Obsidian Cup

Faint footsteps sounded from outside of Serena Ashbourne's train compartment door. She rested her forehead on the cool glass as she counted each step as it approached her door, then faded away just as they had countless times since she got on the train. An hour ago, she had been curious enough to peek through the crack of the door to see who was so restless.

The man--who, at the time, was walking away from her compartment--had hunched shoulders and a whithered look about him. Serena had been sure to close the door quietly so he wouldn't know she was spying on him.

As the train rolled on, Serena came up with dozens of reasons for the man to appear so anxious–so broken. Of course, a death in the family was the first theory to come to mind, but then Serena quickly discarded it because that was the reason she was on the train, not him.

As far as she could remember, she had never stepped foot on an authentic steam-powered train. Whoever owned the train went out of their way to make it appear as though they were traveling back in time with the red velvet seats and gold painted floral wallpaper. Any other day, Serena would have found the trip charming, especially as the late-afternoon sunlight spilled through the window and onto the oakwood floor.

Once again, the footsteps approached her compartment, stopped, and turned back around. In that moment, Serena wished that it was a different day with a crippling agony that clenched her chest so tightly she could scarcely breathe.

But she pushed the pain back into the box where it belonged and went back to counting the strangers' steps.

Nearly a month ago, Serena had gotten the phone call early in the morning, so early that the sky was still dark. Anyone who called before the sun went up rarely had anything good to say. Even as Serena pressed her phone to her ear and said, “Hi, Mama,” she knew something was very wrong.

Twenty minutes later, police lights flashed for the entire neighborhood to see while Serena held her weeping mother as her fifteen year old sister, Lexie, sat in a stunned silence next to them. Her fathers death hardly came as a surprise. After all, the cancer had been threatening his life for the last several years now. At least he died in his sleep. That's what everyone told her, and she wished they wouldn't.

The funeral came and went in a blur. Serena had yet to shed a tear. Part of her –bigger than she'd like to admit– despised herself for the lack of emotions that she felt. It was deeper than that, though, and she knew it. It wasn't apathy. Instead, she was teetering at the edge of a big black hole that at any moment would swallow her whole and she'd never find a way out. So, to avoid the plunge, she kept her feet firmly planted at the edge and pretended it didnt exist.

Weeks later, and that very morning, she received yet another call before the sun came up, but this time it was because the caller lived on the east coast. It was a lawyer seeking to settle her fathers will with her. He said multiple times throughout the hour-long phone call that he had tried to reach her mother, but always went straight to voicemail. That hadnt come as a surprise to her. Mama wasn't answering her phone calls either. Then, he told her the most peculiar thing…

A knock sounded on the door so sharply that Serena jumped in her seat. She cleared her voice before daring to speak, as she couldn't recall the last time she had spoken.

“Yes? I mean, hello?”

The compartment door slid open and a woman who appeared to be in her seventies peered in. “Do you mind if I join you?” she asked, her voice making her sound even older than she looked. “Everywhere else is full.”

Serena frowned at that. When she got on the train, it was entirely empty and she hadn't heard much traffic on and off the train at any station they stopped at, if any. The vacancy had come as an immense relief to her.

“Of course,” she said anyway as she pulled her bags closer to her to keep them out of the way, even though they already were.

The old woman sat down across from her and beamed as her eyes darted from Serena to their compartment and back to her. “I haven't ridden a train like this since I was a young girl,” she said in her crickedy voice. “My memory isn't what it used to be, but boy does this train bring so much back.”

Serena tried to smile, but was sure that it looked more like a grimace, so she stopped. “That's nice,” she said distantly. “Does it look the same?”

With a shake of her head and sardonic chuckle, the woman looked her up and down. “Not in the slightest. Perhaps, first-class was similar, but they'd never treat the poor with such lavish arrangements. My name is Mavis.”

Serena didn't bother offering to shake hands. “I'm Serena.”

“How lovely to meet you,” Mavis said so genuinely that Serena blinked, somewhat waking from her numbed world.

“And you,” she nodded, but still couldn't smile.

“Oh, my dear,” Mavis said as she leaned forward to grasp Serena's hands within hers. Despite her usual desire to not be touched, Serena didn't pull away. “What has happened?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your world has shattered,” Mavis observed. “Talking helps you pick up the pieces. What has happened?”

Serena stared at Mavis for quite some time before murmuring, “My father passed away.”

“Ah,” Mavis sighed, squeezing Serena's hands tenderly. “The passing of a parent is unlike any pain I can describe. Just as is the passing of a child.”

Tears stung Serena's eyes but she refused to let them fall. She said nothing, but continued to let Mavis hold her hands. There was something comforting about the woman, something she had never encountered before.

“The pain never passes,” Mavis told her gently. “You will simply learn to live with it by making room for it.”

Serena looked away, wishing that she could be alone once more. It didn't matter how comforting anyone could be. She wanted to be alone in her grief.

“Where are you headed?” Mavis asked as she dropped Serena's hands. Serena glanced at them, making a distant note of how cold they felt now that they were no longer wrapped in Mavis's.

