seemed to have not been able to recall exactly what took place. One woman by the name of Gia claimed to have seen a strange creature before she pressed the emergency button and ran through the cars to seek help. The lights came back on and everything seemed to appear normal again. Commuters who were questioned seemed not to have remembered or seen anything. The conductor was found hunched over, apparently blacked out but is in stable condition at the hospital. Police are investigating the matter.”
I looked around the car. Everyone was reading a paper, a book, listening to music, in their own worlds as usual. I thought, “Gia, you are thinking into this way too much. It was possibly just a blackout. The weather has been unpredictable. The thing you saw….possibly just a figment of your imagination. You know you’re afraid of the dark. You used to see gremlins as a kid in the dark or mini monsters under your bed.” Maybe I am thinking too much into this. People didn’t react because they are New Yorkers…. We all know New Yorkers are zombies in disguise. I scanned the faces of the passengers who shared my train car. Aside from the blank looks and glazed eyes, everyone looked perfectly normal. I exhaled and continued to read my newspaper. Just then I felt a tap on my shoulder.
“Excuse me, miss.” I looked to my right to see an elderly man, apparently blind, trying to get my attention. “Sorry, but I just wanted you to know, I think it’s time you got off this train.”
“Excuse me?” I said, not knowing how else to answer this seemingly senile elderly gentleman.
“I think it’s time you get off of this train. Today is no happy ending.” With that he stood up, braced himself on his cane and prepared to exit the train doors on the next stop. I watched as he left the train, stopping right outside the door and standing still as the doors closed again and the train continued toward Manhattan. Silly old man, I’m so used to these train passengers that are half gone. Poor, poor souls. I looked down at my newspaper again and it began to happen again. I didn’t realize it but my hands were shaking slightly all morning. I have dry skin but my hands were clammy. The soles of my feet began to stick to the insides of my pumps. I was undoubtedly nervous. “Gia, it will be alright.” I tried to control myself. Then it happened and yesterday’s dilemmas became anew again today. The lights went out and this time I was standing in the darkness. My paper fell to the floor. I felt something run across my feet. The elderly man’s words rang in my ears, “I think it’s time you get off this train.”
“See, you should have gotten off this train.” What’s that? I turned my head to match a face to the words, but it was too dark, I could not see anything. I could only feel the sensation of something cross over my feet. As my stomach began to pinch I wished I could pinch myself and get out of this reality I was in. I wished it was all a bad dream but I saw the red eyes again. As red as the eyes were I knew this was real. I should have gotten off this train.
Part 2
Oh lord, I should have gotten off the train. I worked hard to keep small unwanted creatures out of my apartment. Now to have them running over my feet! I have no idea what they even are. Since when were animals able to run loose in train cars? The reality of the moment is, right now I’m on the train stuffed in a thick darkness. My air has become mud and I’m breathing unevenly. I can’t see anyone or anything. The conductor hasn’t spoken, neither has the annoying automated voice. The train doors aren’t opening which I guess is a good thing as we are stuck in the tunnel. If I survive this I will never again complain about my morning commute, nor mornings in the office.
I stood nervously still, afraid to move my arms, my feet or even breathe. The only thing that could possibly be used as a weapon is the spoon I have in my purse to eat my Greek yogurt later, if there is a later. Why aren’t these damn zombies frightened? The dark silhouettes continued to stare straight ahead with no sound or movement coming from their corpses. Suddenly, without announcement or warning the train began to go. As it started to run again it accelerated increasingly. The thought of derailing occurred to me. Though I swore to myself I would not move, I gripped the pole next to me to maintain my balance. The train sped through the tunnel, swerving and going around curves that I wasn’t accustomed to. At each turn the noise without rivaled the unsettling quiet within the train. I was about to make a run for it and see if the people in the other cars were a bit more lively until I felt another hairy runt run over my feet. What if the car was filled with these creatures? Running is probably not smart now, Gia.
Soon the blackness was rudely interrupted with neon lights. It felt as if we were entering another dimension. I often feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone when in the subway, but now the feeling was more than just a feeling, being so real. I sensed an otherworldliness to come— something unfathomable. The neon lights coming through the train windows allowed me to see some of the features of the motionless people that were sitting down. Once I caught a glimpse of a man that was standing on the other end of the car, upright, but his body was rigid almost like a mannequin. As I stared at the standing man in the dark, as if I was waiting for him to move or walk toward me, I heard something growl soft but ferocious like a small dog. The growl persisted steadily but wasn’t too loud.
