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The following is incomplete and is in desperate need of an edit but I'm posting it so I can get it onto another computer. Anyway... enjoy!


“Close your eyes…” I found myself saying as I said goodbye to the one person who I- I guess love would be too strong for what I try to describe. Of course the words that came out were those of the love stricken Beatles, who were ultimately were destroyed by the concept of love. “…And I’ll kiss you.” I didn’t know why I found myself quoting such a band, they were only thirty years out of fashion. I guess it was the old man in me trying to say goodbye to the only person who had shown me affection. “Tomorrow I’ll miss you” and here I stood, ready to start my own life and here I was s peaking like an old man, old and worthless. “Remember-“
She was speaking now, interrupting my monotone song, “Leave” she said, her voice showed no affection. It was as if now that I was leaving her could no longer love- well show me any sort of affection. Her voice was detached- her heart already lost to another’s ambition.
It was then I noticed we had broken from the embrace of two good friends- two hormonally lusting teenagers- she was stepping away from me now her eyes showed no longing, none of what was present when we had begun to date. Her eyes were detached, her movement, her voice breaking away from me.
I walked away from her and picked up my bags. A train’s whistle blew behind me, I now had to leave. I gave her one final look, a final glance at my high school sweetheart and saw fear in her eyes, in the way she stood. She showed the fear of the many who could never leave the place where they call home, the land in which they were raised. She would forever be stranded in this place, stuck in such protection, in such security. She might as well still be in her mother’s womb.

The train took me away from the small suburb that I had called home. It carried me away from the psudoprotection that the beige uniformity gave, carrying me away from the façade of affluence that was my home. The train rushed me away from that childhood trap and carried me into what might as well be considered the real world.
We raced by forests lush with life a mask of fear in the shadow of the canopy. These forests trying to scare away humanity with its fear inducing lies. Into the plains my train took me racing by the golden wheat shining in the sunset, not a speck of humanity to taint this land. It was as if this land was inhaling, taking a final breath before the corruption of humanity decided to destroy this place- to consume this life in favor of a city, the monuments to big business skyrocketing out of a long dead earth stabbing the blue, the green and brown drops of pollution falling from the wound. The train sped over hills and valleys, through small towns and seemed to split the countryside around it carving a giant V in the landscape, in its wake the death that came with industry, and the birth of a great city.
The train came to a halt, the brakes screeching as if in pain as the train jerked to as sudden of a stop as a train could produce. They were the kind of people who would best known as well off. They were all clad in comfortable fabrics, and carried with them a pompous air as if they thought they were better than me.
I did not care about what they said, they would b***h no matter what would happen to them. If they inherited 20 million dollars from a relative they would complain that they didn’t get the set of silver spoons that were given to their second cousin. You couldn’t please there people.
Anyway, they were being their old complaining selves but I didn’t hear them, the only thing I could see was the black of the outside.
When had it turned to night? Had I fallen asleep?
Through the glare of the lights above me I could see the twinkling lights of a city, embers piercing the black, shadows eclipsing their view if only for a second. I could see a lamp off in the distance, the only light that was recognizable in this black of a night. It shone on the cobblestone street below it, the brownish red stone tuned black by the filth of a city street trampled into the earth.
The doors of the train opened and a fog crept into the train covering the floor with a gray cloud, in its presence the lights of the car began to flicker and dim. I could hear the voices of those well off people, no longer whiney tones of spoiled self reliance, but the fearing almost shouts of those who did not know what was going to happen next. I continued to look out the window I did not mind the mist, nor did I mind the darkened car, it seemed to give a mystique to my environment that seemed necessary for this place.
I could now see eyes in the shadows of this realm, piercing glares that did not stand out of the shadows but could be seen by their very presence, etched into the black almost sky like background of the city. A fog was now swirling like a wisp of a cloud blurring the embers far in the distance, blanketing the glares of those who lived in these shadows.
I reached up to the blinds of my compartment and pulled them down separating me and this dark perpendicular sky leaving me in the want to be darkness, the light above my head flickering in its socket.
I began to pull down my bags from the overhead compartment and prepared to leave the train. I felt a foreboding feeling in my gut, I knew I had to leave the train.
I opened the door of my compartment and froze in shock.
I could hear something in the back of my mind, a whispering plea a hastening drumbeat crescendoing into thunderous booms.
Please, God- I Didn’t- What did I do- please oh please God-
The voice halted, the drum silenced and in their wake came the jingle of metal- chains I assumed- the quiet patter of footsteps setting a beat for the chaotic jangle of this thing’s bond.
I could hear whispers catch my ears, the long hushed tones blending into a quiet moan of fear resonating off the walls of this machine. These many quiet please calling up one thing to save them from this prisoner of the halls. Their voices turning to one silent call:
Oh God save me.
I knew I must flea this place, I must take a chance and run. No mortal should have to come here, especially at such an age as mine. I could feel my heartbeat begin to pound in my chest, catching the hastened beats of those around me and out racing them, over powering such fear.
The chains were getting louder, the footsteps turning into an echoing march, the silhouette of a man slowly growing larger in the darkness.
Run! Scream! Do something! Do anything!
But I just stood there looking at the silhouette growing ever larger as it made its progress down the rail car, coming closer to me.
The racing drumbeats of the collective hearts began to weaken, decrescendoing as the figure rattled along. And there it was, in plain view, illuminated by one of the dimly flickering lights. Not a specter of death, nor pile of bones clad in a blackened shawl but rather a simple man dressed in a uniform ragged looking as if it would turn to dust the second it was touched by another’s hand. This man was unspeakably pale, his skin seeming to glow in this darkened train. At his feet the shackles clung to his ankles the chains twisting behind him in a never ending leach.
The man held out his hand “Your ticket sir” he said in a gentlemanly tone.
I stood in shock for a second, the fear that had been pulsing through my veins halted by this man’s simple inquiry. I did not move.
“Sir, your ticket.”
The chains began to shake at the man’s feet moving out of free will twisting snake like until they surrounded the two of us in their metal bonds.
Upon seeing this I broke from my trance and began to search my pockets for my ticket. I knew I had acquired one when I had left home I just had to-
The pale man did not speak he just held out his hand as the jingling bonds began to creep up my legs and up my torso until they found themselves wrapped around my throat.
“Please your ticket.”
Suddenly I felt the presence of paper in my pocket, as if it was there all along but I was too scared to be able to actually feel it.
The chains tightened on my throat.
I threw the ticket from my pocket, my arms flailing wildly in a last ditch effort to take another breath. The piece of paper caught the air and spun dancing on what might as well be the wind.
The pale man caught the paper and I felt the chains release a little, just enough to catch another quick breath before-
“Good.” Said the pale man, the ticket in his hand bursting into flame “Enjoy your stay.”