Full Novel Found In Man's Belongings After Their Death

Once upon a time there was a family of six. Four daughters, their mother and their father. Throughout the years the family experiences several changes, as most families tend to do. From gaining members in the form of grandparents moving in, to losing members when it became their turn to board the train to the beyond.

The black train with green tinted windows and smoke of the same colour. A train loud only to those meant to board and practically non-existent to others. However, although this is a story that includes death it must be clear that this is not the kind of death as experienced on Earth. In the Netherrealm, death merely exists as a concept of a long vacation spent on the inside of a long, never ending train with no destination.

Leaving death to the side there is the Ryker family.

A family of six, that suddenly became eight before the number lowered down to seven when Grandmother Ryker had finally given in to the conductor's arguments. It was a departure that they had all seen coming after days of watching their grandmother scold the conductor for calling at their door without calling beforehand- and for showing up with no gift once the call had been done- and argue her place at her home.

Therefore they weren't entirely tearful as their grandmother packed her belongings in a small bag.

They didn't cry as she paid the conductor- and complained about having to do so- and climbed onto the train. It was only when their grandmother turned for one final goodbye that it came to mind, 'This is the end'

And so, as the train began to depart one by one the seven family members made their way back into their red brick house. The grandfather settled in the living room, opening an old photo album from long ago before even the house where they lived in existed. The mother, Leona Ryker, kissed her father on the forehead goodnight and did so to each one of her daughters before she and her husband, Alfonso Ryker, made their way back to their room.

The three young girls were 15, 14, 13, and 7 years old. They all stood in the hallway looking at each other. Uncertain as to what to say and what to do. Rykar Ryker, the oldest, suggested for them all to accompany their grandfather on his journey down memory lane. The youngest, a spitting image of the eldest in all but the length of their hair, argued that to do so would be impossible. Their grandfather had already left.

All four of them turned to the living room, realising that the old man no longer sat in the chair, the album in front of the chair laid there with a strange glow. With a single gesture the eldest told the others to accompany her to the living room and without a single drop of sweat they moved the chair he had been sitting on, pushing the table out of the way in case he exited the album in such a way that could harm him.

"Let's just sleep." The second eldest, Dextera Ryker, said. Her fingers rushing through her dirty blond hair. "We can talk about all of this tomorrow. It's late and I have school in the morning."

"We all have school in the morning Dex." Rykar Ryker replied, not really knowing why she did so in the first place. In reality they all knew that it didn't matter why, so long as Dextera was aware that while Rykar was smaller and thinner and gave an air of importance similar to a plate of salad having been left out all night- she was still the eldest. "Let's get going to bed. Caldera. Bring a glass of water and leave it here for grandfather. He might need something to drink. And some tissues as well."

Caldera, third in line, pouted at the command. Strands of her ginger hair fell over her lips, trapping the red between her lips. "Why can't she do it?" Her voice bellowed, a fingertip aimed at the youngest of them all. Aimen, not the protagonist of the story and not the protagonist of any story so long as she would have it be.

"Obviously it's because she's tiny." Dextera pointed out.

It was true. Aimen Ryker was small in everything. She had a small nose and small hands. Six years after their grandmother's departure her appearance had merely become slightly bigger, although you couldn't really tell the difference had she grown up within the same walls as you. At thirteen her hands were small, her legs were long but her toenails were not. And although describing her this much makes her seem as the protagonist it is important to note that she is not.

No.

Our protagonist is not the youngest of the family, loved by many despite her strange mood and insistence on not being noticed by anyone other than her loved ones.

It is also not the young aspiring Zoologist whose wedding was set to occur in five years. Her fiancé on a journey to the center of the earth that he would, hopefully, return from.

Regretfully, it is also not Dextera, the travelling medic and her rodent companion.

Instead, as fate may allow it to be, the person this book will focus on is Rykar Ryker. The one with the strange name, whose main career at the moment was: Unemployed student.