The Train of the Lost

I could hear the familiar noise of a train track, the wheels turning against the metal track, and the whooshing noise of the train passing various sites and going into tunnels. Why was I on a train? How much did I have to drink last night? I did not have that many drinks…wait where was I last night? How could I not remember, my vision was slightly blurred as I slowly opened my eyes. I felt something beside me, they were a pair of rectangle frame glasses, I put them on my nose and I sat up to face an empty green velvet seat across from me. I was the only one in the cabin. That’s odd, there must be a ticket here somewhere. I searched my yellow puffy coat and there was no ticket in there either, then again I was not sure if that was my coat, but there was no one else in here other than me, so the probability was high. I poked my head out of the cabin, it was silent other than the running train. Was no one else on here? I started to walk down the narrow hallway when a girl came towards me, she wore a yellow sundress and was barefoot, she had bronze golden hair and a black hair clip on her left side. She approached me.

“Hi, who are you?” she asked me and I wanted to answer her, but my mind came up blank, why could I not even remember my own name?

“It’s okay, I don’t know my name either, I was hoping on the off chance that at least someone on this train would,” she said.

“Sorry, tough luck. Where are we going?” I asked. Hoping this mysterious blonde would have the answer.

“I don’t know. I have talked to everyone else on the train, but they also don’t know their names or where we are going,” she explained. “Oh, I have very uncomfortable heels.” she said, she must have noticed I was staring at her bare feet.

“Do you know if there is even a conductor on board?” I asked.

“I was actually going to see if there was someone to talk to, come with me?” she asked me with a hopeful look.

“Sure,” I said finally and we took off for the front of the train. I followed her and I could see her dress swaying back and forth as she walked barefoot on the carpeted floor. The train suddenly jerked and as instinct would have it I grabbed her by the waist she gasped and grabbed my wrist, but not out of protest, it was to steady herself and when her hand touched my wrist the feeling as familiar yet completely new, I felt an energy pulsing through me.

“I-” she started to say “thanks for that,” she said nearly breathless. It was a while since I got so close to a woman, she smelled of soft vanilla cream with undertones of a flower like an orchid. She too seemed nervous yet excited. I realized we were standing there for some time and I let her go. She continued to walk down until we got to the front car. She tried the door, but it did not budge.

“Let me give it a go,” I asked her and she stood aside. I also tried and I gave it a shove with my shoulder. I examined the door, it would be simple to pull it off, maybe if I had some tools like a hammer.

“I think it’s locked,” she said and she made a face that looked like she was deep in thought about something.

‘What is it?” I asked her.

“It’s just weird that I don’t know your name, and yet I don’t know my own. I think I need to call you by something, I have always liked the name James, is it okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, I feel like I might just be James. Well, if you are going to call me something I should call you something as well like April,” I suggested and she made a disgusted face. I laughed and shook my head.

“I think Adela might be somewhat close to my name,” she said.

“Okay, Adela it is, it’s really beautiful,” he said.

“Thanks, hmm I wonder… there was a box above my seat in my cabin, maybe there is something in there,” she said and she darted off towards her cabin and I followed her. We both came into the cabin, she was already on top of the seats and reaching for the box. I got up beside her and helped her with the box. We opened it and all there were blankets.

“Well that’s disappointing, I did see some other bins in some of the other cabins. Did you see anything in yours?” she asked and I could not remember seeing any, but then again I was not looking. I'll go back and check,” I told her. “Let me know if you find something James,” she said and I smiled at the sound of her saying the name we thought of together. I went back and saw that there was a box above where I first woke up. I grabbed it and tore off the lid and I found a small phillips screwdriver. That was kind of useful. I took it and brought it back to Adela.

“I found a hammer too,” she said. We went back to the closed door, I unscrewed it as best I could and hammered it out, she stood by and watched me work. I caught her staring at me as I reached up and pulled out the door.

“Great,” she stepped over the collapsed door and we made our way to the front of the train. WE unlocked the door where the conductor should be with ease and there was no one driving the train.

“I think we should get off the train, should we announce it?” she asked me expecting an answer and I shrugged.

“I’m going to announce it,” she said and Adela picked up the receiver.

“Attention all passengers, we have no conductor please evacuate your belongings and make your way to the back of the train,” she said using a fake overhead voice. “Do you want to pull the lever?” asked me nervously, I nodded and I grabbed the lever, it was heavier than expected and I pulled it towards me. The train came to a sudden stop, we both lurched forward and then backwards into each other’s arms completely by accident.

“We just stopped a train,” she said smiling as she laid on top of me and I smiled back at her, I was tempted to lean in and kiss her. We both stopped for a second and she licked her lips, she was so close to me. She got up and held out her hand to help me up, for a second I wanted to pull her down with me, but I took her hand and got up, we got our jackets from our cabins and met at the end of the train. We both got off following everyone else who was just as lost.

“Now what?” she asked, turning towards me.

“We walk to the nearest town, and how about we grab some coffee?” I said as casually as I could.

“Yes, I suppose we will grab a coffee,” she said, smiling at me with sparkling blue eyes.