The Secret Train

Keira opens her eyes to the sound of the train tracks, her brain foggy and scrambled. She is wearing jeans, a white t-shirt, a green cargo jacket and white sneakers. She doesn’t remember dressing herself. She checks her pockets. Nothing. How did I get here?

The train roared through the track and shook. She looked out the window; she couldn’t recognize any of the scenery outside. There were what looked like miles and miles of grassy land, empty and deserted.

She looked at the clock at the top of the train car: 3:30pm.

Perplexed, she looked around to see an almost empty car, except for one man sitting at the very end. She locked eyes with him, and he stood up and began to walk toward her, his face expressionless. She immediately curled into her seat. He sat beside her, looking straight ahead, saying nothing. With a robot-like motion he turned to face her. Her heart sank again.

"Do you know why you are here?"

"No" she said quietly, a frightened look on her face.

"In 2 hours, this train will crash and all the people on it will die, only you can stop it."

"What!" She exclaimed. "But how?"

She blinked, and he was gone. There was a note in her hand.

Find the clues to stop the train. Only you can save them.

She looked up, her heart rate beginning to race.

How can I possibly save these people?

She looked through the car, trying to find any clue that might help. She began to walk to the other car, opening the door and closing the other behind her. In a seat in the middle right of the car, she could see a small child crying, his mother holding him close to her chest, eyes closed, muttering something to herself. She was wearing a tattered grey t-shirt as was he. Her heart began to quicken, and she to felt dizzy again, stumbling into a seat.

She closed her eyes, focusing on her breath, her hands gripping the seat tightly.

I have no idea how I am going to do this. What if I can't save these people and we all die?

She closed her eyes again. I've gotta figure this out, there's no time.

She continued to focus on her breath. She opened her eyes and continued walking through the car again, looking for anything that might be a clue. She checked the walls, overhead compartments, over and under seats. Nothing.She looked at the mother and child again. The mother was still holding the child, crying now, continuing to mutter. She was looking at Keira as she slowly walked up to her and the child.

"Do you know where this train is going?"

The woman looked at her, not understanding.

"No... I don't...English..."

Keira, frustrated, points to the front of the car.

"Train! Where???"

The woman shakes her head furiously and continues to cry, squeezing the boy tighter, muttering something in Spanish.

Keira looked down and noticed that the woman and child also seemed to have no other possessions other than the clothing that they were wearing. Only one thing...a red rosary, wrapped around her hand. She clutched it harder and harder as she continued to mutter in Spanish. Was this a clue?

She looked at the clock: 3:46. Her heart began to race again. In the next car, she could see a man, holding himself up on the seats and pacing back and forth.

What is he doing? Could there be another clue there? She decided to find out. She leaned down towards the woman and child.

“I will be right back.” She said, pointing to the next car. The woman nodded, still crying.

She walked through the car, the train continuing to shake, rocking her back and forth. She clutched onto the seats harder, pulling herself up.

She opened the door; the man looking up at her now.

“Do you speak English?” He nodded. “Yes”

He had what sounded like a British accent and looked like he came out of the 1920s. He was wearing a vest, a white shirt tucked neatly underneath, as well as black pants and shoes, a pocket watch hanging from his vest. His glasses hang low on his face, his eyes anxious with fear.

“Do you know where this train is going?”

“No” he says. “I’m not even sure how I got here.”

Great. He’s just as clueless as I am.

“I need to figure out how to stop this train. Have you seen anything in this car that you might be able to point out?” He shook his head. She pushed past him and began to search under every seat, jumping on top of them to look in the overhead compartments.

“Watcha lookin’ for dame?”

Dame…what is up this this guy?

“I honestly don’t know.” Nothing, once again the entire car was completely bare. She sighed in frustration and slumped down into the seat behind her, muttering to herself.

“I don’t even know why this is happening to me…I had a great life…good friends and a great boyfriend!” She sunk down further into the seat and put her face into her hands.

Her boyfriend…she hadn’t even thought of him until now…was he okay? Did he know she was missing? She looked up to see the man standing by her seat.

“Listen dame…I couldn’t help but overhear…I don’t understand why I am here either. I wanna go back to my family. Do you know if there’s a way to stop this train?”

She removed her hands from her face just enough to look up at him with only her eyes. Muttering into her hands, she said: “No…if I knew that, I would’ve already done it. Believe me.” She covered her face with her hands again.

“Is there any way that I can help?” his eyes gleaming with hope.

“I’m not sure.” She said muffled, continuing to keep her face in her hands.

“Well, I would like to, if you’ll have me.” He reached out his hand. “My name is Clarence. And you are?” She slowly removed her hands from her face, fully this time. She reached out her hand to shake his.

“Keira.”

She sat up now, looking intently at Clarence.

“Listen, I have no idea what I’m supposed to be doing but I’m apparently supposed to find some clues to help me figure out how to stop this train and we don’t have a lot of time.”

The time! She jumped up looking around the car for a clock but nothing.

