The Last Train to Nowhere

The station clock read midnight when Eduardo arrived, carrying only a small suitcase and an unsettling feeling in his chest.

The platform was empty, except for an old ticket seller sitting behind the wooden counter, his tired eyes studying Eduardo with curiosity.

— Last train of the night, huh? — the ticket seller murmured, sliding a yellowed ticket across the counter.

Eduardo took the ticket without looking. He didn’t know exactly where he was going, but he felt he needed to be there.

Something inside him urged him to board that train, as if it were the only possible destination.

A distant whistle cut through the silence of the night. Fog crawled over the tracks as the train finally appeared, its black metal cars reflecting the faint glow of the station lights. The doors opened without a single sound, like a silent invitation.

Eduardo stepped inside. The interior was luxurious, unlike what he expected from such an old train.

The dark velvet seats looked new, and crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, casting soft shadows along the corridor. The strange thing was that all the passengers sat still, staring into nothingness, as if unaware of his presence.

He walked to a seat near the window and settled in. The train whistled again and began to move, gliding along the tracks with an almost unreal smoothness.

Eduardo looked outside but saw only darkness. No city, no landscape—just an endless void.

— First time on the train? — asked a female voice beside him.

Eduardo turned and found a young woman with dark hair and piercing eyes. She smiled, but there was something enigmatic about her expression.

— Yes — he replied. — Where is this train going?

The woman tilted her head.

— Wherever you need to go.

Eduardo frowned.

— I didn’t buy a specific ticket. They just told me this was the last train.

— And it is. The last of all.

Her tone was cryptic, but before Eduardo could ask more, the world around them changed. The carriage trembled, and for a moment, the world outside the window seemed to distort, shifting as if moving from one dream to another.

He blinked. The other passengers now looked different. Their clothes had changed, their faces were no longer the same. It was as if the train was crossing not just places, but times and realities.

— What is this? — Eduardo asked, a chill running down his spine.

The woman beside him looked at him with a compassionate expression.

— You haven’t realized yet?

Eduardo felt his mind spinning. Then, fragments of memory surfaced. He remembered why he had gone to the station. The accident. The car flipping over. The pain. The silence afterward.

— This can’t be… — he murmured, his heart pounding.

— The train carries those who need to leave — the woman explained. — Some accept it, others fight against it. But destiny never changes.

Eduardo looked around, seeing the passengers in a new light. They were souls in transit, travelers on a path with no return.

— And what if I want to get off?

The woman gave a soft smile.

— You can try. But the station you came from no longer exists for you.

The train whistled. Eduardo felt a weight in his chest, a mix of fear and acceptance. He looked at the window again, and this time, amidst the darkness, he saw something new: a golden horizon, shining like a distant sunrise.

And then, he understood.

The train never stopped. It only moved forward, toward the unknown.