Daniel's Ticket

       “Damn land won’t move things fast enough…”

            Daniel said to himself. He sat alone on the train platform, letting his legs dangle over the edge that they weren’t supposed to be on. But rules didn’t matter at this point. It was late in the day, well, not really; the sun was just getting ready to dip down over the horizon, but all of the station operators went home. They didn’t say why…they just left. Daniel found the act peculiar, but he shrugged it off and made nothing of it. Soon enough, the train he had a ticket for would arrive to take him to Cardiff; he’d had enough of this little, dinky town that he was forced to stay in.

            He wasn’t sure why he was going to Cardiff, though. In his mind, he knew he could’ve gone to London; he had the money to go there, but he decided not to. Something in the back of his mind told him to just go to Wales. And so, he was.

            “Rather nice evening, isn’t it?” Someone said behind Daniel. He turned around to see a woman approaching him. She looked down to him and smiled.

            “May I sit next to you?” She asked, eying the bit of platform next to him.

            “Um…sure, go ahead.” Daniel replied. “It’s not like this train is going to be coming any time soon…”

            “How long have you been waiting here?” She asked.

            “About an hour…maybe plus thirty minutes.”

            “We should go and complain then.”

            “No, that won’t do any�"did you just say we?”

            “Yeah; I’m sure that I did. I’d be quite the odd person if I couldn’t keep track of what I say, don’t you think?” She smiled and chuckled a little bit.

            “When you put it that way, yes. But I mean, we just met; I don’t even know your name.”

            “Oh, damn it! How rude of me! I’m sorry; my name is Samantha…it’s actually my middle name. I never go by my first name…it’s a little embarrassing to me.”

            “What is it?”

            “Grace.” Daniel smiled.

            “That’s a beautiful name.” He said.

            “Not when you assuredly don’t have it…” She said lowly.

            “What do you mean?”

            “I mean that I have no elegance whatsoever…you know, I’m a klutz.”

            “Well, I wouldn’t�"”

            “Don’t say that, you barely know me, Daniel.”

            Daniel’s face froze.

            How did this woman know his name? He surely hadn’t mentioned it; but did he? What was going on? Did he have his passport open? Was he wearing his old biker jacket that had his name on the front? No; all of those things were not so. He never mentioned his name, his passport was in his satchel, and his biker jacket was in the possession of his girlfriend; this woman’s knowledge was impossible.

            But just as he wanted to say something to her, he heard the train. He stood up, turned his head to the direction of the train, and smiled.

            “Finally…” He said to himself.

            “Now we’ll get to properly meet.” Samantha said.

            “What? You just knew my name without me telling you�"”

            “Listen; this train isn’t normal.”

            “What do you mean the train isn’t normal?”

            “You’ll know when you get on, now just trust me on this part.”

            “What in the hell�"”

            Just then, the train stopped in front of the two of them, making a hiss sound as it halted. The door opened to reveal the conductor. Well, it was a walking skeleton with a suit that had ‘CONDUCTOR’ stitched into the left side of the suit.

            Daniel froze in shock.

            “Hand him your ticket.” Samantha said as she wrapped her arm around his, firmly locking the two of them together. She pulled her hand to her chest as her elbow secured the joint of his arm.

            Daniel gave the skeleton his ticket and the bones took the ticket, stamped a few holes in it, and said,

            “Have a nice trip to Cardiff, sir.” The jaw bone moving in perfect synchronization with the words. Samantha drug Daniel onboard and whispered to him,

            “Whatever you do, don’t freak out.”

            There were skeletons everywhere. Everyone on the train was an animated skeleton. All of their bones were moving without tendons and muscles; this was all impossible. They were speaking, laughing, playing cards, one skeleton was drinking tea, only to have the tea pour through the open cavity inside of the jaw bone and soak the area of the dress that the skeleton was wearing. Daniel stared at the skeleton who tried to drink the tea; it turned to look at him and said,

            “It’s green tea, sonny; what’s so interesting about it?”

            Daniel was moving on his own this time, dragging Samantha along with him.

            “That’s the spirit, go towards the back car…we’ll be safe there.” Samantha said.

            “Oh, there’ll be no dead people there?” Daniel retorted.

            “Well…that…and we won’t be bothered…”

            “Bothered by dead people, you mean?”

            “Don’t shout so loud; they can hear…”

            “Oh, they can hear, but they can’t drink tea? What good is it being able to talk and hear, but you can’t drink tea?”

            “Just stop shouting and get to the f*****g back of the train!” Samantha yelled.

            “Can do, milady!” Daniel yelled back to her as they ran. He opened the door to the back car and flew into the empty steel carriage. He looked around; it was bleak. Everything in the room was dismal; there were only table with no settings, the lights were dim, and it looked as if no one had touched the place in centuries. Interestingly enough, there were no cobwebs, given the car’s supposed age.

            “Even the spiders don’t like it back here…” Daniel said.

            “That’s not it.” Samantha said as she sat down at one of the tables. Daniel sat down in the seat next to her.

            “This place…” Daniel asked. “…what in the hell is it? I mean, there are skeletons having a good laugh out there right now…”

            “This place defies explanation.” Samantha replied. “The people that I work for call this thing the Ghost Train.”

            “Oh, real original…”

            “The person in charge of the operation isn’t that creative; give him a handicap.”

            “So you’re calling a mulligan for him?”

