Journey to the Pigeon Side by Jason Louis.
Genre is Fantasy/Supernatural.
“What am I doing here, on this train?”, a confused and frightened young girl speaks out to the nothing in this empty carriage. It races past the myriad trees and houses outside the train, all of them blending into each other into a mixture of beautiful colours, as the sun streams into the glass window and lights up the freckles on the girl’s beautiful face.
“Coo?”
“Huh?” “Where did you my little beauty come from?” says the girl.
“Coo” replies the Pigeon.
The girl lets out a little giggle as she straightens down her top to make herself more presentable.
“Hello, Sir Pigeon, my name is Lady Molly, how do you do?”
“Coo”
Molly laughs softly at the thought of the pigeon actually understanding what she is saying, and is slightly relieved that she, for the moment, forgot about the reason why she is on this train, all alone.
“Coo” the Pigeon coughs and clears his throat.
“Greetings Lady Molly, and please don’t be afraid of any of this”.
The words were clear and sounded to Molly, to be upper class English, the type of English speaking you get from the old radio broadcasts that her father use to listen to during the war.
The Pigeon speaks again – “How do you do? My name is Ernie, and I shall be your travel companion today.”
“Erm, okay, I’m sorry, but I am right in understanding that you are speaking to me and that I can understand you? Right? I’m not going crazy, or anything am I?” Molly stumbles her words out confused.
“Coo…hahaha” No, little lady, you are not crazy, you are quite sane, for a Human anyway” Ernie replied earnestly, and he winked one grey eye at her as well. For some reason, Molly felt shy and blushed.
“You are on board the Universal Pigeon Express Train Service”.
Ernie looks Molly up and down, cocks his head to one side to make sure she understands what is happening and what he is telling her. She does look a bit worried as he speaks again.
“We, The many Pigeons that live in this realm, act as guides and travelling companions to the numerous Human lives we encounter onboard this train, we journey with them to their next destination.” He pauses for a moment, holding in a long breath and making sure to say the right words that are about to come out.
“I’m sorry to say, young Molly, but you have indeed passed away and are now going towards the afterlife.”
Tears start to well up in Molly’s eyes, her bottom lip starts to tremble and she sits back down again with a thud on the comfortable seat. “I…I..know, I remember what happened when I closed my eyes, but I was hoping it was just a dream.” She spoke softly and quietly. “But why a train and why a Pigeon, I’m sorry if that is rude of me, but Why?”
Molly looks around the empty train carriage and glances at the window and notices that the sunlight has faded, and it is now a starry night, how long has she been there she wonders?
Ernie stares at Molly and speaks, but his voice sounds different, older even, if that is even possible.
“I am more than just a Pigeon, I am a lot more than that, in fact I am what you would call a Guardian Spirit”.
Ernie continues on…
“The Universal Pigeon Express Train” he chuckles to himself at the name. “Is a service that us Pigeons provide for the Humans.”
“You see, currently on Earth, there are over 8 billion of you Humans and only over 400 million Pigeons.”
“At the start of creation, we are assigned to a number of Humans each, and well, you are one of mine, we belong to each other”
“Thank you, but where were you when I really needed you!” Molly mumbles to herself, kicking the empty space on the ground of the carriage.
“Molly, my dear, I have always been here for you, you might not have seen me, but you felt my presence, in the room with you. I was in the playground, the trees and the wind, the sunlight and the nights fall.”
“only now, can I manifest myself physically as we travel together to the next chapter of your life, you have nothing to be afraid of anymore.”
The train carriage starts to rattle and rumble, the outside starts to dim darker now. Molly is frightened but she is stronger, a peaceful calm falls over her now.
Suddenly, a crackle of energy starts to vibrate the carriage, and a figure shimmers into view, from the shadows, a large humanoid white owl appears and speaks.
“ERNIE AND MOLLY, IT IS TIME NOW”
Ernie looks a bit concerned and moves closer to Molly. “Don’t worry, young miss. This is my boss, Orinoco, he is the one who observes all, leads all, and protects all.”
The Owl looks down on both the young girl and her Pigeon, smiles at them both and blinks both golden eyes slowly.
“You have done good my old friend” turning to Ernie. “Your mission has now ended and it’s time for you to rest as well.”
“But Sire, I have more Humans to guide, I’m sure of it.” Ernie splutters, his feathers fluffing up.
Orinoco smiles and speaks, this time a lot softer and quieter.
“Molly was your final Human, not only were you helping her and guiding her, but she was also doing the same for you. It’s time for you both to rest now, my children.”
Molly and Ernie gaze at each other and she whispers a thank you to him as he hops onto her left shoulder and in a shimmer of bright blue light, they both disappear into the warm void of their next life together.
SEVERAL MINUTES LATER….
“Huh, where am I?”
Bruce, a large scruffy looking man, with the familiar oft broken disjointed nose that most Rugby players get in their careers, appears in the carriage of a train that he cannot remember boarding. He’s confused, more so as a Pigeon is sitting on the seat opposite him, making cooing noises and smiling at him.
“Huh?” he mumbles aloud to himself; he looks outside of the window and sees the midnight sky illuminated with so many flying trains on tracks to nowhere, that none of this makes any sense to him.
“Huh?”
‘This is going to be a long journey,’ thinks Norris the Pigeon.
The End.
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