Nanowrimo 4,332
Here's ther first part of my nano we'll see how this turns out.
The train slowly pulled out of the tunnel and over the bridge. She held back the urge to place her hand over her sun sensitive eyes, as the sun seemed to take precedence over the subway car, shining over her copy of ‘The Half Blood Prince’. She blinked allowing her eyes to adjust to the natural light.
Some days she would watch the water beneath the train with the same morbid thought. If it were to fall would it be better to drop into the water or onto the roadways on the other side. And everyday as yet again she made it successfully across she would forget the question as she entered the darkness of the tunnel.
She was reading trying to decide if she was agreeing with the current plot turn when her CD player stopped. Pulling it out of her bag she was glad to see the rechargeable batteries were fully charged. The cd had stopped and she had only noticed the end of the noise. Sorting through her CD’s she chose one she had mixed herself, and was about to hit play when the static started.
The announcement was so distorted it didn’t even sound English not that that was a new thing for the MTA. Since the train was still moving she decided it did not concern her much and hit play. She was nearly through another chapter when she realized they were still crossing the bridge. Which simply could not be. She looked out the window but all she could see was light.
The other passengers seemed to be going about their business, pulling out her cell phone, wondering if she had simply misjudged the amount of time that passed she realized it was the same time as she had glanced at what had to be a few minutes before.
Now totally at a loss she looked out the window trying to force herself to see what was beyond the light, and just as quickly they were plunged into darkness. Turning her CD player off she held on tightly to the pole as she felt rocketed forward. Though she could not see it, she heard and felt, people and bags falling and bodies lurching with the increasingly speeding train. Jolting forward herself she was slammed by her bag, luckily it was a Monday and not as full as it could have been.
Finally they reemerged into a muted area. Cloudy and fogy the train stopped and the doors opened on both sides. The lights came back on but you could not see more than three feet into the fog. The passengers looked at each other and at the open doors though none seemed willing to leave the relative safety of the train.
Looking on both sides of the train those closest to the door glanced out and that included her. Looking outside she saw just as she saw inside fog. Finally a passenger seemed irritated enough to not be afraid of a train that was clearly somewhere it should not be.
“Fuck this!” He exclaimed and waving his large hands and swinging a gym bag stepped out of the nearest doors. The ones to the left when facing the direction the train had been traveling in. The last part of him to vanish the bright red baseball cap, which faded into the fog that seemed to swallow him whole. The rest of the passengers waited for confirmation that it was indeed safe to explore this strange place.
It was not what they received, instead they heard the shrill screech sound of what could have been some sort of large bird and then the man’s screams being carried further and further away. She was one of the first to move away from her door. They all moved to stand where the doors weren’t. And not about to step out there now she took as seat at and leaned against the pole and a few others followed her. While some seemed ready to bolt at the mere sound of the returning screech.
A few minutes passed and the fog began to lift. Showing the rush hour passengers where they had arrived. They could see that theirs was the only train car on the B express that arrived wherever it was that they were. Looking out the train car, to the left they saw rolling blue green hills and trees heavy with some sort of a fruit, striped blue and white with a single long red leaf sliding down nearly touching the ground. To the right was a rocky barren looking land, with a few knarled leafless silver trees, and a red orange sandy like substance swirling the ground and rising up every so often.
She looked between the two sides and felt as if they looked familiar. And even as the feeling passed there was a dread for the left side. She did not think it was the memory of the passenger because it felt like much more and as passengers stood ready to leave the train, she jumped up.
“No one can go to the left! We have to go to the right.”
A few looked at her and her exclamation the first words spoken since the man who was lost. And these being New Yorkers there were various reactions. Some did not leave their seats refusing to leave the safety of the train. Some moved towards the right and others went for the left in nothing but abject defiance or annoyance that some girl would be foolish enough to get them to think a barren desert would be safer.
Sighing when she saw not all the people believed her she nonetheless picked herself up and went out the door to the right. Those that stayed on the train were stunned as the doors shut and the train moved. Those passengers would soon wish they had made a choice.
Those left watched stunned as a gorge opened and spread separating them forcing them all to keep to their decisions and try to figure out what to do next in this strange new land.
The train sped off leaving a chasm in its wake. Forcing everyone to remain with their decisions, for the better and for the much worse. It raced at a deadly speed all those still inside holding on for dear life to polls, chairs and each other. Strangers becoming intimate in the slamming of bodies in a nearly empty train car.