“A small town called Havenly,” Serena said as she dropped her hands in her lap.

A strange shadow fell across Mavis's face, but was gone the moment it had come.

“Serena is going to Havenly,” she said in an off-key sing-song voice as an odd smile tugged at her lips. “It sounds like you were destined to go just for your namesake.”

Serena smothered a flinch by shrugging and looking away.

“Even if your tragedy is the reason you are going,” Mavis said in a way that made Serena feel like she was prodding.

This made her look back at her companion, and nod. “My father owned a house there. A bit surprising since I've never even heard of the town.”

“How curious,” Mavis said, her smile so wide that she transformed from comforting to unnerving in an instant. Serena shifted subconsciously in her seat, as though keen to put some distance between her and the old woman. “They say that you cannot enter that town unless you are invited and it would appear that you have received just the ticket.”

“Who says?” Serena asked blankly.

Mavis laughed–or, perhaps, cackled–making the hairs on the back of Serena's neck stand at attention. “Oh, my dear, have no fear. It would appear that you get a glimpse through the mirror. Oh, but please, you must tread carefully. Not everything is as it seems. You may weave a great masterpiece, or fall into a dream at a rip of the seams.”

Serena stared. “Is that a poem?”

Grinning toothily at her, Mavis didn’t answer her as she rose to her feet. “I believe I am approaching my stop. A word of caution. There are no roads in nor out of Havenly. The train is your only means of escape, if you decide you need one.”

Before Serena could say another word the door slid shut behind Mavis, leaving her very much alone and even more confused.

Before Serena had found the train that would take her all the way to the small town, she attempted to get plane tickets and rent a car. But, a quick google search revealed that there was no easy way in. The directions from the airport to Havenly simply wouldn't load and came up with “Error" on her screen. At the time, Serena just assumed it was a glitch, a mistake, but was what Mavis said really true? How could there be no roads into the town?

Her phone buzzed and Serena glanced at it. The text was from Lexie.

Hey, sis. Need to chat about mama. I'm worried…

Immediately, Serena was calling her as her heart climbed into her throat and expanded. Mama hadn’t been doing well for a long time. Probably since the day her dad got the first diagnosis.

“Hey,” Lexie said thickly, and Serena could tell from her voice that she had been crying. The compartment darkened slightly as they entered a tunnel. “Thanks for calling me back so soo-”

But the call dropped. Serena groaned as, sure enough, she had completely lost her signal. The lights flickered off for half a second, then were back on before she could let out a gasp. Frowning, she looked out the window as the train exited the tunnel, spilling sunlight back onto the floor. Still no signal. For the next ten minutes, she kept glancing at her phone, hoping without hope that she could call Lexie back. It shouldn't have come as a surprise, though, considering the mountains on either side of the train where the dynomite had blasted through centuries ago.

Eventually, her mind unwillingly wandered back to Mavis. The woman was odd, there was no doubt about that. The way she transitioned from the ideal granny to wicked witch of the woods left Serena more rattled than she wanted to admit. When she managed to shake off their odd interaction, she realized that the pacing outside her compartment had stopped. Curious, and in an attempt to distract herself from the spreading uneasiness in the pit of her stomach, she peeked into the hallway and found it completely empty.

Her curiosity, or, perhaps dread, grew and she walked down the hallway in quick short steps to see all the other compartments were empty. Why had Mavis lied and said they were full? And now she was thinking about it, where were Mavis and the man who had been pacing? The last stop they had made was well over three hours ago.

Had she spaced out during their departure? It wasn't entirely impossible. There had been long lengths of time that seemed to pass within seconds, but those had been spent in the darkness of her apartment as she stared at the TV without really watching. She would have noticed if the train stopped… wouldn't she?

Serena walked up and down the train three more times, opening each compartment door and peering inside, before she finally accepted that she was truly alone on the train.

Her heart thudded in her chest at the thought. Slowly, she made her way back to her compartment and sat down. Try as she might, she couldn't recall hardly any of that odd poem Mavis had recited. Something about looking through a mirror. What did that even mean? Not to mention that worrisome text from Lexie. Hopefully, she will know what to do if she needs to go to a psychiatrist. Although, Serena wasn’t planning on even staying a day. Look at the house that is likely run down as it’s been vacant since god knows when, talk to a realtor. Put it on the market. Go home. It was as good a plan as any. She cast one more glance at her phone and sighed before dropping it onto the seat next to her.

Tired and exhausted, which she had recently learned meant two completely different things, Serena closed her eyes and pressed her forehead on the cool glass once again. Perhaps, she was going crazy. Perhaps she had imagined everything from the pacing man and Mavis to a small town called Havenly. Nothing felt real anymore. Not ever since she heard Mama sob through the phone, “His lips are blue. Serena, please tell me what to do.”

Grimacing, Serena pushed that out of her mind. She couldn't think of her mothers panic, or her own as she called an ambulance with shaking fingers. Nor did she want to think of the disappearance of Mavis and the pacing man. Was there a way she could think about nothing at all?

