The Yumi Express

Dreams are mysterious things. As a child when I’d wake from a nightmare, my parents always fed me the same words- “They’re just in your head, they can’t hurt you, they aren’t real.” Over and over I heard those words but I was never convinced. How could it possibly be in my head when it felt so real?

I sat staring at the floor listening to the rhythmic chugging of the wheels. I was confused and panicking as I had no memory of buying a ticket, let alone boarding a train. The last thing I remembered was lying in my bed then I woke up here. I was wearing a plain white sundress and gold sandals neither of which I had seen before. Or had I forgotten about them? “Am I experiencing amnesia?” I thought. Then again, I didn’t have my phone or wallet, two things I never leave the house without. I could’ve been in a rush, or maybe I was brought here against my will. So many questions flooded my brain as I tried to make sense of it all. How did I get on this train? How long have I been on board? Where is it going? Sitting there freaking out wasn’t going to fix anything, I decided to talk to another passenger and try to get some answers. So I composed myself and stood up. When I looked around the car, it was empty. I walked down the aisle checking every seat, not a soul. I returned to my seat and opened my window hoping the terrain could give me some clues as to where I was. Unfortunately, it was so foggy I couldn’t see a foot ahead of me. I was at least able to figure out where on the train I was, the very back. I poked my head back in and shut the window. There was only one direction for me to go, forward. I headed for the next car. Before I opened the door something caught my attention, a gold plaque on the wall with writing on it. It read “Welcome aboard the Yumi Express! A place where your dreams are reality and reality is a dream.” I had never heard of the Yumi Express. And so I opened the door to the next car.

What I saw beyond the door confused me. The car I woke up in had white walls with a golden flower design and red seats. This car looked like it belonged in a carnival. The ceiling and walls were painted to look like the sky and the red seats were replaced with the horse seats you would find on a carousel. They moved up and down on gold poles, each at a different pace just like they would on a real carousel. The aisle was lined by short poles about four feet apart, connected by red ropes. It looked as if they were blocking off the seats. There were three balloons tied to each pole. There was no one else in this car either. I wondered if maybe I should just close the door and remain in the car I woke in. I decided against it, surely there was someone else on this train and there was a door at the end of this car that led to the next one. So I started down the aisle. I walked slowly afraid there may be a clown hiding, waiting to jump out at me. Halfway to the door, I realized the curtains were open on one of the windows. I stepped over the red rope and approached it. It was still too foggy to see anything. When I looked to my left I saw the car behind me was gone. I closed the window and ran toward the back, tripping over the rope and hitting my head on the leg of one of the horse seats. I held my head for a moment and then got back on my feet and ran to the door. It was locked. I pulled the handle with my might but it didn’t budge. In my nervous state, it took me a moment to notice the wood sign beside the door. Painted in black letters were the words “You can only move forward. Once you leave a car there is no going back.” I stared at the sign wondering why the train didn’t stop. I thought all trains these days stopped automatically when cars came apart. And who uncoupled the cars? Since the moment I woke up I’ve had nothing but questions and confusion. After a few moments of trying to comprehend it all, I decided it was pointless to even try so instead I chose to take it all at face value and nothing beyond that. Confusing myself further wouldn’t do any good. So I took a deep breath and turned towards the green door ahead of me. There was no way off this train here and no one to talk to. I had to move forward if I wanted to escape this place. So I walked down the aisle and entered the next car.