They stopped over a large body of water no land to be seen nor any track to explain what was keeping the train a float. The doors opened and once again there was the divide the train itself being the line. This time to the right was choppy gray storm tossed waters, churning and splashing into the train. To the left were calm clear blue waters. Softly rolling back and forth it did not seem like a wave would dare touch the surface.
The remaining six passengers looked at each other and wondered if this would be like the last time where they would not be allowed to leave without someone exiting the train. After about ten minutes the doors took the decision from them and slid sloppily shut. They all grabbed the nearest object mostly polls and held on for dear life. One woman sank to the floor hugging the poll tightly as tears streamed from her eyes. The train seemed to be going uphill and slowly a male passenger approached her. Balding with silver hair and a round pot belly he approached her and took a seat besides her, sharing her poll slightly when the train tilted dangerously upwards.
“It’ll be fine we’ll be okay.”
“How can you say that? Where are we even? Where is this train going? How is it even still running? Where are the other cars? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“But it’s the train, see this is how I figure it. We are one a train making its stops. And all trains when they reach the end of the line just go right back to where they started. Right? So we have to end up back home. See that’s why I stayed on the train. It will have to take us back.”
“When? How can you be sure? What if this weird ride goes on forever? I wasn’t even going to make this train! The doors had closed but the conductor saw me and actually let me in! How often does that happen during rush hour? I though it was good luck! I wish I had just missed the train,” she mumbled trailing off as the train evened out and traveled along its supposed route.
“Don’t worry, I’m Jim.”
“Kathy, and I can’t not worry. This is completely insane, where are we? Where are we going? Why us?”
It started to speed along again and all conversation ceased as not being battered by the quickly moving train became a priority. It jolted to a stop yet again and the doors opened. If anyone was surprised by the repeat of the duality of the two sides they no longer showed it.
To the left once again was the worst of it. What looked like tornados and storm clouds that rumbled and shook with thunder though there was no lightening. The other a few wisps of clouds.
“This is so weird.”
All the passengers looked up at the teenager that had managed to not only remain in his seat but remain asleep for the most of this.
“Kids,” the older man muttered as the teenager looked at the map, and out the doors then back at the map.
“Shit, someone tell me this is some kind of fucked up joke and we are not at the air stop!”
“What?”
“The map shit for brains! See the fucking clouds?” The five other passengers climbed over each other trying to see the map and all stared in varied forms of disbelief. The distance alone between the stops seemed enormous. But as they looked they went to the bottom of the map and sure enough there was the bridge, the last ‘real’ thing they had seen since they had arrived in this strange place. The first stop, complete with chasm and symbols they could not understand.
Then the water in the center of two large land masses. Above this in a shaky line was the their current stop. And if they could read the strange map correctly they were miles and miles above any ground. It was the next stop that froze the blood in everyone’s veins. Flames. Large flames surrounded the fourth symbol.
“I can’t believe I missed my stop,” the boy said with a heavy sigh. “Though I suppose it could be worse. I could be at ice.” He said standing and making his way to the door on the right side, and stepping out and sinking below the clouds. The doors closed a few minutes after that as everyone stared after him. They were even more confused now then they were before but another point of their fear came to them as the train finally started to move again.
The next stop on the map was fire, there was no way they could survive they all looked at each other and wondered what they could possibly do once they reached the next stop. That thought was lost as the train dived and feet left the floor as it accelerated like some kind of rocket. They were going down fast and heading to a destination none wished to arrive at. Visions of forges and volcanoes danced in each of their heads and the kind of flames to end all flames. Death and dying, so the relief was short lived for when they stopped falling it simply meant that they were closer to reaching their destination.
And each tried to think of the last three stops which would they have rather departed on. The answers were not really surprising. Earth if anything at all. A close second was water but nothing at all after that. The simple fact of the matter was that they did not know what to do with themselves.
So when the train pulled to a stop and there were no raging infernos no, lava, no fire of forges. They were more than a little surprised. The duality as always continued to exist. One a single tiny candle burning along the right and then a large bonfire to the left. A collective sigh of relief was breathed and a woman who had simply wanted to reach grand street let out a sigh of relief and refused to take the train any farther. Heading to the left another woman, older and heavyset remembered the advice from the strange girl that seemed to be years ago and together the two women departed and go off the train to the right towards the bon fire.
That left three more passengers to complete their ride as they slid along and the map changed yet again showing another set of stops that the train had to make. Trees, ice, stars, and what seemed to be the last stop was simply an image of a face.
