Chapter 1 - The Woman Who Knew Too Much
The train slowed as steel wheels screamed softly against the rails. Outside, a lonely station emerged from the darkness, illuminated by a handful of weak yellow lamps that barely pierced the thick night fog. I stood frozen near the compartment door, clutching my handbag so tightly that my fingers began to ache.
The strange woman's words echoed endlessly inside my mind.
"Get off at the next station. Don't wake your husband."
I glanced back one final time.
My husband hadn't moved.
His face looked peaceful beneath the dim reading light. One arm hung casually over the edge of the upper bunk while his chest rose and fell in slow, even breaths. Anyone looking at him would have seen nothing more than a tired man sleeping after a long visit with family.
Then something impossible happened.
His breathing stopped.
Not for a second.
Not naturally.
It stopped with terrifying precision—as though someone pretending to sleep had forgotten to keep acting.
His eyelids remained closed.
His body didn't move.
But every instinct inside me screamed that he was awake.
Watching.
Listening.
Waiting.
A cold wave rushed through my body.
I didn't know why, but I suddenly understood why the woman had warned me not to wake him.
If he opened his eyes...
...something terrible would happen.
The train slowed further.
The station platform drifted beside my window.
The loudspeaker announced a stop I had never heard of before.
Only thirty seconds.
Passengers remained asleep.
No one prepared to leave.
It wasn't even listed on our tickets.
My heartbeat thundered in my ears.
This was insane.
Leaving the train alone in the middle of nowhere at nearly two in the morning because of a stranger's warning?
It sounded ridiculous.
Yet every second I hesitated made the compartment feel smaller.
Heavier.
As though invisible eyes surrounded me.
I stepped into the corridor.
Behind me, I thought I heard the faintest creak from the upper bunk.
Not movement.
Not exactly.
More like someone slowly turning their head.
I refused to look back.
The doors opened with a metallic hiss.
Cold air flooded inside.
Without allowing myself another thought, I stepped onto the deserted platform.
The doors immediately began closing.
Only then did I finally dare turn around.
The compartment window slid past me.
For a single heartbeat...
I saw my husband's eyes.
Wide open.
He wasn't confused.
He wasn't sleepy.
He wasn't searching for me.
He was staring directly at the empty seat where I had been sitting.
His expression wasn't panic.
It was disappointment.
As if something he had carefully planned had suddenly gone wrong.
Then the train disappeared into the darkness.
Leaving me completely alone.
Except...
The colorful woman was already standing beside me.
"I was afraid you'd look back," she whispered.
"Because now..."
May you like
"...he knows you escaped."
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