The third car was far longer than the first two. The walls, ceiling, and floors were all white and padded, and there were no windows. It was like a room you would find in a mental hospital. Something about it made me a bit uneasy. I walked slowly to the other side of the car. When I tried the door handle, it was locked. Suddenly, I got this feeling as if I should turn around and I couldn’t shake it, so I did. Right behind me stood a kid with black hair. He was wearing gray pajamas and socks. He looked like a mental patient. He was crying. “Please let me out.” He whimpered. I was startled at first but I realized he was somewhat transparent. When I reached out to touch him, my hand phased right through. A hallucination. Suddenly his head perked up. From behind me came a woman in hospital scrubs. Her hair was pulled back in a bun. “Nurse, did you come to let me out?” The child asked. The woman knelt beside him and put her hand on his face. “Tell me your name first.” The little boy looked her in the eye and answered “Josh.” The woman then stood up and took his hand. “Yes Josh, you can come out now.” She proceeded to walk him to the other end of the car and they vanished behind the locked door. “Why did she ask his name?” I wondered. Then the kid appeared again, in the corner. This time he had this crazed look in his eyes. He wore a messed-up grin and was giggling maniacally. He had blood on his shirt and his right hand. “I scratched Sarah’s face.” He muttered through his laughter. The woman appeared from behind me again. “Lucas?” She questioned. He looked up at her enraged. “I see, he has a split personality. That’s why she asked his name before letting him out.” She approached him with caution. “Lucas honey can I ask you a couple of questions?” The nurse asked softly. After a moment of silence she spoke again “Lucas may I approach you?” She asked. He took a deep breath and then screamed unintelligible words before lunging at the nurse. Two men came in and held him down and the woman sedated him. He fell unconscious immediately. Once again, they vanished behind the door. Then the boy appeared again, in the middle of the room this time. He just stood there staring at me. I took a step toward him. He wasn’t real but it felt like he was. A creepy grin stretched across his face and I got chills. “I’ve never seen you before.” He said. “This is Lucas,” I whispered. I stood waiting for another nurse to come in. He looked me in the eye. “You know my name?” He asked, taking a step towards me. “Can he see me?” I was too creeped out to stick around and find out. I tried the door again and it opened. As I left his smile widened and I watched him wave goodbye as the door closed.

The fourth car looked exactly like the first one, only it was upside down. The ceiling was beneath my feet and seats hung from the floor above me. The seats were full of mannequins all posed to look like people talking, napping, or looking out the window. “At least it looks like a train again,” I said as I walked towards the door. I tried to open it but of course, it was locked. Beneath the door knob the words “Find the key” were carved into the door. There was nothing on the ceiling which was now the floor. “One of the mannequins must have it,” I said to myself. I had no idea how to go about looking. None of them wore clothes but they all had some kind of bag. The key could be in any of them. I searched for a way up. There wasn’t a ladder, rope, or anything I could use to climb. I had to come up with something else. I realized the windows hadn’t changed position from the first car. “They should be low enough to climb up.” I reached for the windowsill, pulled myself up, and reached for the arm of one of the seats. After a few tries, I managed to grab hold of it and pulled myself higher until I got my foot up on the window. With my free arm, I reached for the bottom of the seat and pulled myself up and under the seat. Just enough room to lay down. “Ok, what next?” I couldn’t reach anything on the seats from here. Then I had an idea, I grabbed the leg of the mannequin in front of me and yanked it off. “Yes!” I used the leg to knock all the bags out of the seats. I shuffled through everyone until I found a small gold house key. I took it to the door and inserted it into the keyhole, it turned with a click. The door swung open. Nothing could have prepared me for what lay beyond it.

