The Train Ride
The
Train Ride
-
Pratyush Parashar Das
28th April,2015 ,
Anil Kumar Mohapatra woke up sleepily and
fumbled with the switch to shut the alarm. It was 5.00 am , on a rather
beautiful Friday morning. “Ah ! What a lovely day..Do I have to go to work ?” ,
he thought lazily and dreamily. “ Oh wait..I had a presentation to give” , he
thought , as he sat up with a start. “ Well , better get ready , anyways” , he
thought ,sighing as he did.
By 8.00 am ,he was all set to leave for
work.
As he left his home , he wished himself
luck “Good luck Anil,’’ , he smiled .
Three and a half hours later , Anil
couldn’t really control his exuberant spirits. His presentation had gone very
well as a result of which his company had been able to ink a deal with the firm
who had come for the presentation. Mr. Michael, his boss ,had even shaken his
hand . “ Could the day get any better ? ’’, he thought , while heading to the nearby restaurant for lunch . While waiting for his Spaghetti
Bolognese and a glass of Chianti , his eyes wandered here and there , on the
waiter serving an elderly couple , on the pretty woman in a red dress who
appeared to be all by herself working on her laptop , and on the farthest
corner of the restaurant , where a rather attractive Oriental painting had been
hung up. A few moments later
, his order arrived and being rather
hungry
, he tucked in immediately. As he was
halfway through his dish , and was about to take a sip of the wine , his
attention turned to the television and what he saw nearly made him drop the
glass . “ Apparently , (the news reporter was saying ) , there have been
reports of a terrorist attack which have been received by the Philadelphia
Police Department. The department has issued a red alert and the city mayor
, Mr.
Kenney has decreed that all forms of transportation except for the subway are
to be shut down after 7 pm in the evening and all civilians are to report even
the slightest hint of suspicious activity. Now , moving on to the weather..” ,
“Damn ! That’s a serious matter,” , thought Anil . However , he didn’t pay much
attention to it as he finished his lunch , left 30$ as a tip for the waiter and
left for his office again .
Four
hours later , when it was nearly 8 pm ,
he decided to leave for home . There was an 8.44 to Charlotte , where a friend
of his lived , Tim McCain , a lawyer who had often invited him to stay over and
he decided that today he would honor that request. So , on his way , He gave
Tim a call and informed him of his decision . Tim was naturally delighted and
then , told him something rather strange
before hanging up the phone , “ Just don’t get on the 8.30 towards Charlotte
’’. “Okay, I won’t ,” , Anil reassured
his friend . A few seconds later , he
paused in his tracks and thought , “The 8.30 ?? That train has been out of
service for like what, all my life now . Was Tim kidding ? ,” . Nevertheless ,
he continued and by 8.25 , was at the platform , waiting . The station was
empty ,with not even a single soul in sight . The only sounds Anil could hear
were the sound of his own breathing and the clinking – clanking noise of some
train far away. 5 minutes later , the sound that reached him made Anil’s hair
stand at the back of his neck . It was
the sound of the train . Almost starting against his own will , Anil looked at his watch , 8.30 pm . He
looked at the train in disbelief but it was very real , with the grime and soot
of the tunnels . However , possibly due to the terrorist threat , the train was
empty . Despite remembering Tim’s warning to not get onto the train, he decided
to get in anyway as he wasn’t willing to wait for an extra 15 minutes for the
8.44 . As he sat down , he then noticed that there was an man seated opposite
to him at the far end of the carriage , wearing a camel colored over coat , a
brown hat and what looked a like a starched white shirt with a red tie ,
looking like the head of a Chicago gang in the Fifties . His head was drooping
to his chest and he was obviously asleep.
The train then pulled out of Richmond and was on its way. A few minutes
later , the lights of the train began flickering and a low murmuring sound
reached his ears. He looked at the old man , but his lips were barely moving .
Upon straining his ears , he realized that it was the sound of singing , “ You can check out anytime you
want , but you can never leave ..Welcome to the Hotel California ..” .
The song was one of Anil’s favorites , having grown up listening to the Eagles
, The Beatles etc . However , at this moment , what with the empty train
compartment except for the old man and the eeriness of the silence which was
rather overwhelming , and the semi
darkness due to the flickering lights and the tunnels , Anil was
beginning to break into a sweat . As he wiped his perspiration ,he suddenly
noticed that the old man was no longer in his place . “You should have listened to your friend , Mr Mohapatra ,” , a
raspy voice hissed in Anil’s left ear .
