We all scamper through the vast cornfield, paying no attention to the itchy leaves brushing at our sunburned legs and the tall stalks swatting at our faces. Our sun-cracked lips, sticky with the melted banana popsicles we had eaten before, were grinning from ear to ear. I laughed as I jumped through the towering plants, imagining myself as a creature racing through the jungle. I was a sleek leopard, dodging vines and tree branches, darting after my prey. Our imaginations ran wild on these long summer days.
Livvy, my younger sister, was running next to me, pretending to chase an alien threatening to destroy Earth. To my left, my younger brother Reese was crashing through the corn, his small fists wrapped around an imaginary racecar steering wheel. Our neighbor Mark, only a year younger than me but a few years old than Livvy and Reese, was frantically digging in the ground, probably looking for a piece of “treasure” he found. Often times, he would come with some new object he had discovered and would use it to build some crazy contraception or hang up in his room. Cailey, Mark’s twin and my partner in crime, was also jumping through branches in the jungle next to me.
All five of us continued bounding through the field for some time, our hands slowly gaining more and more scratches and bug bites popping up all over our bare legs. Suddenly, Mark had spotted something shiny up in the distance. He dashed ahead, his beat-up tennis shoes pounding on the ground. After a few seconds, he yelled for us to come over.
“Guys! Guys, c’mere! Look what I found!!” he said with excitement quivering in his squeaky voice.
The rest of the kids raced to the distance, visions of secret tree houses and magic genie lamps dancing in our heads. What possibly could have caught his attention? We followed the sound of Mark’s voice, bursting through the edge of the field and out in the open sunlight. After my eyes had adjusted to the blazing glare of the sun (the tall corn stalks had provided shade over my childish figure), the object of Mark’s attention appeared in my vision. The blurry outline of horizontal steel bars nailed to the ground came into focus. When I finally realized what it was, my heart stopped cold in my chest.
I stared at the two long, open railroad tracks that stretched out in both directions. My body frozen, I just stood and watch the rest of the children laughing excitedly and hopping over to the tracks. Being the eldest one there, I knew I had the unspoken responsibility of preventing the kids from doing anything unsafe. Warning bells rang in my head, my mother’s voice echoing in my mind. I remember her scolding me for just walking on the edge of the road instead of the sidewalk. I couldn’t imagine what her reaction would be now. She would never approve of us playing on the train tracks, she would most likely have a heart attack instead.
Reese was the first to rashly step onto the tracks. I briefly imagined a train roaring in the distance and crashing into his defenseless little body, shivering at the thought. The childish games had ceased and I transformed into full-on “bossy older sister” mode. At this moment, I broke free of my trance and began to yell.
“Reese, Reese! Get off of there right now! There could be a train coming, it could run you over, you could die!!”
My hysterical yelling had little effect on any of the kids. Mark rolled his eyes and told me to stop overreacting. Livvy added on by stating that they could easily jump out of the way if a train was actually coming.
I stood at the end of the tracks, helpless. All games aside, I needed to find a way to stop them from romping about on the tracks. My mother’s warnings played on repeat in my brain and I knew it was up to me. In the back of my mind, I knew that I may be slightly overreaction, but then the image of Reese’s flattened body flashed in my brain and my worried thoughts resurfaced.
The metamorphosis from a child playing harmlessly in a field to protecting elder sibling had taken place in under 6 seconds. I had assumed this vigilant role at a young age, when my parents had gotten divorced in fourth grade. In my childish world, nothing could ever go wrong; until the divorce. I aged ten years in a matter of months; comforting my siblings, staying strong for my parents, and opening my eyes to the dangers of the world. Along with all my new responsibilities, I realized I had to take a mother role when my own wasn’t around. My father’s house had to be cleaned, dinners had to be cooked, and children had to be put to bed on time. Imagination-filled summer days were rare, and even now my play time had turned into a babysitting job. I took a deep breath and approached the death tracks again.
“Come on now, Reese. Just hop off the tracks. There’s tons of other stuff we can play.”
“But I’m having fun right here!” he whined impatiently, upset I was ruining his games.

WHOOOSHHHH! a train rushed by at lightning speed in my mind.

“Well, how ‘bout if you come with me back to the house and I make you a bowl of your favorite ice cream. I’ll even get some chocolate syrup.”

Click-clack, click-clack, click-clack.

After a painfully long minute of deliberation, Reese slowly stumbled towards me, away from the tracks. I grabbed his tiny arm, pulled him into the safe zone and focused my attention onto Mark, Livvy, and Cailey.
“C’mon guys, what if a train came and you tripped while trying to get away? It’s just stupid, we can do something else. Let’s just go back to the field.”

The sound of a chugging train steadily grows louder.

They just ignored my reasoning and continued to explore the metal rods in the ground. Livvy and Mark were searching for rusty track nails that had been shaken out of the tracks when the trains rumbled through. Cailey was concentrating on balancing on the edge of the tracks, an olympic gymnast in training.

Rumbling engines in the distance.

“Livvy, what do you think mom would say about this? She would be so angry.”
Livvy glanced up from her exploration with a look of fear.
“I’ll tell her you ran on the train tracks and you will get into so much trouble, “ I stated in a matter-of-fact voice.

Clanking of the couplings echoing through the air.

After a vicious death stare and a loud sigh, she jumped off the tracks and mumbled “Tattletale”. Cailey quickly followed, not wanting a lecture from my mother either. Only Mark remained on the tracks.
“Grace, you’re so dramatic, nothing’s going to happen,” he said, not even looking up from his growing collection of track nails. “I’ll just walk off when it comes. Trains barely come through here anyway”

A train horn roaring, closer and closer.

So, I did the only thing I could think of. I grabbed a small, jagged stone laying next to my feet and chucked it as hard as a could at Mark. It whirled towards him and bounced off his thin blue t-shirt. He stared at me with a mix of disbelief and anger and pounced at me. I screeched and began sprinting away; away from Mark, away from the tracks. All the children joined in the chase, laughing and playfully tackling. The battle between Mark and I had quickly turned into a fun game a tag. The railroad tracks were soon forgotten and I had fulfilled my responsibility.
After we had finally tired out, we began to trudge home. I lead the pack towards the corn field. Just as we reached the edge of the field, we heard the rumble of the tracks behind us. A huge train blasted past us at hyper-fast speed, sending a gust of wind and dirt in our faces and filling our ears with the roar of its clanking parts. The monster had come and gone at lightning speed, a demon with super speed powers. We all turned and slowly walked home in silence.