She Took the Last Seat Beside a Scarred Stranger—Then the Whole Train Fell Terrifyingly Silent
Chapter 6
Emily checked the watch.
11:21 p.m.
“How much time do we have?”
Lucy answered:
“Thirty-nine minutes.”
Daniel looked at the control car.
“Then we move.”
They ran.
The train seemed to fight them.
Every time they entered a new carriage, the layout changed.
Doors moved.
Seats disappeared.
Windows showed different landscapes.
One carriage was filled with snow.
Another was flooded with seawater.
Another appeared completely empty.
Emily held the watch tightly.
“What happens at midnight?”
Lucy looked at her.
“The train chooses who stays.”
“How?”
“It takes someone.”
“Who?”
“Usually the person who wants to leave most.”
Emily didn’t understand.
Then she realized.
The train fed on people who had something they desperately wanted back.
Their dead relatives.
Their lost children.
Their unfinished lives.
It offered them a chance to see what they had lost.
Then it trapped them.
Daniel suddenly stopped.
A door opened.
His daughter stood there.
“Daddy.”
He froze.
Emily grabbed him.
“That’s not Lucy.”
Lucy stood beside them.
“She’s right.”
The other Lucy smiled.
“Don’t listen to her.”
Daniel stared between them.
One Lucy wore a red sweater.
The other wore the same.
One had white shoes.
The other had black.
Daniel whispered:
“Which one is real?”
The fake Lucy smiled.
“You know me.”
The real Lucy stepped forward.
“Daddy.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Then he remembered something.
A small scar on Lucy’s left wrist.
From falling off her bicycle.
He looked.
The real Lucy had it.
The fake did not.
Daniel grabbed his daughter.
“It’s you.”
The fake Lucy screamed.
Her face distorted.
Her mouth opened impossibly wide.
Emily screamed.
The creature lunged.
Daniel pulled Lucy away.
Emily raised the watch.
The creature vanished.
The train shook.
“Keep moving!” Daniel shouted.
They reached the control car.
The door was locked.
Emily held the watch against the lock.
Nothing happened.
Daniel tried the handle.
Nothing.
Lucy looked at the watch.
“Turn the crown.”
Emily twisted the small knob.
A hidden compartment opened beneath the watch.
Inside was a tiny brass key.
She inserted it into the control-room lock.
The door opened.
Inside was no engineer.
Only an old wooden control panel.
And dozens of clocks.
Each clock showed a different time.
Some moved backward.
Some forward.
One was stuck at midnight.
Emily approached.
“What do I do?”
Lucy pointed toward the largest lever.
“Pull it.”
Daniel shook his head.
“That’s the emergency brake.”
“Then why hasn’t anyone pulled it?”
“Because…”
He looked at the clock.
“The train isn’t moving.”
Emily frowned.
“What?”
Daniel looked outside.
The scenery wasn’t changing.
“We’re stationary.”
“Then what are we traveling through?”
Daniel stared.
“Time.”
The conductor appeared behind them.
Emily turned.
He stood in the doorway.
The darkness beneath his hat expanded.
Then a voice spoke.
Not her mother’s.
Not her father’s.
Not anyone she knew.
“Give me the watch.”
Emily stepped back.
“Why?”
“Because it belongs to the train.”
“No.”
The conductor moved forward.
Daniel raised a metal bar.
“Stay away from her.”
The conductor tilted his head.
“You cannot save her.”
Daniel tightened his grip.
“I saved her once.”
The conductor’s voice changed.
“You abandoned her.”
Daniel’s face collapsed.
Emily stepped between them.
“You took his daughter.”
The conductor remained silent.
“You took dozens of people.”
Silence.
“Why?”
The conductor finally answered.
“Because someone had to pay.”
“For what?”
He pointed toward the watch.
“Your mother.”
Emily froze.