They had chosen their path because it looked idyllic. Peaceful even, trees heavy with fruit, light breeze shining sun, shady spots. A small stream passing here and there. They turned to look across the ever-expanding gorge and saw what the other had chosen. Harsh desert heat, sand, the air was so hazy on the other side it was becoming harder to make out the people.
They did not know how they could survive in a world where little seemed to make sense let alone in a desert. At least here there were plants and flowers and the like. All the things necessary to make sure they could survive. They walked as a group, still not admitting they were together but no one willing to stray apart from the rest. After a while they all stop casting glances towards the gorge and looking about their blue grassed area.
One of the more foolish passengers reached for the tree and the strange fruit nearest to him and grabbed. He plucked the fruit from the tree and pulled off the red leaf and it sank to the floor. Taking a sniff of the fruit he pulled out a pocket knife and sliced the fruit in half noting the inside looked much like a mango. Taking a bite he was greeted with a bitter taste that could make a lemon appear sweet. Spitting it out gasping he tossed the fruit aside and wondered if that meant it wasn’t ripe. Looking for a bigger fruit he circled the tree but did not find any.
Giving up he made his way back to the group which had made a few yards ahead of him. They were still walking in the opposite direction that the train had taken in a hope that eventually it would lead them back to where they were. None seemed willing to speak about where they could possibly be or if they would find their way home but all continued in silence. Even Ipod’s left off in this strange new world. Wiping his slightly sticky hands on his blue denim jacket he watched the other members of the group and counted almost 25 people.
Most were dressed for work or school, briefcases and messenger bags, and backpacks on most. There was only one other person with no extra baggage and he wondered why the other’s bothered when it was obvious that they wouldn’t be getting to any of these places any time soon.
After about three hours of waking he paused as he noticed they were passing a tree and beside the tree there were the two halves of a fruit with his tell tell bite mark. Freezing he tried to understand how one could move in a circle when they were walking in a straight line and decided if there was blue grass there were surely more important things to consider.
“Wait!” His cry seamed deafening to his own ears and he cringed. “We are going in circles. Look.”
“What is he saying?”
“Do you speak English man? Hablo English?”
“No,” looking around he saw one of the ones with a backpack come towards him. He couldn’t have been more than 15 and he pulled out a Spanish book.
“Um…uh…repiten?”
Rolling his eyes he decided to show them what he meant. He mimed picking the plant taking a bite and tossing it down and pointed to the fruit on the grass. He could see they didn’t understand him so he mimed tossing the fruit, ran a distance away then walked back making a circular motion with his fingers.
“Circles?” The word spread through the crowd quickly. “We are going in circles?”
“How can we be going in circles? We were walking in a straight line!”
“I an not taking the word of some guy who can’t even speak English. Let’s just keep going.”
He watched as they continued down the same path they had just left and shook his head taking a seat. They younger boy with the textbook sat down beside him wanting to ask him about the taste of the fruit. After five minutes of confusion he made the universal symbol for sour and the boy nodded. Looking up he was stunned to see the group gone and wanted to run after them.
The Spanish man grabbed his arm and pulled back to his seat and made the circular motion again and in two hours the group appeared again and he waved.
“He was right we were going in circles, I think we have to choose a different direction and mark the path.”
“Why should I listen to some kid?”
“If we hadn’t listen to you before we would have saved ourselves three hours of wasted walking. We are going a different way and we will mark our path,” A woman in a crisp suit stated succinctly not one to listen to foolish men.
“Is that edible?” Someone asked pointing to the fruit of the tree the pair had been sitting under.
“He said it was sour,” the boy replied sliding his Spanish text book back into his back pack.
“What direction should we take?”
“We could try walking away from the path we’ve been taking marking it and hoping we find something.”
“This is fucking insane.”
“You had your say, and it was wrong,” the woman in the suit spoke up again and with the Spanish man and teenager in the lead they headed away from the gorge and towards the rolling hill.
They had chosen to go with her, into a strange world that to all seemed a desert. Without protection from the sun, heat or even proper food and now after walking for hours across the sand and only seeing a few plants that might have been able to be considered silver trees in a very warped and twisted imagination they paused trying to see if any direction looked any better than walking in the endless sea of red orange sand.
“I don’t understand why we are not walking back.”
“Following the trail that the train took, it would have to get us back eventually. Why are we listening to her anyway? What does she know?”
“Is it your fault we’re here? What did you do? What are you?”
