19 Chapter 19: hoard, Part 3

Pounding harder and yelling something she could not understand, Alice dropped to the floor and crawled toward the furthest corner in the room, away from the door.The banging intensified and Alice knew they had begun to kick with intention of knocking it down and invading her sanctuary.

She searched for some place to hide, anywhere.The boxes were all too small and in a loft, there were no rooms to escape to.She felt around in the darkness and her fingers found the blanket her great grandmother knitted.Terrified by the sound of the bull kicking down the front door, Alice threw the blanket over her and as she laid flat on the floor, she kicked a pile of boxes and papers and they toppled on top of her.Just as the last bit of soiled trash camouflaged her under the blanket, the door was knocked open and someone marched into the room, shouting something unfamiliar repeatedly.

Alice laid motionless.She could see through a small hole in the blanket that the man was wearing clean, shiny black boots.Alice held her breath as she watched the boots move around the room.The person knocked over each pile, searching for something.

Doing her best to lay still, Alice quickly realized that the blanket that shielded her from the invader may also have been her downfall.Like tiny hairs sliding up and down her calves, Alice felt the frenzy of the disturbed fleas as they moved across her skin, biting her, excited for a fresh meal.She was unable to scratch and shoo them away.

Every bite felt like forever as the owner of the boots knocked over piles of trash.Dishes crashed to the floor and shattered into pieces.A sharp broken edge from a saucer bounced along the floor and landed near the hole in the blanket, just inches from her eye.

The fleas began to bite harder and more frequently, angry that their home had been disturbed.Alice's legs began to quiver with the urge to itch but she had to remain still.She could feel something cool pool across the back of her neck and slowly slide down toward her chin.The box she knocked over on top of her was filled with urine-soaked clothes and the liquid had penetrated the blanket and began to drip on her skin.Her body cried out to wipe her neck and kick away the fleas but she had no choice.To survive, she had to remain completely still.

Coughing uncontrollably, the invader had taken in a deep breath of the rotted waste strewn across the floor around him.He shouted again as he gasped for fresh air.Even though Alice didn't speak his language, she knew what he was yelling about as he stormed out to the hallway.She knew he had not grown accustomed to the stench like she had.

A small grey mouse scurried toward the open door and the man stomped down hard.Bits of mouse squirted in all directions as though the man crushed an overly-ripe orange.

He stopped to catch his breath and the sunlight from the staircase windows helped Alice see that he was wearing a uniform.The symbol above his breast pocket was starkly opposite of the large yellow star she was forced to wear.

The invader disappeared down the staircase, his cough fading the further down he went.Alice remained frozen under the flea-infested blanket and mound of crumpled paper and waste, too terrified to move.She was unable to escape, unable to run, and unable to join her family and the many citizens of Paris who made it safely to the countryside.As fleas moved across her lower back, Alice waited, listening for the silence to return to the abandoned building. Her skin burned and begged to be scratched but she dared not move and risk being caught.The pain grew unbearable but she knew that if she moved, her fate would be far worse than the feeling of the tiny insects biting and crawling across her body.

NJ Transit, Part 1

The inseparable college trio hopped aboard the New Jersey Transit Northeast Corridor train after a never-ending day of lectures and roommate drama.As the train compartment doors slid closed, the illuminated "The Next Stop Is" sign in car 7599 changed from New Brunswick to Edison.Best friends since Psych 101 at Rutgers University, Tammy, Melina and April looked forward to a thrilling evening in the city and they couldn't wait until the train stopped at Penn Station.Little did they know, they would never leave the train alive.

Commuters had already filled most of the seats from the Hamilton and Princeton Junction stations.To make each car even more crowded than usual, there was a basketball game scheduled later that evening and most of them wouldn't exit until New York Penn Station.

April looked down the aisle of seats and saw a sea of red jerseys, tired commuters already zoned-out with earbuds in, and a few elderly couples ready for an early night in the Big Apple.

"Let's just sit here," Melina recommended as she flipped a seat down from the wall.This section of train, usually reserved for handicapped travelers, bicycles and people with extra-large luggage, was empty.No one wanted to sit where the train doors opened at each stop.A cold front moved into the area the night before and there was a noticeably different chill in the air.

Tammy and April followed suit, like they usually did, and sat down beside their friend.Melina was clearly the leader of the pack.From Middle-eastern descent, the dyed wave of purple hair was a stark contrast to her olive skin and the rest of her jet-black hair.She wore a faux -black leather jacket with bright silver zippers, zigging and zagging in every direction.The black-pattern leggings stretched from her short skirt down to her purple Uggs.The stud in her left nostril was a real diamond, not a mall kiosk cubic zirconia.