Train Journey South

To lose yourself and to find something else in darkness....

The train was completely dark but it kept moving in the tunnel regardless, its speed never slowing. He felt the presence of others on the train with him but he couldn’t feel them moving an inch; they were silent, all too silent.

 

He tried to merge into the wall behind him, become less visible and make his heart beat slower, quieter. Maybe those around him, like him, were trying to hide from each other or whatever that was out there. In a place like this, where ever it was, something else had to be out there? The purpose of him being here. That unknown thing had to be dark, darker than the pitch black train. 

 

He was unaware of having no recollection of who he was and that it didn’t bother him, no worry that he couldn’t place his identity or why he was on this train, forever moving somewhere south. He simply was on this train and he needed to what? Outlast the darkness. The thought wasn’t his. He moved his head slightly to the right, where he knew where the passenger seats were, trying to place the voice but it was all quiet, the voice sounded in his head.

 

And now he was going insane, hearing words whispered in his mind that weren’t his own. He was in a moment of absence where only one thought pestered him, why those around him, who he couldn’t see, were so quiet, and yet he had no need to communicate with them either. With this new thought he edged closer to the wall, without actually moving, there was no where else to move but forward, something he wasn’t yet ready to do. He shut his eyes, and there was no difference in what he saw, it was pitch black then and it was pitch black now. Nothing changed at all, did it ever? He tried listening more to his surroundings, trying to establish if one sound stood out more in this vast emptiness. He heard the sound the wheels were making screeching against the rails, he heard the air beating against the metal frame of the train as it sped through the tunnel. Not everything was so empty.

 

He felt another change in the absence; he was definitely not alone now. A pressure has descended upon everything around him and he fought to open his eyes to the still darkness. At the end of the carriage before his was something new, there the darkness was deeper. Without experiencing any shock he realised this something was getting near, it was coming to him. Within seconds the darkness around him was darker, he saw no colours or details but he could make out a shape of a giant hound, its head reaching the ceiling of the train, sitting on his haunches, grinning at him like a hyena. Told ya, you needed to outlast the darkness. The hound stiffed and moved closer.

Failing to come up with a better idea he smiled too and the darkness simply grew.

Reviews

[Pax Analog]

This piece has a parabolic echo, reads and feels like a dream.

Down into darkness, more the zone of the unknown than simply tagged evil.

The hound's giant size seems menacing, but its manner matter-of-fact. It seems to be waiting for how the man will handle himself.

Intriguingly open-ended plunge into the shadows of life and death. . .

[Nadia Vincent]

Thank you for reading and leaving a message Kij143! Alas, there really was no greater point to the story, apart from maybe a primeval fear we all have. It is open for interpretation, the darkness and the absense of almost everything could mean different things to different people, so it's all about the self discovery.

[kij143]

this was very well written! though the mesage was slightly difficult to perceive, perhaps work on emphazising a clearer point? haha it could very well just be me...keep writing(: