TRANSCONTINENTAL

"Look," Mr. Cobb said with the sort of condescending tone you'd expect when a man in his 50's talks to a man in his 20's, "I understand you're trying very hard to cope with all all of this, but I'm telling you, you need to finance this money! It doesn't have to be through me. Open up a Roth IRA and pay up front. Then put a sizable majority in an ETF and you'll be twice as rich in ten years."

Aaron just rolled his eyes and glanced around Mr. Cobb's office. The oak paneling and lack of anything from the current millennium more than showed Aaron the man's complete lack of understanding.

"John," Aaron stared, using Mr. Cobb's first name to piss his off especially, "I understand you want the best for my financial future. But $250,000 is more than enough for me to cover my expenses to Los Angeles. I've already saved on a room on the train. They've got a program that lets me share the room for half the cost."

"Which I would be absolutely fine with," said Mr. Cobb, "If you were moving out there to find a STEM job."

Aaron rolled his eyes. ”Here we go again.”

"You know median income in the industry is in the millions, John." Spoke Aaron.

"You also know that for every success story there are a hundred failures?"

Aaron had no counter. The man was right.

"You already don't have a college degree," Mr. Cobb began, "And I know you should go at least pick up an Associate's, but believe me when I say that 2008's crash isn't over. You need a job in STEM."

Aaron hated that acronym. It just implied that if you didn't work in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics, that you were completely worthless. And sure enough, the good old family lawyer John Cobb was a big fan of talking about STEM and it's importance. Funny thing? He didn't even work in STEM.

"Thanks for the concern, but no thanks. The money is in the account in my name, correct?"

"Yes but--"

"And as a legal adult of 23, I have every right to the inheritance my parents left behind when they passed not 2 weeks ago, correct?"

Mr. Cobb sighed. "Yes."

"Then I'll call you if I need you," Aaron said as he stood up. Mr. Cobb rolled his eyes, and the two men shook hands. "I've got a train to catch.”

“My condolences, again.” Mr. Cobb muttered sincerely as Aaron nearly slammed the door on the way out of the office

---

"Thanks, man." Aaron said to his taxi driver as he finished paying him. The gruff man nodded and drove off, leaving Aaron and his two suitcases alone at Union Station.

Aaron bent down and took his backpack off. Inside he found his ticket; a one-way ticket to Los Angeles. The trip would take about 3 days; one day and night to Chicago, and another 2 to L.A. Based on his ticket information, the train left in an hour at 6:00PM. It would spend all day tomorrow traveling and arrive at 7:00AM to Chicago. He'd have about 12 hours to kill before making it to the 7:00PM train to finish the journey.

Aaron checked into Union Station and started heading downstairs, through the marketplace, to the actual tracks. He was entering the area for the train when he was stopped by a ticket man after he saw Aaron’s ticket.

"The train out to Chicago is running late, Mr. Wright,” the man said rather quickly; there was a line behind Aaron. "Wait upstairs for another 30 minutes. We'll make an all-call when it arrives."

"Can I at least leave my baggage around here?"

"Sorry sir. You'll have to wait."

Aaron rolled his eyes and made his way back through the shops. On his way upstairs he picked up a coke from the vending machine, and found a seat in the central lobby not too far from the center. It was a bench seat, and one of the last open. He sat to the left of the seat to make room and placed his luggage next to his side of the bench. He set his backpack down and prepared for a good wait. Train stations on a Friday night were busy, and Aaron knew it; his mom and dad used to take him on train rides all the time; using the metro to tour the capital. In fact, when Aaron was 16, the whole family went during spring break to view the capital from inside the White House. It was amazing how tight security was, and……..

"Stop." Aaron thought to himself. "Not here. Not now.

He wiped a single tear from his eye and quickly pulled out his phone, and opened the first app he saw. Some sort of game, it looked like. He drank his coke and numbed his eyes with the images on the screen. All he needed to do was make it on the train with his dignity. All he needed was a distraction.

Anne looked around the train station again holding up her ticket. ' here to chicago, chicago to L.A where her new job will be waiting. ' Anne shook her head and walked up to the ticket man holding it out." Mrs. The train to Chicago is running late ,you will need to go upstairs, I will make a all call when it's coming." Anne looked at the man shaking her head.' the trains late well isn't that great.' She sighed dragging the suitcase past the shops once again.

Making her way upstairs she sat on a kind of empty bench, there was a young man on it. Putting her suit case next to her side of the bench. Opening her purse she took out a kindle fire HDX and started to read. As few hours earlier she had dumped all her money in her account and took off. She had a total of 230,000 in there plus her pocket cash. ' I really hope that my room partner thing was a good idea, of course it's a good idea both of us get to save money to this train ride.' Pushing back some red hair she keeps reading her book.

