The bite of the chilled, winter air hit my dry cheeks as I walked down platform 17 towards the train doors. I savored the three hour long early morning commute that my job entailed at the end of every month. The time always seemed to slip through my fingers like sand as I spent it reading or simply gazing out the window and rejuvenating myself after many long nights at the office. The work I did was rather bizarre and vague at times, with sometimes even entire sections blacked out in the reports I was given to proofread. Nevertheless, I loved my job.

Smiling softly, I handed my ticket to a beady eyed man in uniform and climbed up the  train steps. A small sigh of content escaped my lips as I settled into my seat which for whatever reason seemed to be much more tattered than the others in my section. The train was particularly deserted this morning with only a handful of people scattered around the car. But I didn't mind. I stretched out my stiff legs, leaned my head against the rickety window and laid my laptop across my lap to work on my short story. Slowly, the outside world began to fade away as the words flowed out of my head and onto the screen...

“Good morning!”, a saccharine voice called out to me. “I believe you might be in the wrong seat,” she exclaimed, breaking me out of my trance.

I was certain that the peppy woman in the green uniform must have been mistaken. Glancing down, I was confused to see the very ticket I thought I had handed in earlier nestled in my breast pocket. She was correct. I was not even in the correct train car. Perhaps I had mixed up the seat number from my last journey by accident. Apologizing and hastily gathering my belongings, I nearly knocked over a passing snacks cart when I stood up. The same beady eyed man from before pushing the cart gave me an eerie looking smirk. I felt the blood rush to my face once again though this time not because of the cold, and then made my way to the door leading to the adjoining car.

Wanting nothing more than to escape the watchful eyes, I tugged on the handle of the unbudging door until a tall man in a trench coat whom I did not notice before grunted and forced it open. I uttered a thank you to the stranger with the sharp jaw and piercing, blue eyes before continuing to my seat. Through my thick winter coat, I felt his stare from his eyes burn into my back. Out of the corner of my eyes I thought I saw him open his mouth to speak but quickly close it. I shrugged it off.

Just moments later when I sat down in the empty car, I felt my body still when a deafening shriek pierced my ears. It had come from the door that I had just closed. Even if I were to live for a thousand more years I knew I would never forget what happened in the next few seconds.  

The train came to a halt, and I was thrown to the ground. I looked around to see the reactions of others around me when I realized that I was alone. The lights above me flickered off. The air was still around me. I felt a presence looming above my head before my eyes shut involuntarily. The pungent smell of a sweet-smelling perfume was the last thing to touch my memory.

~

I woke up some long time later with a bright, fluorescent light shining directly in my eyes. My throat felt scratchy as I attempted to croak out a “hello”. It was then that I realized my hands were bound behind my back and my back felt sore. My breathing started to quicken. I was strapped down to the table in a dark, brick room with one door and no windows. Newspapers dated three weeks ago were strewn on the floor. I shakily sucked in a breath. My name, next to the words “PERPETRATOR OF THE BEDDINGTON TRAIN CRASH FOUND DEAD”. Images of someone with my brown hair appeared next to the headline. But I hadn’t worn a blue sweater that day.

That wasn’t me in the picture, I knew it wasn’t. Why had someone tried to make it look like it was? More importantly, where was I?

Just then, the door banged open. The familiar green color of the train employee uniforms came into view. The beady eyed man stood next to the lady with a sweet smile. In her hands, she held my laptop.

I screamed.