Stopping and turning to then as of she could not believe their words or comments she took a step away from them. Why had she spoken up at all? She had no idea the only thing that she did know at the moment was that she was being glared at by nearly a dozen irate passengers.
“Look I don’t know anymore than you do, I had a gut feeling and spoke up that’s the best that I can give you there is no dire plot no scheme no nothing, just me who thought she would be in class right now.”
“How did you know?” The man roared.
“Back off! You came this way so you must have thought something of it!”
“I went this way because only an idiot would go the other way after hearing something out of Jurassic Park attack that guy. And I never thought the train would start moving again or I would have stayed on it.”
“Now that you have proven you are both great at arguing you want to tell us if you have another feeling? Maybe about food and water because while we are not hungry now we will be.”
She glanced at the woman in a yellow T-shirt shorts and hiking boots and red, green, orange, and yellow striped socks. She shrugged and the woman shook her head.
“We need to find shelter. We need to get food, we need to get water. Anyone who has water or food on them now would be the time to share. And any of you with packs feel free to dump unnecessary items as it will just get heavier later.”
There were a few glances, some rustling about but no one discarded their briefcases, bags, or backpacks. She looked at them all and rolled her eyes. They would learn soon enough.
“I say we make it for that mass over there, it could be a natural cliff formation, keep your eyes open for animals, and watch which plants they eat and which they avoid, even if we can’t catch them right away we can assume it is safe to eat what they eat.”
“What about birds?”
“Did you get a feeling about birds?”
“No I had a bio class, birds are like the only creatures that can eat poisonous food because it passes through their system too quickly.”
“Well I don’t see any berries or any birds so I think it’s a moot point. Anyone else have any dumb questions? Good.”
“Who are you?”
“Names’ Madison, I run a mock survival camp upstate. Mostly I try to teach the rich and pampered how to rough it. Now I hope you people are ready to move,” She said and they all began to walk.
Jim and Kathy glanced at each other and then at the last passenger on the train. The final passenger an Asian male, with long hair pulled back into a ponytail walked over to the map and looked at the remaining stops.
“I think our best bet is the woods.”
“I am not getting off the train,” Jim said.
“Me either,” Kathy added.
“That may be tempting fate, we were lucky once, to push fate is to ask for trouble. I would not wish to make this journey alone but if that is the choice of you two I will accept it and hope you are better for it. If I am a fool and chosen the wrong path woe for me.”
“You should stay with us,” Jim said amicably, and Kathy nodded in agreement.
“My heart tells me to depart once these doors open again. I can not go against that. It is your heart that tells you to remain is it not?”
“Its logic buddy, trains just go back and forth.”
“The mind is a dangerous thing, for it wants you to hold on to logic, but logic tells me a train can not run without tracks, a train can not float on water and that a train can not remain lit without a power source or move without a conductor yet the train is doing all those things so I will go with the part of me that never believed in this foolish logic. I go with my heart.”
Jim nodded, “I understand what you are saying but even this crazy train has a map, it has stops so it has a route. There is an end to it at some point, and when it returns to this forest I hope we can pick you up and we can agree we were both right. I am Jim by the way.”
“Daniel,” he said taking the man’s hand and then turning towards Kathy.
“Kathy,” she said softly shyly extending her hand and pushing her hair back with the other.
There were a few moments of silence as the train began to slow and it was then they realized they had already gotten used to the trains speed and were speaking as if they were on a regular train.
When the train stopped it was a few moments before the door opened, looking at the wood stop is was more of what was expected after the strangeness with the fire stop. A lush wonderful green forest to the left and dead and dying trees to the right.
“Which side will you be taking?” Jim asked even as Kathy pointed to the lush path.
“Oh no, I was taught long ago, beauty is the most dangerous thing to trust your life to. I will go this way, and not fear a bear is hiding in the bushes. For there are no bushes to hide behind,” Daniel said with a smile and a wave as he exited the train and it was then they saw the small violin case on his back, next to the small plain black backpack.
“Oh no wonder,” Kathy said aloud sinking back into the chair.
“No wonder what?” Jim asked as he watched the departing form weaving though the trees.
“They way he talked it was just so…it makes sense that’s he’s a musician.”
“I just took him for the scholarly type, reading the great philosophers and all that.”
“Who knows, I just wish he stayed on the train, it has to be safer than out there. I wish we knew where we were.”
“All we have is this map but it doesn’t really tell us anything.”
