All Aboard

1328 words

Rated PG; violence, blood, unsettling imagery

Prompt: Start your story with someone sitting on a crowded train and end it with them looking out over beautiful natural scenery.

Author's note: I played around with several of this week's prompts, but ultimately decided on this one as the other stories weren't dark enough.

One year I have been here. I pass out drinks and I clean sandwich crumbs. I smile at the passengers and bow to them as I shine their shoes. I give them napkins if their children dribble water or orange juice on their shirts. They, in return, don’t do anything, other than pay for my meals with their ticket purchases.

I’m in the employee break room. I’m sitting on a rusted, foldable chair that’s been here since I started. I’m leaning over the table, with a sponge. I’m scrubbing a mysterious stain out of my blue vest. The one all attendants are required to wear. It’s bounced back from milk, tomato sauce, and vomit. However, whatever this is must be stronger.

Across from me is Rayan. He’s writing something in an advertisement for the train company. I stop attacking my vest and look over to see what he’s writing. It looks like a phone number. 

“What are you doing?”

“Writing down this boy’s number.”

He’s doing it on purpose. Not disclosing information. I exhale slowly and give him what he wants.

“Why are you writing down this boy’s number?”

He grins. “Ah, I am so happy you asked. He was speaking to the person sitting to the left of him and repeated his phone number many times at a loud volume. I thought I would take the liberty of memorizing it.”

“To what end?”

Rayan is now smiling rather warmly. 

“I have not thought about that yet.”

“I hope you have fun deciding.”

I’ve been absentmindedly swirling my sponge in circles. When I go back to looking at it, I notice the stain has gotten smaller. I keep swirling the sponge, over and over again. The suds are now pink. A little more scrubbing and the stain is unnoticeable. I sigh with relief--pulling the vest over my shoulders and wiping away the soap. 

“How do I look?” I call.

The other attendants in the room turn their heads to me.

“Fine.” Says Inaya.

“What did you use?” Asher asks.

“Good,” Rayan reassures me.

“Hey!” Shouts Ms.Barley.

I snap my head towards Ms.Barley. She just came out from the shadows. She is wearing a beige suit with a grey tie. Her short hair has a yellow clip in it. She looks no different than usual. The communicator of locomotive operation. Ms.Barley walks straight toward me.

“Are you trained in locomotive operation?”

That’s fancy wording for being an attendant who can feed passengers.

“Yes, I am.” 

She nods at me. “Then you know what to do. When your break’s over, get the food cart.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” I respond enthusiastically.

Ms.Barley walks out of the break room in a dramatic manner, with her cape flapping in the wind--which doesn’t exist. Did I mention she has a cape?

Rayan has finished writing the phone number and is currently scribbling ideas.

“How about calling this boy pretending to be an aspiring rapper?”

Rayan scrunches his face and frowns.

“What do you mean?”

“You plan on prank calling him, right?” I wipe my vest with my sleeve a little more.

“Yes-”

“Unless you want to ask him out!”

That was Asher. I snicker, and Rayan’s face is now red. I snort again and squeeze his shoulder.

“I am serious. Good luck with whatever you have in mind.”

“Thank you very much.” He’s still a bit rose. “Good luck with whatever locomotive operation is.”

“Thanks.”

I start towards the door.

“By the way, where is the boy?”

“Third car. He is easy to see. He has purple highlights, a leather jacket, and red glasses.”

The door closes behind me. I head to the left, where the food cart I need will be. He’ll be perfect. 

[]

The third car is economy class. It’s a bit longer than the other cars. I have not yet asked why, because I keep forgetting to. It’s mostly big families and children in University. The boy is the latter. He’s listening to music and might be asleep.

I make my way down the aisle, asking if anyone would like a beverage. A woman two rows ahead of the boy asks for some coffee. She needs it at the moment.

“Of course.”

I pour her drink into a styrofoam cup an attendant fetched from the dollar store when we were out yesterday. I keep my attention on the boy. He has a nice neck. His hair isn’t too long. His arms aren’t too skinny. Rayan, dear, you picked a nice one. 

The boy opens his eyes. They are like melted chocolate. Splendid. He’s staring at me, but only as someone stares at a person they need help from.

I hand the woman her cup. She thanks me, but I’m not paying attention to her. I roll my cart straight to the boy. He watches me get closer. He has a wild need on his face. 

“Can I get you a beverage?” I ask him.

He shakes his head. “The opposite of that. Could you tell me where the bathroom is?”

“Certainly. Follow me.”

I move backwards. He gets up when the cart stops blocking his exit. He moves urgently. I, on the other hand, take my time. I let him almost bump into me before I continue reversing. I don’t make eye contact with him. Then he’d notice my grin. Rayan would be so embarrassed that I’m talking to him, is all that goes through my mind. He would be blushing like he just was. The poor fool.

We make it to the space in between cars. There’s a door on the right. It’s white, with a button on the side that makes it slide open. I let go of my cart and point to it.

“You go in here, and there will be a hallway. There will be two doors. Both bathrooms are unisex, so no need to worry on that front.”

He presses the button to open the door. 

“Thanks.”

He thinks our interaction is over. He is mistaken. As he enters the soundproof room, I pull the blade from my pocket.

[]

He wasn’t a very willing victim. He almost screamed before I slit his throat. I was aiming for his back--and heart--but he turned around and kneeled in fear. I had to cut his vocal cords so he wouldn’t scream. It was partly my fault, too. I got too eager.

I watched him bleed out. I let him suffer as punishment for bewitching Rayan. That will teach him for trying to hurt my friend. I need to keep him safe from all that try to hurt him.

Once he was dead, I brought in the food cart. He was heavier than I thought. It was a bit hard to get his body in the compartment. I may have screamed in frustration. I’m glad no one could hear. 

I entered the passcode to lock the door on my way out. I’d have to clean it before letting someone else in it. That would have been problematic. I laugh thinking about it.

The train was very grateful when I fed them. They even chewed their food without any crying or pouting. Once they spit out the boy’s clone, which immediately began walking back to his place, I scratched their walls, which really made them purr. Oh, and makes them run better.

I changed out of my vest, which had the same stain I had previously been working on. It turns out it was blood. Newbie mistake. I still have a lot to learn from Ms.Barley.

I’m staring at the beautiful night scenery, out the window of the feeding room. The moon is full and glowing brightly. The passing landscape is all full-leaved trees and tall grass. Fireflies seem to be following the train and making amazing shapes with their lights. The stars smile, and maybe give me a wink. It might just be my imagination.

I sigh with content and close my eyes. Life is good.