Aaron barely glanced up from his phone when a red-headed woman sat next to him. This primary focus right now was on distraction.

After a good five minutes on some sort of game, he hastily put his phone up and pulled out his ticket, glancing at the 6:00PM departure time, then the clock on the wall, showing 6:12.

"Damn train..." He thought to himself.

He leaned back in the bench and glanced to his side. The woman next to him was busy reading on a tablet, so he quickly turned forward again and observed the people passing by him. The sooner he arrived, the better. I wondered if should've just taken a plane...

"The train to Chicago is coming passengers please get to the waiting area."(not sure how to phrase that )
Anne glanced up and put away her tablet. Looking over at the man she shook her head and picked up her suit case. Starting her walk downstairs to the train bay. ' well that took some time looks like my trip just got a little while longer. A plane would have been nice but saving money is niece's she thought looking through her bag as she walked.
Anne wasn't the best on trains or well any other moving veical so she had read up on everything train safety. Pulling out a little booklet she stood in line at the ticket man checking peoples ticket. ' step one when boarding a train,'

As soon as Aaron heard the all-call, he bent down and picked up his backpack. By the time he looked up, the red-head was gone. Glancing at the clock, he realized it had been a delay of almost 30 minutes.

"About time..." he muttered to himself.

He grabbed his belongings and headed straight for the train station.

Once there, he was glad to see they had opened up quite a few lines to let everyone in. Pretty much everyone left in Union Station seemed to be going to the same train. At a passing glance, he saw the same red-head from earlier reading into a booklet in a different line. Aaron turned back to the ticket-man; he had picked the right line. His line was moving much faster than the rest.

Handing the man his ticket, the station worker read over it once, then made a marking on it. Nothing seemed to come out of the marker, so Aaron just figured it was a security check. The man handed the ticket back to him.

"Have a nice trip," He said politely.

"Thanks," Aaron said over his shoulder. Once he had his ticket back he was moving forward. It was a lot of luggage to carry, and thankfully he had the rest of his belongings shipped to a holding center; once he found a place in L.A., he'd move the stuff out of storage.

Glancing down at his ticket, Aaron looked for a general ballpark of the location of his room. It was looking like the more luxurious rooms were in the front, with smaller rooms for two people in the middle (like his) and coach seating in the back. Glancing back up at the train, he eyeballed the middle of the massive thing and got on.

Once inside, he realized he was too far back; coach seating was everywhere, and people were busy putting luggage into every available slot. Aaron apologized profusely and slid his way through many of the train cars to try and find his room.

On his way, he realized that there was much more in this train than he thought. Not only is there a dining car, filled with nice booths and a bar, but right next door was a lounging car; a nice, darkened car with leather couches, a television, and a bar. One he passed through there, he found his way to the sleeper car.

The first thing he noticed was how incredibly narrow it was. He was a thin dude and he hardly fit in the hallway. In the sleeper car, a few people were slowly moving into their own roomettes. Aaron went ahead and put his luggage in the area towards the end of the car by the bathrooms. He wasn't a huge fan of all this shared space, but it would have to do. Shared storage wasn't as bad as the communal shower's during the trip...

Once he put down his luggage he glanced down to his ticket and saw he was in roomette 7. Luckily, it was one towards the middle of train.

"No having to listen to people in the restroom..." Aaron thought to himself. Although having a room on the upper level would be preferable, Aaron was thankful to not need to carry his stuff all the way up the narrow steps.

Aaron slid open the door to his shared roomette and the first thing to come to mind was small. Very, very small.

Legitimately, there was hardly even leg room. Aaron silently prayed for someone small so that they could at least put their feet up on each other's chair since the seats were wide.

Sighing, he put his stuff under the chair facing to the front of the train--looking out the window and seeing the world in reverse would be nauseating--and sat down. An attendant walked by and turned into his roomette.

"Sir, we'll be leaving in 15 minutes. Once we depart, dinner will be served. Would you like steak, soup, or a vegetarian option?"

"Uh, I guess steak. Medium rare." Aaron said indecisively. The attendant wrote down the order on her notepad and looked back up; her short black hair being flung by her robotic and standard movements.

"I'll be back soon to take your roommate's order once they arrive." She said. "Anything to drink?"

Aaron briefly weighed the option of alcohol, but decided against it. Too early for that... "Mountain Dew?"

The attendant nodded and left Aaron in his room, who promptly took a sip of the complementary water and looked out the window. He at least wanted to meet his roommate before shoving headphones in and staring at his Mac the entire trip. After all, they'd be spending the trip in a room the size of a closet.

"Please don't be fat..."

Anne finally got past the ticket man who stamped her ticket with nothing's 'security check but why did it take so long' she thought. Looking at her ticket it said train car 7. But where was that from the back to front or the front to back?