            “Well, yeah; why wouldn’t I?”

            “You apparently don’t hold very high respects for him…”

            “He’s a bit of a prick, but he’s lovable…”

            “You’re his girlfriend…aren’t you?”

            Samantha blushed.

            “I knew it.” Daniel said. “Now…I want to know how the hell you know my name.”

            “It’s this psychic training that the organization that I work for gives every employee.” Samantha said. “My division, in particular, is trained in getting information from people when they aren’t willing to talk. Now, I know that you would’ve been perfectly willing to tell me your name, but it was imperative that I started to get inside of your head.”

            “Why was it so important?”

            “It’s important, because you can stop this train.”

            “Stop it how? I want to get to Cardiff.”

            “That’s the whole point; all of the people that have gotten on this train have been going somewhere. But their voyage was stopped, and their animation suspended to the point of them being skeletons. That will happen to the both of us if I can’t use the knowledge that you have.”

            “What knowledge could I possibly have?”

            “The picture in your wallet. It’s of your girlfriend. Her name is Yvonne; nice name, nice girl. She’s twenty two years old, the same age as you. She loves cats, fish and chips, wine from the south of France, The Beatles�"”

            “Okay, I get it; you’re psychic. But how can her picture stop this train?”

            “It’s a reminder from the outside world; it breaks down their reality and allows what is supposed to be here to flow through. I can’t explain exactly how it works, but it will turn all of those skeletons back into people.”

            “Alright, here’s the picture then.” Daniel handed Samantha the picture of Yvonne.

            Samantha looked down at the picture and smiled.

            “Such a sweet girl…all young and pretty. I wish I were like that…” Samantha darted to the door and opened it. She turned back to Daniel for a moment. “Let’s go.”

            Daniel followed her.

            She showed the picture to every one of the skeletons. The bones froze in their places when she did so. Daniel didn’t want to ask questions, so he followed along with her. But then, they arrived at the conductor.

            “Ah…a picture of a living. How deadly…to the rest of them.” The Conductor said.

            “I order you, by the power of the Council of the Nightingale, to stop this harvesting of life. It is an illegality by the Council and also by the Court of the Great Wight. You will be prosecuted to the full extent of their laws, with no chance for parole. All things that you will say from this point on can and will be used against you in the high courts.” Samantha revealed a gun and pointed it at The Conductor. “You are to relinquish the lives of all of the organisms onboard, as you are now under arrest.”

            “Do you think I care about the Council or the Court?” The Conductor said. “I have been long since out of their league. They have tried to catch me and have failed. In fact, each person onboard this train is an example of those failures. You have no chance for survival, so why attempt to live now?”

            “It’s because I know the secrets of necromancy; and one thing I’ve learned is that if you take out the one who started making the living into dead, everything they did becomes reversed. So, good day to you, Conductor.”           

            Samantha pulled the trigger on the gun and shattered The Conductor’s skull. His body turned to dust, and a subtle cry of him reigned out from his collapse. Daniel and Samantha turned back to the rest of the train to see a car full of people staring at them.

            “Can somebody get me a jar?” Samantha asked. “You know, to gather up all the ashes of the skeleton man that I…killed? Well, he was already dead…not that he ever lived...but um…yes…the ashes; I need to bring them to a court of law so he can be prosecuted.”

            The crowd just stared at her with a strange look.

            “Okay, I know this is difficult to accept, what just happened in all…but just give me a f*****g jar!” She yelled. One of the older ladies found a small jelly jar that she’d been carrying with her and stood up to give it to Samantha. Samantha took the jar and scooped the ashes of The Conductor into the glass. When she was done, she sealed the lid.

 

            The train finally arrived at Cardiff. All of the passengers onboard disembarked onto the platform and went into the city. Daniel and Samantha walked over to an area on the platform that was empty of people.

            “There’s a branch of my organization in the city…that’s why you came here.” Samantha said. “I contacted you in a dream that you don’t remember, but one that your subconscious did. That’s why you had such a strong urge to come here, but you didn’t know why. I can tell you straightaway, the job pays very handsomely, and it can get quite interesting.”

            “Talking skeletons interesting?” Daniel asked. Samantha chuckled.

            “Yes; and much more than that.”

            “Thrilling.”

            “So, what do you say…are you in?”

            “Can you tell me about that Court and Council that you mentioned?”

            “I can’t tell you unless you agree to my proposal first…”

            “No, I want to know.”

            “Daniel it’s the rules…”

            “I want to know, Samantha.”

            “I can’t believe I have to do this…” Samantha pulled out a small bottle from her pocket, took off the top of it, and waved if under Daniel’s nose. He fell to the side, but Samantha caught him and laid him down onto the concrete very gently. She stood back up and put the bottle away. She looked back down to Daniel. A voice came to her in her mind and said,

            “Maybe that shouldn’t have been Daniel’s Ticket.”

Reviews

[Thomas Fitzgerald]

A powerful and resilient piece that kept me wanting more and more, well done

[Coyote Poetry]

You brought me in with a powerful story. I like the conversation and the detailed description. I like the train and the final destination. The ending left me with questions. Is there going to be additional chapters? Thank you for a outstanding story. You held my attention till the last word.
Coyote

[Kayla K]

This was stunningly brilliant. It could definitely be published as a short story, it's that well-written. It's unique, something I never would have thought of, and that's what a story should be. Creative. This is going in my favorites.