“I know but I just wish I knew more. I never like not knowing where I am going.”
The train slowly pulled out of the tunnel and over the bridge. She held back the urge to place her hand over her sun sensitive eyes, as the sun seemed to take precedence over the subway car, shining over her copy of ‘The Half Blood Prince’. She blinked allowing her eyes to adjust to the natural light.
Some days she would watch the water beneath the train with the same morbid thought. If it were to fall would it be better to drop into the water or onto the roadways on the other side. And everyday as yet again she made it successfully across she would forget the question as she entered the darkness of the tunnel.
She was reading trying to decide if she was agreeing with the current plot turn when her CD player stopped. Pulling it out of her bag she was glad to see the rechargeable batteries were fully charged. The cd had stopped and she had only noticed the end of the noise. Sorting through her CD’s she chose one she had mixed herself, and was about to hit play when the static started.
The announcement was so distorted it didn’t even sound English not that that was a new thing for the MTA. Since the train was still moving she decided it did not concern her much and hit play. She was nearly through another chapter when she realized they were still crossing the bridge. Which simply could not be. She looked out the window but all she could see was light.
The other passengers seemed to be going about their business, pulling out her cell phone, wondering if she had simply misjudged the amount of time that passed she realized it was the same time as she had glanced at what had to be a few minutes before.
Now totally at a loss she looked out the window trying to force herself to see what was beyond the light, and just as quickly they were plunged into darkness. Turning her CD player off she held on tightly to the pole as she felt rocketed forward. Though she could not see it, she heard and felt, people and bags falling and bodies lurching with the increasingly speeding train. Jolting forward herself she was slammed by her bag, luckily it was a Monday and not as full as it could have been.
Finally they reemerged into a muted area. Cloudy and fogy the train stopped and the doors opened on both sides. The lights came back on but you could not see more than three feet into the fog. The passengers looked at each other and at the open doors though none seemed willing to leave the relative safety of the train.
Looking on both sides of the train those closest to the door glanced out and that included her. Looking outside she saw just as she saw inside fog. Finally a passenger seemed irritated enough to not be afraid of a train that was clearly somewhere it should not be.
“Fuck this!” He exclaimed and waving his large hands and swinging a gym bag stepped out of the nearest doors. The ones to the left when facing the direction the train had been traveling in. The last part of him to vanish the bright red baseball cap, which faded into the fog that seemed to swallow him whole. The rest of the passengers waited for confirmation that it was indeed safe to explore this strange place.
It was not what they received, instead they heard the shrill screech sound of what could have been some sort of large bird and then the man’s screams being carried further and further away. She was one of the first to move away from her door. They all moved to stand where the doors weren’t. And not about to step out there now she took as seat at and leaned against the pole and a few others followed her. While some seemed ready to bolt at the mere sound of the returning screech.
A few minutes passed and the fog began to lift. Showing the rush hour passengers where they had arrived. They could see that theirs was the only train car on the B express that arrived wherever it was that they were. Looking out the train car, to the left they saw rolling blue green hills and trees heavy with some sort of a fruit, striped blue and white with a single long red leaf sliding down nearly touching the ground. To the right was a rocky barren looking land, with a few knarled leafless silver trees, and a red orange sandy like substance swirling the ground and rising up every so often.
She looked between the two sides and felt as if they looked familiar. And even as the feeling passed there was a dread for the left side. She did not think it was the memory of the passenger because it felt like much more and as passengers stood ready to leave the train, she jumped up.
“No one can go to the left! We have to go to the right.”
A few looked at her and her exclamation the first words spoken since the man who was lost. And these being New Yorkers there were various reactions. Some did not leave their seats refusing to leave the safety of the train. Some moved towards the right and others went for the left in nothing but abject defiance or annoyance that some girl would be foolish enough to get them to think a barren desert would be safer.
Sighing when she saw not all the people believed her she nonetheless picked herself up and went out the door to the right. Those that stayed on the train were stunned as the doors shut and the train moved. Those passengers would soon wish they had made a choice.
Those left watched stunned as a gorge opened and spread separating them forcing them all to keep to their decisions and try to figure out what to do next in this strange new land.
The train sped off leaving a chasm in its wake. Forcing everyone to remain with their decisions, for the better and for the much worse. It raced at a deadly speed all those still inside holding on for dear life to polls, chairs and each other. Strangers becoming intimate in the slamming of bodies in a nearly empty train car.
