The Dream Train

Already Lost

Ana froze. The smile faded from her lips. She took an involuntary step backward. Josh reached out as though to steady her.

Her mind whirled. What was happening to her? She should be freaking out. She'd gotten lost. The train, the town, the festival, Josh, all of it-- why did she keep going along like everything was normal. There was this incredible hotel and everyone was nice and she had everything she needed and where was her grandmother? Where was Sam? She wasn't on vacation she was lost. Everything was wrong.

Ana gasped and looked around. "I need to find, Sam!"

Josh smiled gently and took her wrist. "Ana? What's the matter?"

Ana was scared but some survival instinct was keeping her from screaming. She looked at Josh. "I need to find, Sam, now."

Josh grinned and it was charming and deeply, deeply wrong. "Come on, Ana, the band is coming back to the stage. I promise I'll help you find Sam as soon as the concert is over."

Ana was shaking her head. She felt crazy treating Josh like he was something dangerous, especially when he was looking at her with such affection, but she couldn't care. Everything was wrong and she needed to find her brother.

Ana pulled her wrist from Josh's grip. She mumbled, "I'm sorry," then she turned and bolted into the crowd.

Ana dodged between people and, soon, Josh was lost in the crowd behind her. Ana's eyes flew over the faces in the throng. Where had she last seen Sam?

The arcade. Ana pushed onto her tiptoes to try to see the sign for the arcade. There! Ana pushed through the crowd to the left and headed toward the pavilion where she had last seen her brother.

Ana was fairly small and she was able to squeeze through tiny gaps in the crowd. Nonetheless, it seemed to take hours to push through to the arcade. She weaved through the kids, families, and teenagers who were grouped around the machines. She tried to remember what Sam had been wearing but she just couldn't. Why isn't my brain working, Ana thought angrily.

She made two laps through the arcade to be sure, but Sam wasn't there. It must have been hours ago that she'd left him. Who knew where he had gone? Ana figured she would check out the ride queues.

Ana had taken a single step out of the arcade pavilion when she spotted Kelly Brook. Kelly was obviously looking for something or someone. Ana swallowed and turned her face away from the woman. Ana slipped in behind a large family walking by. She kept the family between her and Kelly until she'd gotten past where Kelly stood.

Ana darted away from the family and into the row of food trucks that led to the carnival rides. Ana's heart was pounding. She felt certain that Kelly would step out in front of her any second and she knew, deep in her bones, that would be very bad.

Ana kept searching the faces of people she passed. None were her brother. She couldn't tell if she was imagining it, but she felt like people were starting to give her strange looks. Ana consciously slowed her pace. She fought to make her face look normal. The last thing she needed was some concerned citizen deciding she needed help. The way things had been going, they'd probably march Ana right into the waiting arms of Kelly Brook.

Ana reached the carnival rides. She began scanning the faces of the people in line. No Sam, no Sam, no Sam! Where was he?

***

Sam washed his hands and walked out of the restroom. He had taken no more than three steps toward the place where he'd left Donnie and the girls when someone tackled him. The someone was half a foot shorter than him and ⅔ his weight which was the only reason he didn't get knocked on his ass.

"Ana?"

Sam was very confused but allowed his sister to drag him around the building away from the festival. "Um. . . Ana, hey, how's it going?"

Ana didn't stop pulling Sam's arm until they were away from all the bright lights and under the relative privacy afforded by a large tree. Then she stopped and looked at him. Sam looked at her. His face showed his confusion.

"Sammy? Are you Ok?"

Sam raised his eyebrows and he let out a small laugh. "Uh, yeah. I'm fine, how are you?"

Ana shook him by the shoulders, "I'm lost Sam, and so are you, remember?"

Sam opened his mouth and then shut it again. Ana wondered if his brain was as fuzzy as hers.

"Sam!"

Sam blinked. "Yeah. . . " His eyes focused on her. "What's happening?"

Ana pulled him to the other side of the tree, further from the festival. "I'm not sure. But have you noticed how everything is just. . . weird?"

"Like the hotel . . . and everyone being really nice?"

"Yes! And, Sammy, I was talking to Josh and Danielle," Ana felt like she was pulling the memory through fog, "Josh said they had been here for ten years. And they're here alone. Like us, no parents, no family, they are just staying at the hotel." Ana was fighting to keep her voice down. She did not want to draw attention. "And it totally freaked me out when he told me but maybe a minute later it was like I had forgotten it or like it wasn't really a big deal."

Sam was nodding, "And no one has asked for money. For anything. I've played games, rode rides, and eaten a ton of food and no one has asked for money. I thought it was because I was with Donnie but. . . even at the hotel."

"Is there a phone in our hotel room?"

Sam's eyebrows came together. "I. . . I'm not sure."

"And isn't that weird?" As she spoke, Ana felt like pieces were coming together in her brain, "I mean, why did neither of us look for a phone? How was calling Gran not the only thing on our minds?" Ana took a deep breath and then spoke in a whisper. "Sam, we need to get out of here."

Sam's eyes got wide. "What? We don't know where we are. Where would we go? We'd just end up lost again."

Ana set her jaw. "We are already lost."