She looked down at Clarence’s pocket watch, pointing to it.

“Does that thing work?”

He pulled it out of his pocket. “Why yes it does.”

“What time is it? We have to get moving.” She says, jumping up and out of her seat.

“4:10.”

“Listen, I don’t want to scare you but we have to figure out how to stop this train by 5:30 or we could….” She stopped herself.

“We could what?” Clarence looked at her, that fearful look coming back in his eyes once again.

“It just…it won’t be good.”

“How do you know all of this…Keira?”

Keira looked at Clarence, skeptical of even her own story. “Listen, I know this sounds crazy but when I got on this train, a man in a trench coat told me that I had 2 hours to stop this train, and I seriously don’t know how I’m going to do it.”

She looked away from Clarence, remembering again the crying woman and child in the other car.

“Listen, there’s a woman and a small child in the last car. I have to go back and get them. I don’t want anything to happen to them.”

“Okay.” Clarence turned back to follow her.

Keira turned to head back to the last car, only to find the woman and child opening the door. The woman looked at her, holding her son’s hand as the young boy wiped his eyes. She was no longer crying but the look of fear was still there. She began to walk towards Keira and Clarence. The little boy held on to his mother’s leg as they walked, peeking only an eye out to look at them.

Keira pointed to herself, “Keira.” Then Clarence following her, did the same “Clarence.”

The woman managed to muster up a small smirk, pointing to herself as well.

“Maria” she said softly.

Then pointing down to her son who was still holding onto her leg “Enrique.”

Keira nodded and smirked at her, pointing the other direction to the next car. Maria nodded.

They all walk together, heading down to the next car. The train continued to shake, almost knocking them all down. Keira held herself up on a seat and turned to check on the group.

“Everyone okay?!”

Clarence gave Keira a thumbs up and Maria nodded, picking up Enrique to carry him. They all head into the next car, closing the door behind them. Keira looks around and finds no one on it. She begins to look again through it, on the seats and through the overheard compartments and Clarence helps her. Seeing this, Maria does the same.

Keira gets to the front seat of the car.

“Is that…”

A small white bunny sits on the seat in front of her. She gently picks it up, inspecting it.

“Hey there, little guy. What are you doing on the train?” She pets him, seeing a shiny silver collar on his neck that reads “Barry.”

Clarence walks up and pets the animal “What a cute little rabbit! But why is it on a train?”

Keira looks up at him “That’s the same question I’m asking myself.”

Could Barry be another clue? Must be, she thought.

She looked over at Maria and Enrique who were leaning over to look at the bunny. Enrique immediately hid his face on his mom’s shoulder, noticing that Keira was looking at him. She walked over to him with the bunny, looking up at her bashfully with one eye. Enrique slowly pulled his face up fully, reaching his hands out to grab the bunny. Keira let Barry go and Enrique took him into his arms as they both smiled. Keira went to walk away, and Maria lightly grabbed her arm.

“Thank…you.” She said.

Keira smiled. “You’re welcome.”

She looks up, no clock. She looks at Clarence, “What time is it?”

Clarence pulled his pocket watch out of his vest. “It’s 4:41 miss.”

This time, just as he goes to put the pocket watch back, she notices something. “Wait.”

She grabs the pocket watch from his hand and turns it around. On the back was an engravement that looked similar to a star but different. It had 5 peaks just like a regular one but the shape was different than she had seen before. The middle looked oddly wider than a normal star. She looked up at Clarence.

“Do you know what this engravement is?”

Clarence looked at the watch, shocked. “It used to be my family crest but now it’s not there!” They both look at each other confused.

“We have to head into the next car, we’re running out of time” She says glancing at the engravement one more time before giving it back to Clarence.

“Yeah! Let’s blouse!” Clarence said, Keira turned around, looking at him confused.

Keira shrugged off the weird slang and opened the door to the next car, waving over to Maria and Enrique to follow her.

This next car didn’t look anything like the last few, it had the same number of seats, but the color of the chairs looked different. Old men sat in each chair. They all walked toward the men slowly.

Keira walked up to the first man, “Sir are you okay?” Keira asked.

The man was sitting, his head resting on the seat, eyes closed. Kiera put his hand on her shoulder, his head tilting on the way forward. Kiera gasped, covering her hands with her face.

Clarence leaned over and checked his pulse, “That man took the Big Sleep.”

Weird slang or not, she knew what that meant. Maria walked over and looked, covering Enrique’s eyes. She gasped, signing the cross on her face and kissing her hand.

Clarence checked his watch again, 5:08. “We don’t have much time!”

Clarence and Keira began approaching each man cautiously and opening the boxes they held. Maria saw and followed, continuing to cover Enrique’s eyes and distract him with the bunny. They moved swiftly to remove the tops and unveil what was inside. Finally, Maria found a box with something in it.

“Keira!” she exclaimed, pointing at the box in front of her. Keira and Clarence ran over to her.

Keira looked down at the box, carefully removing it from the old man’s hands. In it was a note.

