I boarded the train at 6am, as any working person would when they live miles from work. But there was something off about it. It wasn’t the same. Instead of the bright colours, it was just plain silver. “Don’t be so silly,” I thought, “maybe they’re in the process of a refurbishment.” I could feel my heart beating in my chest, like it was trying to smash it’s way out to run. I got on and took a seat. It was only as it pulled away that I realised there was nobody in this carriage, and come to think, nobody had boarded the train with me despite the platform being busy.
We’d been travelling for 10 minutes, and by now we would have got to the first station, but we hadn’t stopped. No conductor came to check my ticket, and nobody came into the carriage to take a seat. I decided to investigate, although I was sure my mind was just playing tricks on me. I passed from carriage to carriage, seeing no person, just my own reflection in the windows. “Where are the people?” I thought. I continued my search for 5 more minutes, and realising two things; number 1) the train was gaining speed as each minute ticked by; number 2) I was going in circles. I found myself in the same carriage over and over, and no manner of frantic running could stop that. Even turning back was useless.
I stopped and sat down, out of breath and out of options. It was only when the carriage door opened that I breathed a sigh of relief. Another person. When I looked up it was the conductor.
“Am I glad to see you,” I said as I stood. It was only then that I noticed his eyes. They were blank, no life to them at all. He stared cruelly, and started towards me. I backed off but to no avail, as he grabbed me by my collar and pulled me close.
“This is the last time you ride a train.” His words cut through me like a knife. I was going to die.
I tried to struggle as he pulled me through carriages, but with no luck. Despite him being scrawny and weak looking, he had the strength of 10 men. The carriages got dirtier and tattier as we passed through them, and all I could think was how is this possible when I ran this way a million times?
We reached the drivers cabin, and I was tossed in like a sack of potatoes. The door was slammed behind me as I stood and looked around. There were no windows, and the only door was the one that was now being locked. A fire roared right in the centre front of the carriage. But I could find no person in sight. Suddenly the door to the fire also shut and locked itself and the floor started filling with water. I ran to the door in a desperate attempt to open it. Sealed shut. I then tried the door to the fire, but it was locked tight too. I froze, unable to do anything or think of a way out as the water rose past my knees and to my waist.
The police found my body dumped on the side of the tracks a day later after I was reported missing. They were baffled. Nobody saw or heard a train pass, no people in the area, and they wondered how I had drowned in the middle of nowhere. The CCTV was checked, but there was no footage of the train or me getting on it and no witnesses came forward, despite the platform being full. But my case is not the first….
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