Boarding the seventh car going back to front was coach seating. " sorry , excuse me, wrong area." She said slipping her way through the crowds. Getting to the seventh car slowly. The train was so narrow she held her suit case above her head to get past. People rushing going both ways pushing and shoving. SEEING she was getting close since the last room was 5.

Looking in she saw the man from the bench and checked the car number.7 " Hello, I'm Anne" she said taking In how small of a space it was and contemplating where to put her suit case.

It would go with her feet on her bed since all her stuff for the trip like a tooth brush and a regular brush where in there. Plus a change of socks and her tablet. Walking in she placed the suit case next to the other chair and sat down Studying his movement.

As soon as the red-headed girl from the bench introduced herself Aaron let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank God. It's a girl." Aaron thought to himself. At the very least, there was slightly more room to move around in...

"Hi," He said, trying to be someone cheerful. She looked around his age anyway. Did she go to high school with him at some point? He racked his mind for memories of her, but drew a blank. He must have never met her before today. He waited until she sat down.

"I'm Aaron," He said politely, holding out his hand. Don't people shake hands when they meet someone? "It's a tight space, I know, but I think we can make it work. Most of my luggage is down the hall so, it'll just be me and my book bag," He chuckled slightly. First impressions were not necessarily his thing, so he just wanted to get the awkwardness out of the air.

The train attendant walked over and looked into the roomette, assumably here to take her dinner order.

((Sorry if its bad working of a phone right now.))
Anne held her hand out and shook his" Nice to meet you. My luggage is down tge hall but its just my clothes and other things so im just here with the necisary things." She said motioning to the suitcase next to her chair.
" excuse me miss what would like for dinner,? Steak, soup or something more vegtarian." " ill take a soup please" ahe said to the lady who asked what she would like to srink which was sprite. Pulling out her kindle she started to read again.

"That's fine," He said as she motioned to her suitcase. It was tight, sure, but it would need to work.

The attendant took the woman's order and was off again. Then the woman--or Anne now--began to read again.

"Not a problem." He thought, as he pulled out his computer. A silent train ride sounded perfectly fine. He'd rather deal with something like this any day. He reached into his bag and pulled out his Mac; plugging it into the wall outlet behind him. He silently noted they would need to share the outlet at one point so he remembered to not hog it the entire time. Luckily, the train had wi-fi, so in a few minutes he was checking his emails. Just a few were new; one from Mr. Cobb, with a large and comprehensive list of suggestions and schools in California. Aaron largely skipped that one and read on; another email containing more aspects of his parents' combined will that he wouldn't be bothered to read until he could control himself.

With a slight jerk, the train left the station, and the intercom system cut on. A cheery-voiced attendant went on and on; thanking everyone for choosing the train line, saying how dinner was coming to be served momentarily, and that the lounge and food cars were now open, among lots of other things. Eventually she finished, and Aaron took the chance to step out to the restroom. The seats were so close he couldn't help but brush into Anne on his way out.

"Excuse me," He half-said-half mumbled. He made his way to the restroom.

---

Aaron washed his hands and made it back to his seat, just as the attendant was bringing food to the roomette across from his. He slid back in, excused himself as he brushed against Anne once again, and sat down; silently pulling the table down for the meal.

Anne looked at him each time but shook her head. She was reading a book well a few books, Sherlock Holmes books. In which she had bought as a package deal for her tablet.
When her food came she put the tablet next to her and pulled her side of the table down. " here you two go, one steak with side and soup with crackers. " the lady put down the food and drinks and left. " Well, there is no turning back now." She said before taking a spoon full of soup and swallowing it. " but this can't be the most awkward train car right now." She took a bigger bite.
' I hope this isn't the oh awkward train car I sure hope it's not' she said looking down at her tablet. How could all those romanticism find love within the first two pages, it was just unreal. But isn't that a romance novel supposed to be just a story of two people love and the problems that they face. Well at least she new why the authors did that. Comedy in the way they fall head over heals for each other. Action in the problems they face together. Romance in the whole thing, it was too un real but too realistic that you keep reading.

Aaron positioned himself slightly forward as the attendant placed the steak on his side of the table. With a smile, the attendant left, leaving the two strangers to eat alone.

He quickly carved off a portion of his meal, and was surprised at how good it was. "They actually tried...nice." Aaron thought to himself. He listened to Anne's statements about the train ride, and could only laugh. He couldn't quite get a read on the girl; she seemed very enigmatic. Was it the nature of the situation or a personality trait? Aaron had nothing else to do; might as well find out.

"Whatcha reading?" He asked her in between bites; noting her Kindle.

Might as well attempt a conversation.