Anil almost jumped and looked to his left . There was the old man , looking
particularly venomous with his eyes bloodshot and a malignant expression and
mouth open in a snarl . “W..w..What ?? Warning ?? Friend ?? How do you know
Timmy ?? ,” . The old man smiled in very evil manner and said , “Did he not
warn you against catching the 8.30 ??” . “Yes, he did but how and what do you
know about it ?” , Anil asked . “ You see , young man , the reason behind the
discontinuation of the 8.30 train to Charlotte was that it had suffered an
accident due to derailment way back in 1958 . It had suffered severe damage and
also some scorch marks as some parts of it , this carriage , for example had
burst into flames . As a result , the administration decided to discontinue the
train and cast this train to the scrap yard . However , owing to the service it
had provided , the then mayor declared
that it be kept in the yard where all disused trains are kept . It has been
there ever since …” . Anil’s eyes were wide open with horror. He was speechless
and his throat was dry . “ How do you know all this ?? And that too , in so
much detail…?” , he managed to ask at
last . “ Because , on that fateful day ,
I was the only passenger in the train….” , he said with his eyes glinting in an
evil fashion. As Anil prepared to get up , because the train was nearing
Charlotte , he suddenly felt a pain in his abdominal area. Looking down , he
saw a knife sticking out of his abdomen with blood pouring down his shirt . “
Didn’t you hear , young man.. You can check out anytime you want but can never
leave ..” , he heard the raspy voice of the old man saying. “Goodbye , my
friend , have a nice journey on your way up” , he heard the old man saying ,
followed by laughter. Anil was gradually losing consciousness .He struggled to
move but couldn’t . He tried to reach for his briefcase but then realized that
it was no longer with him . The last thing Anil saw before his eyes closed for
the last time was flames licking the carriage.
29th
April , 2015
Officer
Jenkins was standing at the Richmond subway station which , according to a Tim
McCain, was the last place where Anil had been heard from . “ Are you sure Anil
had called you from here , Mr. McCain ?? ,” , enquired the officer. “Yes ,sir,
he was on his way to see me as we had not seen each other for a long time (for nearly
20 years ) since we had left college”, . “I see .. Do you have any photo or
something which would help us identify him ?” . “Yes , there you go .” “Thank
you ,Mr. McCain, we’ll keep you informed .”
Upon
making enquires at the Charlotte station , Jenkins found out that the 8.44 from
Richmond had indeed arrived at the stipulated time and after looking through
the CCTV footage , he confirmed that Anil Kumar had not emerged from the train.
“How
could Mr. Mohapatra have boarded the 8.30 if that train had been out of service
for 57 years ??” . He nodded his head , finished his coffee and decided to
break it to Tim gently.
“Mr.
McCain, I am truly and deeply sorry for your loss ..”. Tim fainted clean away
on his doorstep.
Officer
Jenkins then officially closed the case and in the section given for the
presiding inspector’s/ officer’s comments , he wrote three words “ Strange and
Paranormal”. “Well that’s it.”. The following day , the station was declared to
be closed and out of use, (though the entrance wasn’t sealed) and a new one was
built.
03rd
May,2017 (Present day)
I
had heard this story from one my former
classmates who had been living in
Philadelphia
at the time . His family had later moved to
Canada and a two years later , he visited India to renew our old ties. “
So , what happened to Mr . McCain after that ?” , I asked . “ He died a week
later , having suffered a massive heart attack
, the major reason being his friend’s death.” “Oh..I am sorry …and what
happened to his family?” . “Well , we moved to Canada..” . “Wait, you are his
son !?” , I asked in disbelief.
“Yeah,(sighing)..Daddy had enrolled me in
school under a different title because I had told him I didn’t want to be
teased by the other kinds on account of my title, as McCain also makes French
fries. So, that’s why, I was Joe Morrison to all of you folks and not Joe
McCain. I would have told you but you moved back to India after school and I
never found another chance. I could have told it to you on Facebook or through WhatsApp but I wanted to tell you
personally and hence here I am..” . “So, is that why you came to India?” ,I
asked . “Partially that but mostly to meet you..”.
“
So , any idea of what happens there at the old station ?”, I asked.
Epilogue
People
say that if one goes down to the station at around 8.30 in the evening , one
can often see a ghostly figure stand under the signboard that reads “Trains
towards Charlotte” holding a briefcase , looking towards the direction from
where the train would normally come ,singing “Hotel California”. The figure ,
however does not harm anyone and after 8.44 , it vanishes.
Thank you for reading
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