The Second Bell

I don't remember falling asleep, but I woke up on a train that smelled like rain and old wood.

There weren't any signs. No glowing Exit lights or train staff walking through the aisle. Just other teenagers, some asleep, some staring out the windows at the stars. It was like the night sky was painted just inches away from the glass. Too close. Too perfect.

A girl across from me, maybe a year older, was reading a book upside down. She glanced up, smiled like she knew something I didn't, and said, "Welcome to the Between."

I blinked. "Huh?"

"You heard me."

"No, like... what's the Between? And where's this train going?"

She flipped her book shut and leaned forward. "It's not where the train is going. It's where you're going."

Yeah, okay. What?

"Look," I said, trying to keep calm, "this isn't what I signed up for. I was literally at my desk doing math homework. I blink and now I'm, what? in Narnia?"

She laughed softly. "Not Narnia. But close."

I stood up to go to the front of the train, hoping maybe the conductor could explain this, but the door was locked. Behind me, another kid groaned and sat up.

"You're new," he said, rubbing his eyes. "It's always confusing the first time. Just wait until the bell rings."

"What bell?"

As if on cue, a deep, echoing bell rang once through the train. The lights flickered. When I looked out the window again, we weren't moving through stars anymore, we were pulling into a station made of clouds and broken clocks.

What is happening.

The other kids stood up calmly, like they did this all the time. I followed them, mostly because I didn't want to be left behind.

Outside, the air felt light. Like... dream air. The sky had no sun, but it wasn't dark either. Just a soft kind of glowing gray.

"Where are we?" I asked no one in particular.

Another girl answered. "This is where we face it."

"Face what?"

But she didn't answer.

They led us to a field. It was full of mirrors.

Each one stood taller than us, perfectly clean despite the fact they they were just out there in the middle of nowhere. One by one, the others stepped up to a mirror and just... stared.

Some started crying. One kid punched his.

I stepped up to one too. My reflection blinked at me.

Only it wasn't me. It looked like me. But it was saying things I wasn't saying. It was yelling, blaming, confessing.

"You ignore things until they explode," it said.

"No, I don't," I whispered back.

"You want people to love you but never say what you actually need."

"Stop."

"You blame other people for leaving, but you never ask them to stay."

"STOP."

But it didn't stop. It said everything I've been scared of saying out loud. Everything I didn't even know how I felt.

I took a step back.

"This isn't what I signed up for," I whispered.

But the mirror kept going, until finally, DING, a second bell rang.

The mirror froze. My reflection smiled, this time softly.

"You're growing," it said.

Then it faded. And I was looking at myself again. Just... me.

.

The train took us back, just like before. When I woke up, I was back at my desk, the clock blinking 3:12 AM.

But something was different.

The air felt heavier. Realer. And for the first time in a long time, I opened my phone and texted the friend I hadn't talked to in months.

"Hey. I miss you. I think I was scared to admit that."

And maybe they wouldn't answer.

But for once, I wasn't afraid of trying.

I didn't expect a reply right away. I didn't even expect one at all. But I sent the message and left it there, floating between us like a tiny white flag.

My hands were shaking a little, but not in a bad way, more like in that just got off a rollercoaster kind of way. I stared at the blinking cursor in our old chat for a minute before locking my phone and setting it face down on my desk.

Outside, it was still dark. The house was silent except for the hum of the fridge down the hall. I laid back in my chair, staring at the ceiling, trying to figure out if it had all really happened or if I'd just had the weirdest dream of my life.

But it didn't feel like a dream.

I could still feel the cold grass under my shoes in that field. I could still hear the first bell echoing down the train car, and the second one, soft but final. And I could still hear my reflection's voice, calm and clear:

"You're growing."

It felt weird. Like something inside me had shifted. Like I couldn't go back to ignoring things, even if I wanted to.

The next morning, I woke up exhausted but different. Lighter. I brushed my teeth, got dressed, and walked into school like the same person, but not really the same.

In English, I sat next to Mara. We used to talk all the time last semester, but something happened, I'm not even sure what, and it got awkward. For weeks, we just pretended like we didn't exist. But today, I glanced at her notebook and said, "That doodle's actually really good.

She looked up, surprised. Then she smiled, kind of small. "Thanks."

It was like opening a window just a crack.

At lunch, my phone buzzed.

I didn't check it right away. I sat there for a second, heart pounding. Then I flipped it over.

1 new message from: Sam.

I opened it.

"I miss you too. I didn't know if you wanted to talk to me anymore. I kept waiting."

I stared at it, rereading it three times. My eyes stung a little. Sam had always been one of those people I thought would always be there, until one day, we both stopped trying. And neither of us ever said why.

Until now.

"I was waiting too," I typed back. "I'm sorry for how I left things. I didn't know how to say what I was feeling."

"Same. But I'm glad you texted."

I smiled.

The train. The mirrors. The weird field with no sky and too much truth, it had all meant something. It did something. Even if no one else would ever believe it.

That night, I sat on my bed and stared out the window. It was raining, soft and steady. I waited.

And sure enough, somewhere between midnight and dawn, I blinked and felt it again.

The hum. The pull.

And I was back on the train.

Only this time, I knew I wasn't scared of the ride.