Train Arc

Wake up…

Are the last words that flood my head, though with no memory beforehand.

Thus, my eyes open to brightened lights. My ears perceiving grinding plates of metallic bodies. My nose enveloped with a sweet smell of ale.

A luminescent fragment of a woman I had yet to meet found a way to shine between the wrinkles of my brain. Spreading a gentle warmth of safety as I awake.

And then,

“Good morning!”

An obnoxious voice dings in my already ringing, ears.

No response is available, all attempts rendered useless, feeling my throat as scratchy as a broken record player.

“You must be lost.” So the young boy continues as I look over to him.

Then, his pursed lips force a decrepit smile.

“I’m joking! You’re in the right place!”

“Welcome to the Train Arc, Conductor.”

Pardon me?

”Haven’t you looked around?”

Aside from the obvious commotion of voices, the room is filled with passengers in each seat with rows of two.

How long have I been asleep? How long were they all there?

“You’ve only been away for a little while,” the boy assures me.

He seems to almost hear my thoughts. Strange.

“Here you go!”

In the boy’s hands are what looks like a bottle of ale that smells of honey and a letter. Though his enthusiasm sent familiar shivers down my spine.

I wonder if we’ve met bef-

“No.”

“…”

There’s nothing but silence for a while after the response.

Then, half an hour later, I take the letter to read the contents and set the ale which, smells of honey, next to my seat:

‘My name is the Engineer. If you’re confused as to why you’re here, keep reading.

There is a key in every car of the train, you must find them and use them to unlock the next rooms until you reach the front’s control room. All of your answers will come to light then. Just keep the ale in tact when you arrive.

But I must warn you, beware of the Trainmaster. Do not disobey it’s commands. Do not ask them to leave the room. Do not show them the ale nor keys. Do not show them that you’ve relocated yourself in another room. They’ll ask for your ticket if you do.’

I pause momentarily to check my belongings, feeling no ticket or items at all in my pockets. Then I continue:

‘The Trainmaster periodically visits random rooms, so if you see them, rest for a while. There’s nothing more you can do…

Lastly, good luck, Conductor! I pray the ale helps.’

After finishing the letter, I exchange a glance with the anxious boy, now rocking in his seat with impatience.

I wish I had noticed at first, all the passengers have gone missing. But I’m not sure if it was when I first began reading the letter, or when the boy first spoke.

Who’s in the other rooms? I question, scratching my head in confusion to the lack of participants occupying the train car.

There’s a slight twitch in the boy’s eyes when I mention, “the other rooms.” His rocking back and forth switching to kicking the bottom of the seat, aggressively.

There’s also no answer to my question this time. So I change it.

Do you know where the key is?

That’s when he stops, awaiting for such a question and just like that, he pulls out my very first key. A golden glint to a rusty bronze coating. Small enough to only stretch the length of your palm.

Seems like collecting the keys may be the more simplistic part of the quest.

I give the boy a nod in gratitude before taking the key from him.

I wonder where this train is headed anyways.

Conveniently, our seats are in the front of the train car, so making my way to the door with the ale and key is easy. I did not need to pass any of the passengers and none of them got up from their seats.

Giving one final scan at the first room, I shrug off the awkward feeling of being a black sheep and unlock the first door. The click of the key in place sent more shivers down my spine but I ignore them, pushing the door open to reveal the next room.

A black suit, white gloves, accessorizing a very round monocle. Pitch black eyes, pale skin with shiny teeth to pair. As tall as the door itself, I believe this to be our urban-told Trainmaster.

And I am more than out of my seat. I’m in front of an unlocked door with no way to look inconspicuous now.

This isn’t good. I should slip by him at this rate. Just to get to the next room…

My thoughts trail off as I realize I can’t see the next room. The door is open but there’s nothing visible. Not a wall, not the outside of the train, not the next room.

Nothing.

Then, our eyes meet. And if there’s a God, I pray he never sees what I’ve just witnessed.

“Do forgive me if I’m mistaken.”

The Trainmaster speaks up, matching the young boy’s eerie smile.

“I hope you aren’t intending to leave this car, Conductor.”

Their voice creeks like a wooden door, rattling the seats around us and the passengers who are frozen in their seats without a word nor sound. It’s almost agonizing to hear, like chalkboards simultaneously being peeled by nails. My nails.

I take in the sudden danger with a frozen step unable to look away from his eyes. The room shakes so vigorously, I feel the whole train car fall off what feels like a hilltop and crash to the floor causing me to slam my head instantly into the ground.

I don’t know what’s happening, horrifying acts with no reality to affirm how terrifying it all truly is. But with my consciousness barely holding on, I wish I could tell the Trainmaster to “Fuck off,” just once. The most I can do is reach out to the next room, hoping I can at least touch the surface.

And they must’ve known, too, because as I look up from the floor the demonic entity that exited the vessel seconds later had-

Wake up…

Are the last words that flood my head, though with no memory beforehand.

Thus, my eyes open to brightened lights. My ears perceiving grinding plates of metallic bodies. My nose enveloped with a sweet smell of ale.

A luminescent fragment of a woman I had yet to meet found a way to shine between the wrinkles of my brain. Spreading a gentle warmth of safety as I awake.

And then,

“Good morning!”

An obnoxious voice dings in my already ringing, ears.

No response is available, all attempts rendered useless…

“You must be lost-“

I shake my head in disagreement, looking at the young boy by my side. I don’t know why I did, but I sensed a wrong accusation.

The young boy gives me a puzzled expression with a tilt of his head. Then shrugs and continues.

