Walking Into a Solitary Future

I put down my phone and moved to climb down to find the conductor.

My foot missed the ladder rung.

As I plunged toward the floor, reality hit me before the pain did.

Our high-speed bullet train tickets had been swapped for a slow sleeper train after we boarded.

Seth Vance was busy flagging down the snack cart to buy treats for my sister, Lily.

He didn't even look up at me.

"Lily said taking the night train feels more romantic," Seth said. "So we canceled the bullet train tickets to surprise her. Don't throw a fit and ruin the mood for everyone."

He knew my heart condition couldn't handle thirty hours on a bumpy, cramped train.

I stared at Seth for a long moment. I said nothing. I just walked away to fill my battered thermos with hot water.

When I returned, all six bunks were piled high with Lily's luggage.

There was no spot left for me.

My parents and my older brother, Julian Hayes, crowded around Lily.

Mom unpacked a suitcase, holding up items one by one.

"I packed your favorite sleep plushie. Here's the laptop your brother bought you. And Dad packed local snacks for your roommates..."

As my eyes caught on a small medicine bottle in Mom's hand, relief bloomed in my chest.

At least among all of Lily’s luggage, they had brought my heart medication.

I stepped forward to reach for it.

Mom casually tossed the bottle into a trash bag. "An empty pill bottle got mixed in. Good thing I noticed."

"Good riddance," Julian said, patting Lily's head. "Lily is perfectly healthy. Carrying medicine around brings bad luck."

Julian turned to her with a smile. "My campus is right across the street from yours. If you need anything, call me. I'm on call twenty-four seven."

Seth returned with armfuls of snacks and frowned.

"If Lily needs help, she comes to me. I spent a whole year tutoring her so she could get into my university."

Their playful banter made my parents and Lily burst into laughter.

I stood there holding my chipped thermos. My chest felt hollow.

I was their daughter. I was Julian's sister. And I was Seth's girlfriend.

Yet on this trip, I was invisible.

"Oh my gosh! This girl fell!"

A sharp gasp snapped me back to the present.

Passengers crowded around, helping me off the floor and popping an emergency heart pill into my mouth.

An older woman rubbed my back to settle my breathing, muttering under her breath.

"Your heart condition is so severe," she said. "How could your parents let you travel all this way alone?"

She sighed. "The contrast is just painful. You should have seen the family in this compartment earlier. That little girl was so spoiled.

"Her parents kept running back and forth to get her hot water," the woman continued. "And those two tall, handsome boys peeled fruit for her the whole trip. They wouldn't even let her peel her own banana..."

Her words stung deeper than the pain in my chest. Tears filled my eyes.

"This is too dangerous," the woman said, shaking her head. "Let me call your family."

She lifted my phone, unlocked it using facial recognition, and dialed my emergency contact.