They stopped over a large body of water no land to be seen nor any track to explain what was keeping the train a float. The doors opened and once again there was the divide the train itself being the line. This time to the right was choppy gray storm tossed waters, churning and splashing into the train. To the left were calm clear blue waters. Softly rolling back and forth it did not seem like a wave would dare touch the surface.
The remaining six passengers looked at each other and wondered if this would be like the last time where they would not be allowed to leave without someone exiting the train. After about ten minutes the doors took the decision from them and slid sloppily shut. They all grabbed the nearest object mostly polls and held on for dear life. One woman sank to the floor hugging the poll tightly as tears streamed from her eyes. The train seemed to be going uphill and slowly a male passenger approached her. Balding with silver hair and a round pot belly he approached her and took a seat besides her, sharing her poll slightly when the train tilted dangerously upwards.
“It’ll be fine we’ll be okay.”
“How can you say that? Where are we even? Where is this train going? How is it even still running? Where are the other cars? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“But it’s the train, see this is how I figure it. We are one a train making its stops. And all trains when they reach the end of the line just go right back to where they started. Right? So we have to end up back home. See that’s why I stayed on the train. It will have to take us back.”
“When? How can you be sure? What if this weird ride goes on forever? I wasn’t even going to make this train! The doors had closed but the conductor saw me and actually let me in! How often does that happen during rush hour? I though it was good luck! I wish I had just missed the train,” she mumbled trailing off as the train evened out and traveled along its supposed route.
“Don’t worry, I’m Jim.”
“Kathy, and I can’t not worry. This is completely insane, where are we? Where are we going? Why us?”
It started to speed along again and all conversation ceased as not being battered by the quickly moving train became a priority. It jolted to a stop yet again and the doors opened. If anyone was surprised by the repeat of the duality of the two sides they no longer showed it.
To the left once again was the worst of it. What looked like tornados and storm clouds that rumbled and shook with thunder though there was no lightening. The other a few wisps of clouds.
“This is so weird.”
All the passengers looked up at the teenager that had managed to not only remain in his seat but remain asleep for the most of this.
“Kids,” the older man muttered as the teenager looked at the map, and out the doors then back at the map.
“Shit, someone tell me this is some kind of fucked up joke and we are not at the air stop!”
“What?”
“The map shit for brains! See the fucking clouds?” The five other passengers climbed over each other trying to see the map and all stared in varied forms of disbelief. The distance alone between the stops seemed enormous. But as they looked they went to the bottom of the map and sure enough there was the bridge, the last ‘real’ thing they had seen since they had arrived in this strange place. The first stop, complete with chasm and symbols they could not understand.
Then the water in the center of two large land masses. Above this in a shaky line was the their current stop. And if they could read the strange map correctly they were miles and miles above any ground. It was the next stop that froze the blood in everyone’s veins. Flames. Large flames surrounded the fourth symbol.
“I can’t believe I missed my stop,” the boy said with a heavy sigh. “Though I suppose it could be worse. I could be at ice.” He said standing and making his way to the door on the right side, and stepping out and sinking below the clouds. The doors closed a few minutes after that as everyone stared after him. They were even more confused now then they were before but another point of their fear came to them as the train finally started to move again.
The next stop on the map was fire, there was no way they could survive they all looked at each other and wondered what they could possibly do once they reached the next stop. That thought was lost as the train dived and feet left the floor as it accelerated like some kind of rocket. They were going down fast and heading to a destination none wished to arrive at. Visions of forges and volcanoes danced in each of their heads and the kind of flames to end all flames. Death and dying, so the relief was short lived for when they stopped falling it simply meant that they were closer to reaching their destination.
And each tried to think of the last three stops which would they have rather departed on. The answers were not really surprising. Earth if anything at all. A close second was water but nothing at all after that. The simple fact of the matter was that they did not know what to do with themselves.
So when the train pulled to a stop and there were no raging infernos no, lava, no fire of forges. They were more than a little surprised. The duality as always continued to exist. One a single tiny candle burning along the right and then a large bonfire to the left. A collective sigh of relief was breathed and a woman who had simply wanted to reach grand street let out a sigh of relief and refused to take the train any farther. Heading to the left another woman, older and heavyset remembered the advice from the strange girl that seemed to be years ago and together the two women departed and go off the train to the right towards the bon fire.
That left three more passengers to complete their ride as they slid along and the map changed yet again showing another set of stops that the train had to make. Trees, ice, stars, and what seemed to be the last stop was simply an image of a face.