“Maybe you aren’t lost, Conductor.”

He hands me a strange letter and a bottle of ale that smells of honey.

What a strange boy, but I’ll hear him out. Not that I have much of a choice.

After reading the letter, I check my pockets to find no ticket in my possession. Eyeing over the young boy, I wonder,

Where is the key? What kind of train car is this? How are we still in our seats?

The room is dramatically long and twists like a coil. The seats on the ceiling, the walls, the ground all spinning into what feels like an endless loop along with the passengers occupying them who, don’t seem to be bothered by any of these anomalies. My dilemma is that I can’t see the door at the other end, it’s too far.

“The key is over there!” The young boy announces almost psychically. Thrusting his finger toward a woman in her seat on the left wall, we watch her casually chat with the man next to her as they cycle from the ceiling to the right wall and back to the floor.

Is he sure? If he’s wrong, she could yell for the Trainmaster. Whoever they are.

“I’m sure of it!” The boy assures me, pointing again as the woman ahead of us digs in her purse and relocates the key from her chest into the bag.

I couldn’t believe it at first. In awe almost, looking from the boy to the woman and back to the boy.

Unable to even laugh at how comical his intuition is, I ruffle his hair and send thoughts of gratitude as I stand… then fall from the right wall that we were coiled to.

The air felt so light until I hit the ground, sideways. The pain enough to sound the bell in my head and warn me not to get up again. My leg feeling bruised along with my left arm. But I have to move, to get to the key, and the door.

Spewing curses to the room, I lose my interest in its architecture and double towards the woman, bumping, tripping, crashing into seats and people as I do.

Then, all the people are silent. Not a word nor sound is made. The notion gives me chills I cannot ignore. I look back at the boy who anxiously kicks his legs against the seat he never left.

I feel like… I’m running out of time.

My own anxiety begins to skyrocket, watching the woman slowly come down to the floor, into reach. And as all robbers do, without hesitation, I throw her to the floor and collect her purse. Taking her seat in the process.

Almost too comfortably to my ears, the voice of a woman I have yet to meet directs me.

Rest now.

I don’t think I can fight it even if I wanted. My body feels worn out, the adrenaline rush fading away. I may be bleeding. So my eyes begin to close with a lack of will of my own.

Then the door to the next train car opens, I can hear it. I can feel something. A heaviness in the air that can’t be mistaken.

The Trainmaster must be coming. I wish I could open my eyes to see just once.

The most I can do is watch the ground through squinted eyes where the woman I tossed, lay. But maybe, I should have closed them fully.

It starts with a scream as she tries to crawl away. Then I hear retching noises. Inhumane noises. Then I see a pair of black shoes stop at the hysterical victim’s body.

And I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you what I saw. I can’t.

Hours passed before I wake up again. I survey the area, seeing the boy still in his seat, but more jolly than before. All the other passengers including the man next to me, occupying themselves or speaking with one another as casually as when I woke up the first time.

The coast must be clear if this is what I wake up to.

I’m not sure why I thought of it that way. A second later I disregard the notion and carefully head through the corkscrew with the woman’s purse until I reach the door. Luckily, the key was in a special pocket in the purse and after grabbing it I discard the bag, heading to the next room.

The quest for keys feel as endless as the train cars. More infinite than the path this train seems to take. I never mentioned it before, but there are no openable windows. No way to see the outside from inside the train.

I digress, the quest calls for more hazardous risks as time passes, seeing how the rooms slowly become more grotesque and nonsensical the closer I get to the front. Or at least, I hope I’m getting closer to the front.

And every room I step in, I find myself seated next to the young boy who seems to have a knack for key hunting.

One train car’s walls and floor were made of flesh. Another made of styrofoam with voices whispering underneath. One key was hiding in my pocket and despite the boy’s informing, I could not find the key until an hour later. Another key was lodged in the forearm of a man.

But all in all, things got worse before anything was better. That is, until I reached the last door. Or so I’m lead to believe it is. A large sign that reads ‘Conductor’s Room,’ in bold, red, neon letters is last to be opened.

The key in my palm looks nothing off from the rest, but I can still remember vividly all the dark corners of this train I had to face to get this. The ale in the other hand has stopped smelling sweet like honey. So I press the key into the lock and give the knob a gentle twist to reveal the contents on the other side.

“Conductor, you have to stop this train.”

The first words I hear come from the same voice as the woman aiding me in and out of slumber.

“I’m so so sorry, I didn’t mean for this to happen. You HAVE to think about our kid!”

That’s when I began to remember this, not as a feeling, but as an authentic memory. The room looked nothing short of a Conductor’s room. In fact, it was my room.

Damn…

I thought as my eyes scanned the room only to see the Engineer’s rotting corpse next to the controls. A pen on the ground and a piece of paper in his hand.

I can almost hear my voice from that day.

“I was going to take us somewhere great! The Trainmaster promised me a promotion after this ride… why’d you have to go on ruining it?! Was he too good an offer to pass up, you tramp?!”

The door behind me slammed shut, and I can hear the young boy crying on the other side. All he asks is for the key but I ignore him. Just as I had once before.

Then, the Trainmaster steps in from the shadows, watching with a crooked smile, eyeing the ale.

“I’m so so sorry, but you can’t ruin all of our lives because of this! Please…!” She begs, but I ignore her.

Then everyone disappeared, and it was just me and the train.

So I take a sip of the ale, and disconnect the train car from the rest.

I hope your souls are free with this…

This ale is almost too sweet.