If it weren’t for the chugging sound I wouldn’t believe I was still on the train. It was one huge open room. Wider than any of the other cars. It was enormous like a football field. When I looked out the windows earlier, it looked like all the cars were the same size. No way I could’ve missed one this big. “How is this even possible?” I asked out loud. The floor was a black and white checker pattern. On either side of the room were two lines of chess pieces standing at least ten feet high. It was a giant chess board. The pieces were all lined up like a game was about to begin. On the other side of the room, I could barely make out a red spot on the wall. “That must be the door.” I whispered to myself. So I started moving towards it, hoping nothing crazy would happen. Of course, deep down I knew something would. As soon as I stepped on the board it lit up. Then a white pawn flew into the air, moved up two spaces, and slammed back down. The impact shook the ground, knocking me on my butt. Then a black pawn did the same. Then a white knight and another black pawn. Each move made the floor tremble. I stumbled back off the board and stared, shocked by what I was seeing. These pieces were huge. There’s no way I’d survive if one landed on me. I didn’t have a bird’s eye view of the game so there was no way to guess the next move. On top of that, the tremors are enough to knock me off my feet. It was a giant death trap, and I had to cross it. I decided to sit back for a few moments and watch the game progress. I tried to find some sort of pattern in their moves. Thankfully, there was one. Black took longer deciding on a move, Approximately ten seconds. However, once he did his piece moved fast. White was the opposite, he thought quickly, five seconds at most, but his piece moved slowly. So black was patient but confident in his moves, on the flip side, white was compulsive but less confident. That was the only pattern I could find but it was something to go on. So there were ten seconds between white and black but only five between black and white. I figured my best course of action would be to move long distances only after whites turn but stop after nine seconds. I’d need to stay two spaces away from every pawn at all times, easier said than done. And it would be best to stand on squares with a piece already on it. That was the best plan I could come up with but it was better than going in blind. After watching the game for another minute, I realized all the action was happening near black’s side of the board. So I decided I should cross on white’s side. I walked down to the far right side of the board, stood in front of the rook on A-1, and watched as white’s knight slammed down next to Black’s queen. “Stupid move.” I thought as I dashed down the board. I ran for nine seconds then stopped. The tremors from white’s move made my take-off shaky so I only crossed three spaces and was now on an empty space, C-1. beside me was a black bishop on 2-C and the white king was two spaces ahead of me on E-1. An ok start aside from the rook directly behind me. Five seconds later, white made his move. His bishop slammed down on the black bishop next to me, crushing it to pieces. I fell forward landing hard on my hands and knees. Debris flew in all directions, a big piece hitting me in the side. I hadn’t seen a piece get destroyed until then, something I forgot to take into consideration. I was stunned and sat for several seconds, missing my chance to run. I watched black take his turn and stumbled up after the tremors. Another five seconds and white took his turn. Then, I took mine, running across the board. In nine seconds I managed to cross four more squares. I stood on G-1. There was a white rook in front of me, and white pawns on F-2 and G-2. Thankfully in this possession, they couldn’t move towards me. I turned around and waited for white to take his turn and I noticed a red light around his king that wasn’t there before. “He must be in check.” I thought. His king rose and began moving towards me. Of course, kings can only move one space so I was safe. Or so I thought. Suddenly the ground started to shake. I turned around to see the rook sliding towards me. “What?!” I stumbled back. The king was still coming from behind. “No, He’s castling!” I shouted as I bolted to the left. The rook moved fast. The king slammed down and I fell. I looked up at the rook and gasped. Then it stopped, just shy of running me over. My hands gave out from beneath me and I fell to my stomach. I didn’t get up to take my next turn. I let black go. Knight to G-3. The white king glowed once more. He was in check again. He moved forward to H-2 to escape death. “Now it’s my turn.'' I said, dashing towards the edge. Ten seconds passed but I was almost there, I couldn’t stop. Black lifted his queen. “Almost there!” I shouted. The piece slammed down on a pawn just as I threw myself off the board, landing in my stomach. I looked behind me. “Checkmate, black wins.” I thought as I got to my feet catching my breath. I opened the red door and stepped into the fifth car.

It was dark, wooden porch swings held up by vines took the place of seats. The floor had become a small pond with lily pads and flowers floating on it. Fireflies flew around the car providing a surprising amount of light and a fallen log acted as a path from one end of the car to the other. It was beautiful. I stepped down onto the log and walked slowly across to the other side, observing the scenery as I went. There were koi fish in the water which I stopped to watch for a moment. On the wooden door at the end of the car was a sign that read “ Locomotive.” The front of the train, I made it. I opened the door and stepped inside. It was a small white room with nothing but a single panel. Inside the panel was a platinum key with the words “Yumi Express” Carved on the side. “A place where your dreams are reality and reality is a dream” Was written in cursive on the wall in front of me. I reached for the key and hesitantly pulled it out. Light came flooding out of the empty keyhole and flooded my vision. Everything went blank.

When I opened my eyes I was staring at my bedroom ceiling. A cool breeze came through the open window next to my bed. Golden light from the rising sun flooded my room. It felt like I slept way longer than I had. I knew I had a weird dream but I couldn’t remember what. I decided not to let it bother me. I sat in bed and let the sunshine wake me up then swung my legs off the edge of my bed. It was then I realized I was clasping something tight in my hand. I opened it to reveal a platinum key with the words “Yumi Express” carved into the side of it.