" The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." She said eating some more. This man Aaron looked well not like most men she estimated his age was would look like. Most would be driving the trip or at least taking a plane. " Why you ask" she said in a childish tone her smile there as she brushed back some hair.
A sound that was kinda like a ring kinda like a cats meow started from her pocket. Anne looked down and pulled out a smartphone and held it to her ear. " Nein, ich komme nicht zurück. Es ist nicht eine Option, Ich bin schon los keine Macht über mich mehr haben." She said shaking her head turning to the side. Clicking of the phone she slid it back in her pocket and started out the window watching the scenes go by.

"You just looked very interested, is all," Aaron said with a smile. He didn't want any sort of mixed messages here; he just wanted a friendly conversation and someone relatively quiet at night so he could sleep. If he couldn't get either there was always the lounge car.

Aaron glanced down and took ate more of his food as the woman talked on the phone; making eye contact was odd at this close of a seating; the two were barely two feet apart. As she hung up and looked out the window, he debated pusher further. Figuring that there was still 3 days of trip left, he took his chances.

"German, huh?" He mused. "You from there?"

He took a sip of his drink.

" Old Friend still wants me to come back, Its nothing" Anne said going back to her soup. " though I really wish this train could go bit faster. " She said before finishing what was left of her soup and looking out the window again.
All I she wanted was to leave and going somewhere were another control freak was, wasn't a operation. Glancing at her kindle she turned off the book and leaned back taking a few sips of her soda. Why would he be asking? Does he know what she said.? No he would have not asked that question if he did. She sat quiet for few seconds then took her phone from her pocket shutting it off.

"Yeah, the stop in Chicago for a day seems like a massive waste of time," He added. She seemed friendly enough to him. Who knew? He might actually get through the entire trip without having a complete emotional breakdown.

He finished his food and looked back up. Immediately, the attendant took the plates and offered to return with drinks; disappearing as soon as she had arrived. Outside, the sun was beginning to set into evening.

"Although I'm not in too big of a rush,"

" I'm not in a rush just wishing to leave this well side of the country, it was either where we are going or Texas but someone's in Texas that I don't want to see. " a buzzing noise comes from not her phone but her kindle as a msging app pops up and she looks down shuts off the kindle and looks back out the window.
" Do you know how it feels to be well trapped?" She asked not looking at him at all just putting the question into the air.Anne's emotions torn up from the inside out she was a bubble ready to burst and fall back but she was leaving for once, starting a new life so why shouldering she be scared of what could happen over the trip?

Aaron was confused by the woman's responses. She had, at first, seemed rather open and friendly, but as the evening went on he could only discover that she was more enigmatic the he had thought she was. It was almost as if fate had intervened on his life; to prevent him to focusing on his loss, to focus instead on others. However, this was just as confusing as being left alone.

Finally, Aaron responded, after some seconds of deliberation. "I guess I would more understand the feeling of being freed." He began. "More so the feeling that, after many years of being locked into some sort of pathway, being freed from it. And I guess I would understand more the feeling of Stockholm Syndrome; in the sense that most of me longs to be trapped once again. To not have to worry about your future, I guess."

Aaron blinked a few times to conceal any emotion in his face. If she wished to be enigmatic, he would too. Someone was going to have to open up.

"Then you would love being with my family" by saying the last word she made quotes in the air." Keep you in your room not allowed to be free to be stuck in a room till you turn of age to escape " she shook her head the bright smile coming back " but the past is the past no reason to dwell."She said looking back at him, the bubbled had closed her regular smile her regular look all of what was making her so happy had come back.
He seemed to have something happen that he wanted to be locked up but that was his business no reason to intrude, but he seemed nice. Well as nice as someone could be while talking to a stranger on a train where they would be sleeping so close together.

Aaron simply smiled at Anne's musings on her family. It seemed like a wonderfully interesting story at the very least, waiting to be told.

"I suppose you're right," He said finally.

Outside the window, day had turned to night, and the natural lighting of the room had switched to the fluorescent lights of the train's bulbs.

As much as the woman was right about the past, he also supposed he had some sort of a right to long for what he had lost. It was only human nature to want to be with those you have loved and lost. No reason to be ashamed...

He felt as if much more was to be said; but feared how much he could honestly get across in a dignified manner. Having emotional breakdowns was definitely not on his list of things to do on this trip.

Anne looked at him then at the window, " Well I'm tired tonight so night." She said in a very sleepy voice then got up pulling her side of the table up and starting to pull her bed down. She didn't bother to change, to change in front of someone you didn't know, to change in front of a man you didn't know was worse and anyway her clothes where fine she would be wearing a dress and change up her tomorrow.
Getting the bed down She climbed up and slide in pushing the suitcase to the bottom of it where her feet where.

((Srry if it's bad I'm not good at these types of things and I haunt really slept on a train ever.))