Chapter Text
00:02. Or two minutes past midnight. That's when the train arrived. Daisy was disappointed by the lateness. Everything always had to be right. On. Time. Especially her escape. She got on the train, hesitating to make sure her parents weren't about to jump out of the shadows. They wouldn't. They wouldn't even notice she was gone.
They were going to notice she was gone. Of course they would. That was the only thought running through Joni's head. They were always watching, everytime she made a mistake, everytime she said no. That's why she was late to her escape. Making sure they were all out of the house. But maybe she had left it too late, because the train was already at the station.
'Wait! Please, no! Wait!'
Daisy looked out of the window. A girl, about her age, was running towards the train. She moved to the door, to keep it open for the girl, but the train had already started moving. Daisy reached out a hand, desperate to help this stranger, although she knew that nobody should have seen her. Not during her escape. She couldn't throw this away.
She couldn't throw this away. Joni knew that with perfect clarity. So when this stranger reached out a hand to help her inside, Joni knew that this was her saviour. So she used her last burst of energy to grasp her saviour's hand with all her strength and never let go.
As soon as she could feel the touch of the girl's fingers, Daisy was pulling her in. She knew she shouldn't hold onto stranger's hands and pull them into trains, but she was high on adrenaline and the feeling of running away im the middle of the night. She felt the other girl knock into her, and they tumbled to the ground. Daisy found herself staring up into oval eyes that sparked gold in the train's artificial brightness, framed by dark braids, woven through with more gold. Whoever this girl was, she was beautiful.
Whoever this girl was, she was beautiful. Joni gazed down at her emerald eyes and freckled cheeks. Then she remembered herself and stood up quickly, holding out a hand to help her saviour up. The girl took it, then quickly let go and peered intently at her knitted green jumper for imaginary lint. Joni immediately missed the warmth of her saviour's hand in hers. It reminded her that touch could be used for kindness, not just pain. The two girls stood in awkward silence until Joni broke the quiet.
'Thank you for helping me'
'I- uh- um- it was no problem. Are you ok?'
'Yeah I'm fine, thanks to you. No seriously, what's your name?'
'Daisy. And you are....?'
Joni thought about it for a second. She had been many names and many people. Cassandra was the last name she had used. But she didn't want to be Cassandra. Not to this girl.
'I'm Joni'
'Like Joni Mitchell? Sorry I just um. I mean, uh sorry,'
'No its fine, don't apologise'
'So... what are you doing on a train at... 5 minutes past midnight, Joni?'
'I could be asking you the same question'
Daisy blushed. She wasn't planning on telling anyone. But lying wasn't in her nature and something made her trust this girl.
'Can I tell you a secret?' Joni nodded eagerly. 'I'm running away.'
'Can I tell you a secret?' Daisy grinned at her. 'So am I.'