Riding With Death

I woke as the harsh evening sun hit my eyes through the train window, seeming much brighter than it’d ever seemed before. I must have been close to my stop, because there was almost nobody left on the carriage. The only other left was one solitary man sitting a few seats from myself with his legs crossed one over the other. I couldn’t see very well from the side, but he appeared to be in costume. I didn’t think many people dressed up for Halloween anymore. It felt like more of an American thing, really, and less of an Aussie tradition. I’d never dressed up, and scoffed just quietly at this grown man’s decision to do so.

I didn’t think he’d heard me, but he turned in his seat to face me a moment later. I almost jumped right out of my skin; what a costume that would have made. He looked to be dressed as a retro zombie, with the detail to his costume brimming on remarkable. You could have sworn the flesh was melting right off of his face.

“It’s not polite to stare,” he snapped.

“I was just thinking to myself that it’s taking ages for this train to reach my stop,” I lied, though when the words left my mouth it became the truth. The train hadn’t stopped anywhere in what felt like a long time.

“I’ve been on this train for far too long,” the man replied, with somewhat of a melancholic tone.

“How long?”

“Too long.” We were silent for a moment and I became aware of his eyes boring holes into the top of my head.

“That’s a great costume, by the way.” I needed to fix our awkward silence, but only served to make it worse as I raised my head to see a puzzled expression grow across his face.

“Costume?

“Halloween costume?” The man laughed a deep, menacing laugh then, and it sent a shiver straight through me. I felt as the carriage became cold, foreshadowing something I didn’t yet understand.

“Oh honey, didn’t you realise you were dead?” That’s about the moment I realised I understood, but my mind hadn’t decided it was truth just yet. He pointed to the glass window then, but I was reluctant to turn my head. “I’ve been on this train for the last 20 years. It crashed and I was the only casualty. It’s nice to have somebody else stuck here, too.”

“I’m not dead.” He got up from his seat, and I instinctively backed away as far as I could whilst fixed petrified in my seat. He placed his hands on both sides of my face and turned my head to face the window, which is when I screamed much louder than I thought I could. I remembered the bright flash that woke me. I remembered thinking it was the sun, which when I thought about it was indeed far too bright to be of the world I knew.