Rebirth

The man was laying on a bed. He opened his eyes and, after a few minutes of patiently lying still, his eyes got used to the dim lighting. No thoughts raced through his mind; his only desire was to get up and explore. After a couple of efforts, he managed to stand on his feet. Cold sweat was sliding down his slender neck. He wiped his forehead with his forearm and thought he smelled rather bad. He looked around and didn’t recognize neither the setting nor the clothes he was wearing. In fact, he didn’t recognize much. Even his own walk felt foreign, peculiar.

Around him, he saw a wooden table with deep scars on its surface, a perfectly normal chair, a stainless-steel set of pots and cookware, a sink, a gas stove, and a thick carpet that covered half of the room’s floor. It was a magnificent carpet he thought, dark red like fresh blood. He decided to get out of the room; his room? Who knew.

He wanted to talk to someone, ask where they were heading and learn more about this place. As he exited the front door, he reached a hallway. A narrow hallway with a crystal clean window covering its entire length, so as he left his room, he faced the blue sky. He looked out the window and saw the gorgeous hillsides below, while an eagle flew parallel to the train. Trains always float in the skies of Noria he thought. He just knew so.

The train was moving fast but in a steady manner. There was no shaking, unsteady swerves, or obstacles to make the man trip or lose his balance. It felt more reliable than walking. More familiar than his own pace.

Next to his room there were other doors, leading to other rooms he thought. Could there be other people in? Between two of the doors was a mirror. He stepped closer to it and had a look. He looked pale, with black hair and black eyes. He was wearing a black t-shirt, faded jeans, and white socks. He was young but sickly-looking he thought. He did not recognize the man in the mirror but said out loud: “That’s perfectly fine”.

After he walked up and down the hallway a few times without meeting another human being on board, he decided to enter one of the other rooms. He opened the door next to the room he woke up in and a deafening noise rattled him. He squeezed his eyes shut and took a while to get used to the blinding light radiating from the room, he was now in. An enormous screen covered an entire wall of this room and was playing a video. A young man in his age at a pub was at the forefront. He was with a big group enjoying beers and a loud conversation which you could barely make sense of over the loud music. What an odd music it was too; timpani and other orchestral drums mixed with metallic tones that played repetitive melodies, while earth-shaking bass was tying it all together.

He kept watching the man on the video since the camera was obviously focused on him. He was young and attractive and talking with a gorgeous blonde girl. None of these people seemed familiar to the man who was now starting to feel rattled. The video was on a loop, so after a few minutes he watched it a couple of times in its entirety. Nothing noteworthy was happening, just people drinking, talking, and dancing. How happy they seem he thought. The man in the video was mostly talking to the blonde girl. They were flirting, talking about her family who lives far away, how she moved here to study engineering…

The man decided to enter the next room. Similarly to the previous room, a massive screen was projecting a video. He recognized the same man, although now he was in bed with that same blonde girl. They looked significantly older, but not old. They were smiling at each other, talking about the city they’ve just moved in, his hand stroking her hair. The man felt uncomfortable watching such an intimate moment between two people he didn’t know. No, the girl just called the man on the video Pete. Who were these people and why every room he walked in played videos of their lives? The man was now truly distressed.

Pete, what a perfectly ordinary name. The man thought Pete would be a solid name for him, but he knew he didn’t have a name, not yet anyway. The blonde girl in the video kept grabbing his attention. She seemed kind and carefree. She and Pete were about to start their day. The sun was rising outside their loft’s window and the room they laid in was bathed in a golden orange light. The man felt longing for something, a feeling that made him feel empty and alone.

The next room he entered had Pete on screen crying. Although he didn’t really know the guy, he felt sorry for him. It just didn’t seem like Pete was someone who cries easily. He was drinking alone in a room surrounded by boxes of things. He was holding a photo of the blonde girl and kept saying her name: Jessica. The man then knew, Jessica was dead. He knew this to be true, as true as the flying trains of Noria. He shed a tear and moved to the next room.

He hoped to see Pete on screen smiling again. Pete had a perfectly structured jawline with beautiful white teeth, the kind that made the room shine when he smiled. So different than his appearance Pete’s was, but the man was not envious. The man found Pete on screen drinking and driving. Loud music was playing in his car while lightnings were flashing outside. There was loud wind making the car swerving left and right. Well, that and Pete’s careless driving. “What a bad storm!”, said the man. He then had a sudden thought: who is filming these videos? He could not discern anyone else’s presence in the car or inside the previous rooms. The video looked different than standard security camera footage, so clearly someone was filming this. The man wanted to exit and stop watching Pete, it made him sad. But for some reason he had to stay. At least until he watched the entire video. He was sweating rapidly, and he could hear his own heartbeat blasting in a loud crescendo. Suddenly the music stopped. Pete’s car was in the air and soon was laying upside down on its roof. A pool of blood, as red as the thick carpet, was streaming out of the car. Pete was dead. And by now, the man knew he just watched his own death.

Shattered, the man left the room and laid down on the hallway. He was shaking and now most of his t-shirt was covered in sweat. He felt sadness and happiness at the same time. Since he left the last room it all made sense to him. He didn’t have a name yet but that’s not an issue that concerns him. This is why he’s on board after all, to be born again. Guardians of Noria get to have a train to themselves once in their life to think, process, and evolve. And guardians of Noria get several lifetimes.

He looked out the window and saw that same eagle still flying alongside the train. He laid on his right side and kept staring at the eagle. He thought love is a beautiful thing but not worthy of sacrificing your life. He felt sorry for Pete. He felt sorry for himself because he knew how precious Jessica was, especially to Pete, so he shouldn’t have such mean thoughts. Love is a strange thing he thought.

“I’ll try to be more careful next time”.