Page 31 of The Christmas Express

Cali

‘It’s Christmas Day,’ I whisper aloud to nobody but myself in the tiny mirror that I can see when I sit up in my bunk.

The train carriage seems quiet, the rhythmic chugging along the tracks having become white noise I barely seem to notice any more, and I open my curtain to reveal a still dark world overlooking us.

But the deep blueness has been dip dyed in orange and indigo, an early morning twilight, which tells me we can’t be that far away from our stop in Jasper National Park, where we’re due to arrive shortly before sunrise.

I rub the sleep and crust from beside my eyes and pull on a thousand layers, leaving my cabin and creeping down silent cars to the celestial carriage.

Turns out, I’m far from the only one who had this idea.

The seats are full of passengers in various states of washed and dressed, some clutching mugs, some holding their phones up to take photos out of the domed windows.

I take a stand near the back, leaning on the railing above the stairs, and wrap my arms around myself to watch the vista as the sun slowly wakes.

‘Merry Christmas,’ I swap softly with the people around me, as I catch their eyes. ‘Happy holidays.’

The mountains I saw last night, in the dark, are now towering around us, so close it feels like I could touch them, if I had extremely long arms. Tiger stripes of grey stone cut through the thick white snow that coats the majority of the mountains, and even in this pre-dawn light that is some thick-looking snow on the ground outside the train, too.

There’s a warm pink pooling in with the colours of the morning sky when somebody comes and stands beside me.

‘Happy Christmas, Cali,’ Ember says. She’s in her woollen beanie, some fingerless mittens on her hands which hold a coffee cup in between them. Her hair is back in a messy, high ponytail and she hasn’t put on her signature winged eyeliner yet, she just looks outdoorsy-fresh.

‘Hey, good morning, merry Christmas,’ I reply.

‘I love it up here,’ she remarks, sipping on her warm drink.

‘See, now aren’t you glad you joined us for the train instead of just flying over all of this?’ I can’t help but tease, even though I’m not sure how she’ll react.

But she just raises an eyebrow and chuckles. ‘Are you glad you all took the train, now?’

Touché. ‘It has some perks,’ I concede.

‘It has had its perks,’ agrees Ember.

‘Listen,’ I broach. ‘Being Christmas Day and all, what do you say to us putting our differences aside for one day and having some fun? For Bryn’s sake?’

‘Together?’ She sounds doubtful that that could happen. ‘I don’t think the others would go for that. You’re the only one who seems to want to talk to me, much.’

‘They will,’ I say. No bloody idea if they will, but here’s hoping.

‘Will you tell me why you’re all fighting?’

‘Uuuggghhh. Maybe later.’ I don’t want to ruin my mood right now. ‘Will you tell me your current thoughts about Bryn?’

Ember opens her mouth to speak then stops, a wash of thoughtfulness passing behind her eyes. ‘Maybe later,’ she says.

‘Deal. So, do you want to all explore Jasper together this morning? It’s supposed to be really pretty, and we have to get off the train, apparently. And it’s Christmas.’ I have one more thought to convince her. ‘And you could see if your friend Alex wants to come with us, too?’