The neon lights became black again and the train came to an abrupt stop. My body jerked several steps ahead, almost crashing into an elderly woman seated in front of me. She remained motionless as did the other passengers, only leaning slightly upon being jerked with the train. Then they all rise —- like a choir, a uniform body. The train doors open and like a perfectly synced militia they uniformly march out the train doors. I quickly follow behind afraid of what would happen if the train doors shut on me before I got out onto the platform.
I look down the platform as far as my eyes could see and I saw the same thing, a hopeless uniformity. Surrounded by these empty beings, I dared not try to walk down the platform. The thought of them even touching me was completely disturbing. I realize that this is a nameless station of which I have never seen. I heard the sound of distant trains passing on real-world tracks. Though the sounds were real they were so far away. This must be a hidden place that I somehow came to find. The only reason I could think of why I was here was that it was just my time. Do I dare to ask a question of one of these indifferent souls? I tap a man standing next to me on the shoulder. “Excuse me sir but can you tell me what stop this is? I can’t seem to recognize it.” Expecting him to break the unnerving silence among about a hundred silent beings on the platform, I was soon disappointed. He was unresponsive in every way imaginable. He didn’t even acknowledge he heard a sound. I turned to another woman on the other side of me. “Excuse me ma’am.” I wait for her body to speak a language of compassion. Her eyes dart in my direction but her neck and body remain stiff. At least her eyes moved, there’s some progress. “Excuse me but, do you know what station this is? I can’t recall.” Stiffly and quickly she answered, “Don’t ask now.” Silence choked me again and I dared not ask another question.
The station wasn’t as dark as the train ride, but its dim lighting contributed to the trepidation in the air. I got the bright idea to look for my phone, knowing if I couldn’t get cell phone reception in a normal station, I surely wasn’t getting reception here. As assumed, no reception. Exhausted in trying to make an effort to make sense of life at this moment, I looked down at my feet. I thought if I closed my eyes for a spell and looked up maybe I’d find a brighter light. As I began to look down toward my feet I noticed something coming out of somebody’s messenger bag. A small hairy head began to emerge. Since the station was better lit than the train I could make out more clearly what it was that tormented me in the dark. As the small hairy head emerged from the messenger bag, so did those merciless red eyes, followed by sharp yellow teeth. What was this thing? It looked like a rat but was the size of a small dog. My usually dry feet and hands became sweaty. I was frightened stiff, but by the time it came out from the bag fully I had gained the courage to rush away. Bumping into still standing bodies I found myself at the edge of the platform, almost losing balance and falling onto the tracks. I’d heard of people running on the tracks but I was one to not even go past the yellow line. I peered over the edge just slightly, afraid to lose my balance, just to see hundreds of pairs of red eyes staring in my direction. Now screaming uncontrollably, I fell back into a still body behind me. I regained my balance and stood erect again trying to get my spinning head to pause for a moment.
The hairy creature was there at my side, hissing and growling and demanding that I was now his. I’m here because this is my day, it’s my time. Today is the day I become one of them. The creature lunged toward me sinking its yellow teeth into my skin. The motionless bodies on the platform began to turn in unison. Their faces still expressionless, their bodies stiff and still, they looked on as the creature claimed me with its teeth. It began at the crown of my head, then flowed to my knees that buckled even down to my toes—this poison. As the venom penetrated my being I began to feel a release. My body then stiffened and my mind completely escaped me. I am no longer my own but I’m possessed with the same thing that is within the others. There is still no audible response from anyone, but I feel the approving welcomes from those that surround me. I’m now in like company.
I should have gotten off the train if I had wished to remain in my everyday world. Still, maybe subconsciously, I was ready for the unknown. I’m completely encompassed by this venom and I’m certainly no longer my own. To look at me now you couldn’t judge from my outward appearance. For though I’m stiff and still, and appear lifeless and unresponsive, a release of understanding is fresh within me. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m now realizing the unfathomable. Maybe it’s because I am now something unbelievable. I can hear the trains rushing through the tunnels in a distant place- a dimension now misunderstood by me. That was a dimension I once knew. The red-eyed creatures are part of my world. We wait for the next train to nowhere.