They had chosen their path because it looked idyllic. Peaceful even, trees heavy with fruit, light breeze shining sun, shady spots. A small stream passing here and there. They turned to look across the ever-expanding gorge and saw what the other had chosen. Harsh desert heat, sand, the air was so hazy on the other side it was becoming harder to make out the people.
They did not know how they could survive in a world where little seemed to make sense let alone in a desert. At least here there were plants and flowers and the like. All the things necessary to make sure they could survive. They walked as a group, still not admitting they were together but no one willing to stray apart from the rest. After a while they all stop casting glances towards the gorge and looking about their blue grassed area.
One of the more foolish passengers reached for the tree and the strange fruit nearest to him and grabbed. He plucked the fruit from the tree and pulled off the red leaf and it sank to the floor. Taking a sniff of the fruit he pulled out a pocket knife and sliced the fruit in half noting the inside looked much like a mango. Taking a bite he was greeted with a bitter taste that could make a lemon appear sweet. Spitting it out gasping he tossed the fruit aside and wondered if that meant it wasn’t ripe. Looking for a bigger fruit he circled the tree but did not find any.
Giving up he made his way back to the group which had made a few yards ahead of him. They were still walking in the opposite direction that the train had taken in a hope that eventually it would lead them back to where they were. None seemed willing to speak about where they could possibly be or if they would find their way home but all continued in silence. Even Ipod’s left off in this strange new world. Wiping his slightly sticky hands on his blue denim jacket he watched the other members of the group and counted almost 25 people.
Most were dressed for work or school, briefcases and messenger bags, and backpacks on most. There was only one other person with no extra baggage and he wondered why the other’s bothered when it was obvious that they wouldn’t be getting to any of these places any time soon.
After about three hours of waking he paused as he noticed they were passing a tree and beside the tree there were the two halves of a fruit with his tell tell bite mark. Freezing he tried to understand how one could move in a circle when they were walking in a straight line and decided if there was blue grass there were surely more important things to consider.
“Wait!” His cry seamed deafening to his own ears and he cringed. “We are going in circles. Look.”
“What is he saying?”
“Do you speak English man? Hablo English?”
“No,” looking around he saw one of the ones with a backpack come towards him. He couldn’t have been more than 15 and he pulled out a Spanish book.
“Um…uh…repiten?”
Rolling his eyes he decided to show them what he meant. He mimed picking the plant taking a bite and tossing it down and pointed to the fruit on the grass. He could see they didn’t understand him so he mimed tossing the fruit, ran a distance away then walked back making a circular motion with his fingers.
“Circles?” The word spread through the crowd quickly. “We are going in circles?”
“How can we be going in circles? We were walking in a straight line!”
“I an not taking the word of some guy who can’t even speak English. Let’s just keep going.”
He watched as they continued down the same path they had just left and shook his head taking a seat. They younger boy with the textbook sat down beside him wanting to ask him about the taste of the fruit. After five minutes of confusion he made the universal symbol for sour and the boy nodded. Looking up he was stunned to see the group gone and wanted to run after them.
The Spanish man grabbed his arm and pulled back to his seat and made the circular motion again and in two hours the group appeared again and he waved.
“He was right we were going in circles, I think we have to choose a different direction and mark the path.”
“Why should I listen to some kid?”
“If we hadn’t listen to you before we would have saved ourselves three hours of wasted walking. We are going a different way and we will mark our path,” A woman in a crisp suit stated succinctly not one to listen to foolish men.
“Is that edible?” Someone asked pointing to the fruit of the tree the pair had been sitting under.
“He said it was sour,” the boy replied sliding his Spanish text book back into his back pack.
“What direction should we take?”
“We could try walking away from the path we’ve been taking marking it and hoping we find something.”
“This is fucking insane.”
“You had your say, and it was wrong,” the woman in the suit spoke up again and with the Spanish man and teenager in the lead they headed away from the gorge and towards the rolling hill.
They had chosen to go with her, into a strange world that to all seemed a desert. Without protection from the sun, heat or even proper food and now after walking for hours across the sand and only seeing a few plants that might have been able to be considered silver trees in a very warped and twisted imagination they paused trying to see if any direction looked any better than walking in the endless sea of red orange sand.
“I don’t understand why we are not walking back.”
“Following the trail that the train took, it would have to get us back eventually. Why are we listening to her anyway? What does she know?”
“Is it your fault we’re here? What did you do? What are you?”