The train stopped so suddenly that it jolted Serena awake. As she blinked the sleep out of her eyes, she couldn't remember falling asleep in the first place. Grimly, she stood and picked up her bags. It wasn't until she was out of the train station that she got a good look around. She had seen the mountainous terrain through her compartment window, but now knew that it had done little justice to how majestic they were. Everything looked so small in comparison. Having been born and raised in Montana, she was no stranger to cliffs. These, however, made the mountains back at home seem like hills.

“I thought mountains weren't this big on the east coast,” Serena said in wonder to no one in particular.

“Most aren't,” a voice said from behind her, making her jump. “These are some of the biggest mountains in the states. I think Alaska has a few bigger, but we have better weather. Mortimer.”

The man held out a hand for her to shake.

“Huh?”

“I'm Mortimer,” he clarified, dropping his hand awkwardly. He was a tall but lanky man, with black hair cut short. He had to be just a few years older than her. “I was told you might need help finding your new residence.”

“Um,” was all Serena could think to say as she took in her surroundings. “Yes, I suppose that would be helpful. Who told you I needed one, though? I don't remember the lawyer telling me anything like that.”

He frowned at her, blatantly offended.

“Not to be rude,” she added quickly. “I just…”

Her voice trailed off as no excuse came to mind.

Mortimer offered her a thin smile. “Of course,” he said with an air of professional politeness. “It's a small town, so word got around real quick that the old Manor house has a new owner.”

“Manor?” Serena echoed, startled. “Like… a mansion?”

“It's large enough to be considered one.”

“I thought it was just a house,” Serena said, mystified.

“It's the oldest structure in town," he said with unmistakable pride. "They whole town is very pleased that it will be occupied."

“I didn't even know my dad owned it,” Serena said, unable to supress a scowl. She grew up poor, never eating till she was full in fear of not having a next meal, so the idea that her father had some sort of secret… Well, she was still processing that. What other secrets had he kept from her?

“If the rumors are true, which they usually are here in Havenly, he likely didn't know he owned it either,” Mortimer said, gesturing toward a carriage. “I believe he inherited it as well, but never found out about it. Please, get in.”

Serena didn't know what shocked her more, what Mortimer had just said or the fact that he was leading her to a horse drawn carriage. “Um,” she said as she looked around and sure enough, there wasn't a car in sight. Nor any signs of telephone poles or technology anywhere. “Are there, you know… Is there electri… Is this town amish?”

For a moment, he looked so shocked that she thought he was about to yell at her. Right when she was about to apologize, he laughed. “I suppose it looks like we are, doesn't it? No. We aren't Amish. We have electricity, yes. But, we are a bit on our own here, if you couldn't tell. Being completely surrounded by mountains makes it a bit hard for us to get things shipped here, like cars. We had to close the roads leading to the town because the drive ended up being too dangerous. Lots of rockslides.”

“Oh,” Serena said with dawning comprehension. “That's why I had to take the train.”

“Exactly,” he said. With a hand, he helped her into the carriage before adding, “to be honest, we prefer being this secluded. Its as though we live in our own little world even if it means there are things we have to do with out.”

Eyeing the mountains once more, Serena nodded. “It certainly has its advantages.”

During the train ride, Serena researched Havenly; at least all that was revealed on the internet which wasn't much. In fact, the only thing she could really find was the town population: 2,106. She had expected a small town. It was small, yes, yet spacious. The houses weren't stacked right next to each other and for how hard Mortimer had said it was to get things shipped there, everything was beautiful and well kept.

As they slowly passed each residence, she couldn't help but realize that not a single home looked run down. Each house had a charming, classic look about it. Some were Victorians, and others were simple craftsman. Every massive yard was well cared for. And, despite the great number of trees in the vicinity, she couldn't see a single leaf on the ground. There was no gum on the roads, nor any cracks in the stone sidewalks. It was as though she had opened up a magazine featuring a photoshopped neighborhood and stepped inside. Eventually, Mortimer led the carriage through a small shopping area which, just as the homes were, looked perfect.

“This is beautiful,” Serena murmured and even she could hear the dreaminess in her voice.

Mortimer nodded proudly as he glanced back at her, reins in hand. “It lives up to its name, doesn't it?”

“It most certainly does,” Serena agreed. “How is everything so well maintained if you're essentially cut off from resources?”

He grinned before turning back to the horses. “We take care of each other. We don't have much government here, so all of our money goes back to our town.”

“Is this town sovereign?” she asked. She had heard of a few communities--mostly cults--claiming to be sovereign states. Although, she didn't believe much of what she read online anymore.

With a slight frown, he turned his focus back on the horses and shook the reins. “I suppose it is, in a way. Why so many questions?”

Serena shrugged, despite him being unable to see her. “I just haven't been in a place so… perfect.”

“Are you looking to stay?”

The way he asked it made her think that he had wanted to know since the moment he laid eyes on her.

“I haven't decided,” she said. “Originally I was leaning toward selling, but there's something about this place that feels... I can't put my finger on it.”

“Home,” Mortimer answered for her. “That's the word you're thinking of. It feels like home.”

As they turned a corner past the shops, she saw an old manor out in the distance and she knew he hit the hammer on the nail. It felt like home.