5 years ago I lived on the outskirts of a fairly crowded city, right next to the train station, where I did night shifts as a security guard.
Although it was right on the edge of a city, the area was surprisingly quiet, the streets being roamed only by drunks walking slowly, not looking for trouble, but whatever they did they ended up finding it.
In the last year that I lived there, some rather strange things happened, which greatly contributed to my decision to leave, not just a job that paid better.
Trains had to pass through the station every 2 hours, it was a relatively small station, with only 4 lines. At night, when I was working there I was alone, the cashiers being long gone without caring about the people who wanted to get on a train to sell them a ticket if they didn’t already have one.
One evening while I was doing my usual route, everything was quieter than usual so I thought I’d take this opportunity to explore the old train station, which was about a 10-minute walk from where I was staying.
It had been closed after the Second World War when, due to the bombings, it was no longer restored and it was decided to build a new one closer to the city.
In the end I got there. The air felt musty, with a predominating smell of swamp. They were old wagons that were destroyed by time and rust. On the main building there still was the old clock that surprisingly survived the bombings, it was among the only things intact. The few walls left standing were hidden by ivy.
Suddenly there was a bang, like a gong and the clock started working again, my blood froze in my veins. I started to walk slowly backwards when I tripped over one of the rails and hit my head on a wagon.
I could feel my hair starting to get wet from the blood, but I couldn’t move, nor did I feel the pain from the blow.
Just then, smoke started coming out of a locomotive. And to see an orange light on the window. I finally managed to stand up and slowly started to walk towards her. There was fire in the place where the coal was put to run the locomotive. I pulled hard on the door a few times and finally it opened with a loud creak.
There was no one there, but the door closed behind me. The fire had begun to heat up as soon as I came in and it started coming out of the furnace, just then the clock had struck midnight. I pushed the door in panic, but it didn’t budge.
A smiling face was starting to be drawn on the dirty front window, there was no one outside, I would have seen the finger on the window making the drawing.
I broke the window with the back of the flashlight I had in my hand and managed to get out. I had some burns on my skin and scratches from the shards, but I still didn’t feel anything. I guess that’s why I didn’t leave there sooner. Adreline had already risen to my brain.
I decided to climb the clock tower. The entrance door was gone and there were fallen planks on the floor. The ladder although it had rust, still seemed stable. I started to climb when suddenly an iron bar gave way and I fell.
A plank had pierced my chest. I knew I was going to die.
Then I opened my eyes. I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking it was just a dream, when I realized I was in the same locomotive, but it wasn’t destroyed, there were even wagons behind.
There was a working train running, just me there. I felt my chest and realized that I had a scar. I started going through the compartments, I don’t know if I wanted to find someone there or not, but when I got to the last one there was a woman there.
She was young, although she had white hair. I had never seen her before in my life. I asked her:
“Who are you? Where are we?”
She didn’t answer any of my questions, he just kept staring blankly at me. I looked out the window, but there was nothing outside, just fog. You couldn’t even see the rails.
Suddenly, she stood up and came towards me. She was kissing me, but at the same time he was stabbing me in the stomach with a knife. I couldn’t do anything, I didn’t want to do anything. I had passed out.
When I woke up later I was in the clock tower.
“Midnight marks the end,” she told me. “Yours has come too.”
She said this in a voice that had a note of sadness in it, but it was a pure voice. I realized I couldn’t move, not because I didn’t want to, I just couldn’t, something was holding me in place. I could only look at her.
“You asked me earlier who I am. I am known as many things. Some call me a spirit, some an evil fairy, and some a miracle worker, depending on how I interacted with that person.
A long time ago, when I was on the train we met earlier, something happened, there was a loud sound and everything started to catch fire. I saw and heard everyone die. That happened to me too, but here I am talking with you.”
I didn’t know what to say to her, but I didn’t belive her, she looked so real.
“It doesn’t matter if you believe me or not, you’re going to die now anyway, it’s inevitable, I have to do this to survive. Me or you, I’ll choose myself.”
I understood then that she was telling the truth, she was speaking with complete certainty and the note of sadness had disappeared, now it was just indifference, she didn’t care about others, she was able to do that whenever she needed. I saw her pull out a knife from behind.
I wasn’t afraid, I was just thinking how to escape. I was starting to be able to move, I couldn’t stand up to use my arms, but I could bend over. I leaned back and broke the glass of the clock tower and started falling over.
I woke up in the train again, but this time I knew what was going to happen. I could hear her calm steps sure on the floor of the carriages coming towards me.
I started hitting the window with the flashlight, but it didn’t break. Then I took the gun out of the holster. If she was a ghost there was no point in shooting at her. I fired all the bullets into the window until it broke. Then I jumped into the fog outside.
I heard her scream.
I opened my eyes and I was at the entrance to the abandoned train station. I touched my chest to see if the scar was still there. It was. I didn’t go in this time.