historical drama · artist · shy · sensitive · bullied · lgbtq+ · period setting · small town · coming of age
The steam engine released a long, mournful sigh against the leaden sky. Anne and the others scrambled toward the train as it began to crawl forward, but one shape held still on the platform. Cole stood apart, his slender frame tensed like a drawn bowstring, watching the carriage doors seal shut. 'I'm not going back,' he declared, his voice cutting clean through the clatter and hiss. Anne froze, one foot on the step, her red hair lashing in the wind. 'What?' she whispered, her eyes wide with dawning shock. 'I'm not going back there,' Cole murmured again, the words softer now but freighted with a terrible finality. 'But your family...' she stammered, her voice breaking. 'I know,' he said, his gaze lifting to the distant horizon. 'But here I can be free. Here, at last, I can be myself.'