My dearest love, I will finally join you in the afterlife.

-William Thompson III, 1942

Was this the last clue? And if so, what did it mean?

She looked down again and, in the box, remained a small silver pentagon shaped box. She grabbed it, inspecting it closely. She could see that had 5 parts that were folded into each other.

How odd. Does this thing open?

She inspected it some more, touching the side of the contraption and all at once, the pentagon opened and flattened to reveal a shape…

It kind of looks like a star…but not a normal star…

She grabbed Clarence’s pocket watch again from his vest. The contraption matched the engraved shape on it.

“This must be the last clue!”

“But…what are we supposed to do with it…” Clarence said.

“I don’t know.” She began inspecting it again. “It looks like it may be a key or something….” She said flipping it up and down to see all of it.

She scoured the walls again quickly. No overhead compartments in this car.

What could this key be for?

She had to think quick. “Okay, start searching the walls!” She turned to Clarence who had already started doing so and she motioned for Maria to do the same. They checked the walls of the train in detail, looking for anything they could find.

“Time check!” she yelled to Clarence. “5:17!”

She looked out to the back window; she could see the bridge coming up now, not far ahead.

OH MY GOD, I don’t know if we’re gonna make it.

She started to see her sweet boyfriend’s face, smiling at her as they picnicked at her favorite park…she brushed the thought away.

She continued to look through the walls, searching every part of it with her fingers. Finally, she felt something. A small piece of wallpaper that wasn’t sitting flat but rather stuck up out of the wall. She peeled it back to reveal a secret compartment underneath.

“Guys!!!” She yelled.

Maria and Clarence came running to her side. She opened the compartment which revealed what looked like a lock. It had numbers from 1-100 in the middle circle and letters on the outside circle and a dial. Above it, a large clock ticking down how much time was left.

“How are we going to decipher this!”

“Let’s think…what could the letters be! Names!” Clarence exclaimed.

Keira began quickly turning the dials to smell her name first, then Clarence, then Maria, then Enrique,

But what if that wasn’t the right order of names? And what about the numbers? Think…all that weird slang…

She looked over to Clarence and pointed at him.

“Clarence, what year is it?”

“What? It’s 1926!”

1926…. but it’s 1992… Wait a second…

“Maria…” She tried to go back in her mind to high school Spanish, what was the word for year… “Ano!”

Maria looked at her, confused. “Ano?”

Maria thought for a bit and then found a small rock on the ground and carved it into the seat next to her.

“1965!” Keira exclaimed.

Clarence looked at her confused…” Keira…what does the year have to do with…”

Keira entered in the last 2 digits of the years on the lock.

“That’s it! We’re all from different time periods in the 1900s! Those are the numbers in the lock!”

But wait…there was still one number missing…what other year could be missing? The note!

“Clarence…read that note to me again!”

Clarence grabbed the note, confused “Uh…okay but I still don’t understand what…”

“Just read it! We’re running out of time!”

“My dearest love…”

“No not that part! The year!”

“…1942.”

She entered in 42 as the last one and turned the dial…. nothing. The train continued to edge closer to the bridge.

“No, no, no! I thought we figured it out!” Keira pressed her head against the wall. Think Keira, think….

The train continued to shake uncontrollably, and she could see the bridge coming up now, Maria’s eyes began to well up again as she looked out the window and squeezed Enrique tight. Clarence fell backwards on to the other side of the train. Keira held on tight to a lamp that was on the wall.

What could the letters be? She thought she had everything. She thought back to everything she had seen on the train.

They had found nothing…but…everyone was missing everything…except…Maria had her rosary…Clarence had his pocket watch…Barry…the old man had his note…

She began to quickly enter in the first letter of each of the clues.

R…P…B…N…. And me…but…I don’t have anything…and then she thought…. wait…

She grabbed the locket around her neck. My flower…her mother had engraved on the back.

“You will always be my little flower…” Keira said out loud.

She added the last letter, hoping it would be right. F….

The train, hitting the bridge now, began to sway to one side, throwing her backwards.

She looked up at the dial, it still hadn’t moved…

Oh no…we’re gonna die

Just then, the dials began spinning until they stopped. The train stopped as they hung out over the end of the bridge. They all sighed a breath of relief.

Maria began smiling and laughing through tears, and Clarence joined her in laughter as did Keira.

Suddenly, Maria and Enrique began to fade away…their bodies becoming more and more transparent. She looked at herself and started to scream. “Keiraaa!!!”

Keira reached out to grab her but she was gone. Just then, Clarence began to fade away. “Clarence!!!” Keira called out. She tried to grab him, but she couldn’t, he was gone now.

She looked down at her own body and began to feel herself fading away…

No… I was too late…

Keira jumped up from her bed in a cold sweat, gasping for air. Her boyfriend, Brandon, sat up next to her.

“Bad nightmare babe?” he said sleepily. “Uhh yeah…I guess so…” she said, confused.

She went to lay down and noticed something in her left hand…the pentagon box.