A Train to the roots

Kaboom !! When the lightning struck his skull, Rob felt heat invading his limbs, and electricity run through every limb reaching every termination. Like a wave, It bounce in every cell of his body, then all sensation is gone.

Through his closed eyes, Rob could see all his past life glide, and thought with tremendous clarity that there his life could end right this instant. Now that he had found him. He couldn't help but feel desperate that he might not have the chance to known him, and yes, he asked himself why, why just now that he had gotten so close!

He thought about his mother Annie, who was at home and unaware of all his adventures.

He remembered uncle John, that he would never be able to hug again. He thought about his friends, partners in crime with his desperate project, waiting for him at the motel; but his main focus was to the father who stood in front of him, and that did not know that this boy wrapped in lightning was the son which he hadn’t know it exists .

Everything lost consistency and Rob fainted away.

“Ticket, please!” Rob opened an eye with a gasp hearing the call.

“Ticket, please!” The voice repeated the question.

Rob, slowly moving his limbs, was trying to guess where he may have land.

Was he dead?

There was a rattling but muffled sound coming from around: it seemed a train, but which train?

I sounded like one of those old trains that nowadays were kept only in the historical museums. “Kid, let me see your ticket!” Rob finally opened his eyes, and started looking around.

He really was in one old train, and the coach was packed with passengers who looked like they were pulled out from an history book.

Two women in front of him were glancing at him, and their look was full of disapproval. Their dresses had a nineteen century fashion . was this possible?

“Kid, I don’t have all day, so show me your ticket !” the voice was coming from a middle-aged man with a white beard and big curly moustache, and from his voice he sounded quite upset .

“I can’t, I don’t even know how I got on this train!” the words came out of his mouth straightforwardly, without even thinking about it.

Hearing that, the man (whom Rob understood being the conductor) seemed utterly more upset, and waving his big arm called two thugs that were walking in the corridor.

The two guys turned their muscular neck, and headed over the couch where Rob was .

He wanted to run, but his body was not answering as he expected.

He made another effort, gathering all his willpower , and finally managed to stand up.

“Good job! - he thought - come on, come on now!”

He took a step forward, but his nerves were still paralysed, and he felt an electric shock run throughout his all body, and fell straight to the ground.

He did’t break his nose just because he could raise a hand to cushion the fall just before hitting the floor.

The two henchmen, laughing, took him by the arms and dragged him away. "Nobody rides my train without ticket! Especially a dirty redskin like you!" scream the controller as the guards took him to another car.

They pulled him to the locomotive, and while doing so they informed him that he had to pay for the section that he already did by working at the furnace; also, he had to get off the train at the next station.

The place was hot like hell and filled with coal and burn smells. In front of him he saw an old fella that was using a shovel to feed the furnace, with a big hump and crippled hands.

The thugs dropped him on the ground. “Passenger with no ticket, make him work!”- they said before living.

The little man looked up and smiled, then nodded "I'm Calvin” he introduced himself” and this is Betsy," he added, pointing to the boiler. "She's always hungry and your job is to feed her. Make sure you give’s all you got for we don't have all day!" Calvin stared at Rob handing him the shovel. He grabbed it and without thinking too much he started working .

As his mind was still searching for a logical explanation his body was doing the job that not require special attention. He let his thoughts run trying to make sense out of it. What the hell had happened?

He left on July 5th with Luke and Lizzie. Their parents were convinced they had gone camping, while the three of them had other plans. The idea had come months ago, after overhearing a conversation between Annie and Uncle John. He and his mom had gone to dinner at his cabin, and after they had finished Rob, as always, had gone into the living room to read uncle’s history books, At a certain point, however, he had heard the kitchen door been shut and the conversation lowered down ,and this made him suspicious. He left the book open on the comfortable velvet chair where he was sitting and went eavesdrop . " for God's sake,Annie, the boy is ready, you have to tell him!" "Don't talk about it, John! How can I tell him that his father doesn't know about his existence? How do I explain to him that after all these years he has contacted me to ask him if I will go with him to the Sun Dance?" Mom looked really shaken, she was panting and she seemed to be sobbing. "You don't have to go, but they both have a right to know about each other," "It’s not an option , John. I remind you that you made me a promise, and I’ll make sure you stick to it!My decision is final!" Mom seemed to have found some determination.

She finished boxing the leftover while her uncle washed the dishes both in complete silent. Rob was behind the door unable to move, shocked. he was angry, confused and dazed. His father did not know, his father had not abandoned him! Rob struggled to sleep, he was staring at the roof of his room light by the dim light of the moon, wondering about the sun dance . .The next morning he met up with Luke and Lizzie at the town park, and told them the happenings of the evening before.

