That Night on the Train
I checked my ticket. As I moved my
luggage towards my compartment, I realized that the old ticket-checker was
looking at me quite suspiciously. I asked him what was wrong.
‘Um, is that No.21 you are going to?’
he inquired.
‘Yes. Why? I can show…’
But he had already left. I saw his
face suddenly turn a little pale. What was wrong?
Anyway, as I slid open the door of no.21, I
noticed that there was no one sitting over there in any of the bunks, as
compared to the other compartments on the train, which had literally ‘no
vacancy’. Considering this as a silver lining, I shoved down my suitcase
beneath the right bunk, and stretched my legs out. Woah, what a day! Paris was
truly a masterpiece in the genre of ‘Culture’! From food to music, it was a
son meilleur. Now off to Switzerland, I said to myself, as I took out my
camera and began seeing through the photographs.
You see, ever since I started
university, I had a wish to tour the whole of Europe, and make a photo album
about the culture of this continent. It had been only two weeks, yet I feel
that I’ve gained the knowledge of a decade!
At 8 o’clock in the night, a waiter
served me dinner. After dinner and a quick trip to the washroom, I dimmed my
lights at 9. As I laid down myself on the bunker covered with the white bed
sheet, I realized that I would be getting a good-night sleep after maybe a
month. Adjusting myself on the pillow, I opened up one of the Agatha Christie
books out of the seven I had been carrying with me for this trip. I didn’t know
when my eyes fell down due to the weight of tiredness, and at what time I fell
asleep, I didn’t know.
What I knew, that I had suddenly woken
up at 2.30 in the morning.
***
I didn’t know why I had woken up all
of a sudden. It took me a few moments to register what had happened. The lights
had gone out, and everything was covered in pitch-black darkness. No, not totally. A dim light was lit outside, at the very far end of the train. I could hear
no one - everything was as silent as a tombstone. The train had also suddenly
stopped. There was only a faint reddish light coming in…
I reached for my blankets, only to
find that they were not over me. I looked around, and nearly gasped when I saw
three nearly-asleep men seated in the left bunk! When did they come over here?
Why had the train stopped? And…
I tried to scream, but no voice came
out.
Whose face was over there staring at
me from the darkness?
Then I realized another thing. My
surroundings had changed. This was not the train which I had boarded last
night. Else who were those people seated over there? Where was the dinner
table? Where was this place...?
I turned towards the window, and
gasped.
In the misty mirror formed by the
windows, I saw myself – no, it was not me, but a bearded red-eyed face stared
back at me!
Then suddenly – as I took a couple of
moments to register what the hell was happening – I felt my hand slowly sliding
towards my jacket – no, towards the left pocket of a greasy brown leather
jacket, and pulled out a revolver. Then, I pointed it towards the man seated in
the center, and then…I…I…
I shot a bullet towards him!
The man fell down. The other two –
before they did anything - also got a bullet shot into their chests!
Staggering, I lunged down to the man
who lay dead on the floor. In trembling hands, I reached for the chest pocket
of the cadaver, and took out what it seemed to be a stone – a sapphire! Before
I could stand up, suddenly another gunshot was heard – this time, I felt
something hot piercing through my back. I threw myself back – the sapphire
rolled away from my hand…I could hear footsteps outside…I saw the man seated on
the left, giving a weak smile and holding a pistol…I heard the door slid open…and
then…
I didn’t know what happened afterwards…
***
When I woke up the next day, I found
myself lying on my bunk. I threw away the blankets. The Swiss daylight was
flooding into the compartment. There was no one over there – just me.
The door slid open. It was Mr.Plummer. He was looking slightly afraid.
‘I’m extremely sorry, young lady. When
you first mentioned me your compartment number, I wasn’t too much worried. But
when I heard the number again, I got frightened. You see, the twenty-first
compartment of this train is actually, well…’
He told me all about it. It went
something like this:
Five years ago, a group of four men
had boarded this train and had booked the same compartment where I was right
now. They were a part of an expedition team, who were searching for gems
rumored to be found in some places of a country. One of them had a sapphire –
found from a mine back in Paris, or so did he hear. At 2 o’clock that night, the train had
suddenly stopped due to a problem in the machine. Mr.Plummer was over there, while the mechanic was fixing the damage, when - maybe - at 2.45, some confusion was
heard in No.21. Reaching there, he discovered a gruesome sight – the four men
were lying dead, and blood was spilled everywhere. Ever since that incident…
‘…we had reports of the passengers –
who boarded there – that they had encountered a terrible dream the previous
night, which was very much similar to…’
The checker stopped. I was awestruck.
So the previous night was just – a dream?
‘I should have warned you, but due to
work pressure…’
‘It’s ok, Sir. I’ll keep it in mind if
I ever again board this train.’ I replied, smiling a little.
The ticket-checker’s face lighted up a
bit. Then, informing me about breakfast being served at eight o’clock (it was
7.30 in the morning), he left. I began packing up my things. Switzerland would
be there in two hours…
***
After this, I had to board the train
for a couple more times, but never did I get that cursed compartment again. I’ve
concluded from it, that perhaps the spirit of the murderer still hung over
there…and every night, the same gruesome act would occur in the dreams of the
unfortunate person staying over there…
Probably, he is still trying to get
the forsaken sapphire. Who knows, right?
***
M.Macabre
21.10.2020
Dedicated to: R.Escreva
Comments
Post a Comment