Stopping and turning to then as of she could not believe their words or comments she took a step away from them. Why had she spoken up at all? She had no idea the only thing that she did know at the moment was that she was being glared at by nearly a dozen irate passengers.
“Look I don’t know anymore than you do, I had a gut feeling and spoke up that’s the best that I can give you there is no dire plot no scheme no nothing, just me who thought she would be in class right now.”
“How did you know?” The man roared.
“Back off! You came this way so you must have thought something of it!”
“I went this way because only an idiot would go the other way after hearing something out of Jurassic Park attack that guy. And I never thought the train would start moving again or I would have stayed on it.”
“Now that you have proven you are both great at arguing you want to tell us if you have another feeling? Maybe about food and water because while we are not hungry now we will be.”
She glanced at the woman in a yellow T-shirt shorts and hiking boots and red, green, orange, and yellow striped socks. She shrugged and the woman shook her head.
“We need to find shelter. We need to get food, we need to get water. Anyone who has water or food on them now would be the time to share. And any of you with packs feel free to dump unnecessary items as it will just get heavier later.”
There were a few glances, some rustling about but no one discarded their briefcases, bags, or backpacks. She looked at them all and rolled her eyes. They would learn soon enough.
“I say we make it for that mass over there, it could be a natural cliff formation, keep your eyes open for animals, and watch which plants they eat and which they avoid, even if we can’t catch them right away we can assume it is safe to eat what they eat.”
“What about birds?”
“Did you get a feeling about birds?”
“No I had a bio class, birds are like the only creatures that can eat poisonous food because it passes through their system too quickly.”
“Well I don’t see any berries or any birds so I think it’s a moot point. Anyone else have any dumb questions? Good.”
“Who are you?”
“Names’ Madison, I run a mock survival camp upstate. Mostly I try to teach the rich and pampered how to rough it. Now I hope you people are ready to move,” She said and they all began to walk.
Jim and Kathy glanced at each other and then at the last passenger on the train. The final passenger an Asian male, with long hair pulled back into a ponytail walked over to the map and looked at the remaining stops.
“I think our best bet is the woods.”
“I am not getting off the train,” Jim said.
“Me either,” Kathy added.
“That may be tempting fate, we were lucky once, to push fate is to ask for trouble. I would not wish to make this journey alone but if that is the choice of you two I will accept it and hope you are better for it. If I am a fool and chosen the wrong path woe for me.”
“You should stay with us,” Jim said amicably, and Kathy nodded in agreement.
“My heart tells me to depart once these doors open again. I can not go against that. It is your heart that tells you to remain is it not?”
“Its logic buddy, trains just go back and forth.”
“The mind is a dangerous thing, for it wants you to hold on to logic, but logic tells me a train can not run without tracks, a train can not float on water and that a train can not remain lit without a power source or move without a conductor yet the train is doing all those things so I will go with the part of me that never believed in this foolish logic. I go with my heart.”
Jim nodded, “I understand what you are saying but even this crazy train has a map, it has stops so it has a route. There is an end to it at some point, and when it returns to this forest I hope we can pick you up and we can agree we were both right. I am Jim by the way.”
“Daniel,” he said taking the man’s hand and then turning towards Kathy.
“Kathy,” she said softly shyly extending her hand and pushing her hair back with the other.
There were a few moments of silence as the train began to slow and it was then they realized they had already gotten used to the trains speed and were speaking as if they were on a regular train.
When the train stopped it was a few moments before the door opened, looking at the wood stop is was more of what was expected after the strangeness with the fire stop. A lush wonderful green forest to the left and dead and dying trees to the right.
“Which side will you be taking?” Jim asked even as Kathy pointed to the lush path.
“Oh no, I was taught long ago, beauty is the most dangerous thing to trust your life to. I will go this way, and not fear a bear is hiding in the bushes. For there are no bushes to hide behind,” Daniel said with a smile and a wave as he exited the train and it was then they saw the small violin case on his back, next to the small plain black backpack.
“Oh no wonder,” Kathy said aloud sinking back into the chair.
“No wonder what?” Jim asked as he watched the departing form weaving though the trees.
“They way he talked it was just so…it makes sense that’s he’s a musician.”
“I just took him for the scholarly type, reading the great philosophers and all that.”
“Who knows, I just wish he stayed on the train, it has to be safer than out there. I wish we knew where we were.”
“All we have is this map but it doesn’t really tell us anything.”
“I know but I just wish I knew more. I never like not knowing where I am going.”