Lizzie was shocked, and took it very personally, while Luke was as angry as Rob was the night before “How could she keep you from knowing all this?? - his voice was high-pitched, and it happened every time he was upset - he’s your father, dammit, you deserve to know him!!”

“Thanks for the worry Luke, but I’m sure she had her reasons for hiding this, and I’m sure she did it with her best intentions”.

They talked about the situation for another moment, then the sly smile appeared on Lizzie’s face, like every time she had an idea that was against the rules: “Why don’t WE go to the Sun Dance?” The the boys looked at her with a mix of surprise and bewilderment, but they instantly knew that they had the same desire, and Lizzie just spoke also for their souls.


“It would be cool...but where does it happen?” asked Rob

“I have no idea, but we can search on books and on the internet!” answered Lizzie with a huge smile.

They then went to the library, where Lizzie begin researching about the Sun Dance at the pc, while Luke was researching on books. Rob decided to go at his uncle’s place, since he knew he went shopping in the next town, to find out more infos about his father.

That same night they knew enough about the Sun Dance: they learned it would take place every four years somewhere in Sonora state in Mexico, and that they needed a bus to reach the place; Luke took care fetching said tickets and booking a motel in Moctezuma, the most central city in the state; Rob found even a photo of his father, so at least they could recognise him if they met him....

This memory shook him off from his thinking, and so he stopped to take a break. He was sweating heavily, so he asked Calvin if he had some water. The old machinist offered him a wineskin, saying : “Water is for the ladies! Try this out, you’ll see how it’ll keep ya going!”.

Rob gobbled a notable sip of this drink that he recognised as whiskey, and almost threw it up. He thanked Calvin anyway, and got back to work.

Some time later, he seemed to hear the furnace making some weird noise, so he turned around to asked Calvin about it, but he saw him looking outside with a worried glance.

In the same moment he heard some screaming coming from the tail of the train.

Right when he was again on the verge of asking Calvin, the door of the first couch slammed open, and one of the guards came out with a face as pale as the moon, screaming: “The Comanches are attacking us! Train at full speed!”

Calvin didn’t seem worried, as he grabbed another shovel and said “Let’s crank this bad boy, kid! If we pass the interchange they can’t catch us no more! Yiii haaa!”and got back to digging with renewed energies.

Rob followed him, but couldn’t stay silent another time: “Why are the Comanches attacking us?” asked.

“Oh boy, maybe you hit the ground too hard with your silly head. We’re at war! Didn’t they tell you when you bought the ticket? Calvin said, sneering.

The smile on Calvin’s face disappeared like the sun behind a cloud when they heard a ‘boom' followed by some metallic, rusty noise coming from below, and the train humping.

“God dammit boy, we’re screwed! The savages derailed the train on the dead line, we’re fucked! Jump boy, jump!!” and without thinking too much about it, he jumped of the train.

Rob saw his body hitting the ground, and tumbling down the slope, becoming a small dark ball in the distance.

“Stay calm, stay calm” he said to himself while trying to going through every possible scenario. Outside there was a battalion of raging Comanches on the warpath, what could he do anyway? While his mind was racing as fast as the train, he saw also other passengers dropping themselves outside the train windows: some of them made had the same ending as Calvin, and those who survived the fall were killed by the Indians arrows.

Thinking about death, Rob was projected back to the fact that the people he loved probably thought that he was dead. This thought made him feeling sad, so he sat on off the wall of the locomotive, in despair.

Instinctively his hand went on the pocket on his chest where the photo of his fader was sitting. He went back on that hot day in the forest, where his trip really took off...

They decided to separate: Luke and Lizzie would have stayed at the motel, waiting for seven days before calling anyone and come looking for Rob, while he would have gone to the Sun Dance, looking for his father.

He only had his flask, his backpack with clothes and food, and the map that the weird wanderer with the poncho gave him.

After two days of walking, he finally reached the valley, and after crossing it, the grove appeared. The woods were packed with any sort of people, and in the air there was a strong smell of tanned skin and smoke.

Wandering through the smoke of the fires, with his senses blurred by the smell of incenses and Copal, asked to many people if they saw the man on the photo.

Everyone he asked, gave him a sweet smile in return, and pointed the north.

After roaming for some more time, he reached a meadow, and finally saw him: he was one of those who were fasting, and he was sitting cross-legged, bare-chested and with a long braid which kept his bark hair in order.

His body was muscular, and he radiated great strength. Rob understood immediately that he shouldn’t disturb him, so he kept observing him from the distance.

The fast lasted for four days and five nights, and every day he kept going back to the same spot to watch his father, and grasping all the details he could about his body, his posture and his expression.

The last day, the weather changed: the sky was covered with clouds, and it seemed that the rain could come at any time.

