because you think I’m a magical fairy?” She can’t help but laugh.

    “It’s not really funny, because you’re saying you’re not her, and if that’s true, then what use do we have for you?” Rod raises an eyebrow.

    The cabin door slides open and a gorgeous man with bright blue eyes and long light-brown hair pulled back in a bun, stares at her. “That’s not her.”

    Toni’s stomach drops.

    “You sure Adam? She’s got the hair and all,” Kyle touches her hair, and she pulls away.

    “Please don’t kill me Adam!”

    Both his eyebrows shoot up, “How do you know my name?”

    “These idiots told me,” she gestures between Kyle and Rod. “Also, the girl you’re looking for is a fairy.”

    Jaw clenched, Adam takes a moment to compose himself, he clenches his fist as he speaks. “I’ll deal with that later. Do you know where the fairy is?”

    “No, but I know what jacket she’s wearing, I can help you find her if you promise not to kill me.”

    “Fine, if we find her, I won’t kill you. You idiots, stay here,” he spares a glance each for Rod and Kyle. “Bob, watch them.”

    “But I’m second in charge,” Rod complains.

    Adam fixes him a stern look, “Not anymore. And you,” he points at Toni, “Come with me.” He takes her sunglasses from her and tucks them into the top of his button-up shirt.

…

“How do I know you won’t just kill me once we find her?” Toni checks an empty compartment.

    “If you tell someone that you helped a man on the train to find a fairy, do you think they’re gonna believe you?”

    Toni pauses for a moment, “I suppose not.” The carriage they’re currently in seems to be empty. “How do you know she hasn’t gotten off?”

    “Because I know where she’s going.”

    “Then why don’t you catch her when you get there?”

    “Not possible.”

    “Why doesn’t she fly there?”

    “She hasn’t earnt her wings.”

    “I have so many more questions.”

    Adam holds open the door between carriages, wind whips through, “Please refrain.”

    “Why do you want to catch her?”

    He sighs, following her into a carriage filled with seats, still most are empty. “She has something I want.”

    “Can I ask what?”

    “No.”

    “Is it something she stole from you? Or something you want to steal from her?”

    He leans closer to whisper, “Keep your voice down.”

    “So?”

    “It’s something I stole from her, then she stole it back-“

    She stops in the aisle, “So you really are the bad guy?” She keeps her volume low.

    “Well the threat to murder is technically still on the table, so yeah, I’m the bad guy,” he pushes her forward.

    If Toni did something to help the fairy, like incapacitating Adam somehow, would the fairy then help her? Because Tegan, if that’s really her name, did pay Toni for her stuff, like a decent human- or fairy being. On the other hand, she coloured Toni’s hair and left her to be found by these American goons, good-looking goons, but goons none the less. Adam says he’s the bad guy, but is Tegan really the good guy? Adam has threatened murder, but Tegan is the reason Adam even has Toni and can threaten murder in the first place.

    Adam again holds the door to the next carriage open for Toni. When they’re in the in-between, which she is 99 per cent sure they shouldn’t be, she turns around and it startles him. “You’re not gonna kill her either right?”

    “Why do you care?”

    “I’m in a wrestling match with my conscious, and I just need to know.” She keeps a tight grip on the railing.

    Adam’s grip is as equally tight, “I’m not going to kill her.”

    “But you might kill me?”

    “Only if we don’t find her. Move along,” he reaches over her to open the second door.

    Toni smooths down her hair once they’re out of the wind. Her head snaps up as she notices someone jump from their seat, and the red and black jacket takes off down the aisle.

    “There! There, Adam!” She points.

    He takes off running and despite herself, she follows. They sprint through the carriage and into the next. Eventually they reach the last one, it’s another carriage full of compartments.

    Adam pulls Toni along to the first door, he stands flush against the wall and motions for her to open the door. She does: little old lady.

    Door two, nothing.

    Door three, nothing, but Adam hides every time even though Tegan must have seen him too.

    Door four, a couple that spring apart.

    Door five, nothing, but Adam’s holding her arm as though he might pull her away from something.

    Doors six and seven were more of nothing, door eight is the last one.

    Adam nods and Toni pulls open the door only to be met with a face full of purple powder. A familiar tingling feeling and glittery smell washes over her, her eyes water, but it doesn’t sting. Adam pushes past her wearing her sunglasses and holding his jacket over his nose and mouth as he enters the compartment.

    Toni falls back against the wall and then there’s two Adam’s and two Tegan’s. The struggle is small as the Adam’s snatch a pouch from each of the Tegan’s, and he opens it to utilize the purple powder inside.

    Toni sighs, he wanted the magic dust, fairy dust… pixie dust is the word that takes her brain. She slides down the wall.

    He steps over her, he doesn’t turn back, she watches him walk away until everything fades to black.

END