It was exactly as the wanderer said, you could breathe Magic during the ceremony! It was all over the place, and you could rally feel it’s strength.

With the end of the ceremony, the rain came.

Thunders were rumbling through the clouds, and you could see the white of the lightnings.

“It's not gonna be some water stopping me!” he thought.

When all the shamans and al the people that were gathered around the dancers got away, Rob took a deep breath and stepped towards his father.

He was walking with his chin up, with a powerful walk. He was steps away from him when their glances crossed.

Then kaboom! The sky was shattered by a white, gigantic lightning that hit him, making him disappear into the light...

"Rob"

The train of his thoughts derailed while hearing a female voice that pronounced his name. Surprised, he jumped up to understand where the voice was coming from, but the he saw no one in the area nearby him.

“I probably imagined it” thought.

Curious, he climbed the ladder to the roof of the couch, ad looked over the locomotive: the reason why everyone was dropping off the train was instantly clear, as he saw the bridge uncompleted and the canyon underneath it.

On the ladder, Rob turned around and saw them: fierce warriors with faces painted with war colours, they were shouting towards the train, urging their mounts and inciting them to an insane speed.

The guards were shooting from the train windows, and their bullets kept whistling through the air. From his neutral position, Rob was wondering why everyone’s effort was not towards stopping the train, instead of fighting the Indians.

He decided to act, and climbed down the ladder.

“Rob, Rob, come to me, Rob!”

The voice sneaked up on him so much, he almost lost his grip: somehow he managed not to fall and tossed himself towards the door of the couch, rolling inside.

Ho got back up on his feet just to see a gunslinger, and from how he looked at him, he instantly got that he defined him as an enemy.

He pointed the gun to his face, and in that moment an axe came from outside the window and impacted on the man’s skull, making him fall to the ground, dead.

Rob grabbed the gun from his former’s owner and looked around: in a corner there were some passengers, all of them with a look of terror in their eyes.

The couch smelled like fear and pee.

Rob covered the distance that separated him from the next couch with a few steps, knowing that soon he would discover the real reason why he was on that train.

“Rob, Rob, come, I need you”

That voice, again!

In the next couch there were just luggages, so he moved on.

While close to the next door, ho could hear some loud voiced from the next couch, so he put his ear on the wood of the door.

“The bastards keep themselves out of reach of our guns, waiting for us to collapse with the train down the gorge of the canyon! What are we doing, boss?”

“Gimme the freaking necklace! I’ll destroy it, so at least they won’t have the satisfaction of having it back.”

“Save me, and you’ll also safe yourself!” I’m the spirit that is locked in the necklace” Rob heard the voice again, but this time way more clearly.

“Ok, I have nothing to lose. I’ll save you” he said within himself.

After planning the next move, he accepted with courage the fact that he probably would have died, ad with all his determination slammed the door with a kick.

He could see the surprise of the villains: he glanced over their hands, looking for the necklace, and he saw it sitting on the ground, and one of the thugs was about to step on it.

He dropped the gun instantly, and jumped, reaching for the jewel.

As soon as his finger grabbed the beds, all the colours became more vivid, so the sounds and the smells. He could hear the bang of one of the guns, and thereafter he became surrounded by the light of the sun, and all the senses retracted towards his center.

“Thanks”

Then the void.

When he woke up, surprised of being alive, Rob was in a hospital room. Around him there were bouquets of flowers of any kind and colour, and also boxes of sweets.

Rob was shocked, but extremely happy.

He knew he was at home!

He got up with a huge effort, and began reading the cards: many from his friends, one from the football team, another from the school, and also one from uncle John; all of them were wishing him to get better soon.

Then he saw a newspaper on the chair by the maid and he picked it up: when he looked at the date, he almost fell to the ground; it said December 15th, 2022.

Six months.

Six months went by, how could that be true?

In that moment a nurse came into the room.

“Oh-my-God” Screamed the lady, dropping the food tray “Ill call the doctor!!”

After a few seconds the Doctor came in “I warned all your relatives, they’ll be here soon. How are you son? You better lay down, you’ve been sleeping for so long!”

An indefinite amount of time went by, and Rob was deep in thinking, wondering what happened.
 The only thing he could remember was the necklace thanking him, and then the light...but he was sure it was moments before, not months!

Suddenly he heard the sound of those shoes with heel he could recognise from a mile away, and his mother appeared in the door frame, followed by a men with long, black hair and big, strong shoulders, dressed in the Comanches fashion.

“Rob! Rob, my son, you’re alive!”

Annie dropped on the bed, hugging him and crying.

He hugged her back, but his eyes were pointing at the ones of his father, both as dark as ebony. “Hey - said him - how are you?”

He couldn’t say a word, but he knew that would be the beginning of his best adventure ever.