Chapter 2 - The Station That Didn't Exist
For several seconds neither of us spoke.
The train vanished beyond the trees, its red tail lights becoming tiny glowing dots before disappearing entirely into the endless black horizon.
Silence swallowed everything.
Even the insects seemed afraid to make noise.
I looked around.
The station consisted of only one weathered platform, a locked ticket office, and a cracked wooden bench beneath a flickering lamp.
No employees.
No passengers.
No parked cars.
Nothing.
The sign hanging above the platform displayed a station name I had never seen before.
Yet something about it felt wrong.
The letters looked faded.
Almost... abandoned.
"When's the next train?" I asked.
The woman looked at me with genuine sadness.
"There won't be another until morning."
My stomach tightened.
"I don't even know where I am."
"You weren't supposed to."
She adjusted her colorful shawl before slowly walking toward the station building.
I followed reluctantly.
"You know my husband?"
"I know men like him."
"What does that mean?"
She stopped beside an old timetable nailed to the wall.
It was covered with rust.
The newest date printed on it was seven years old.
"This station officially closed five years ago," she said quietly.
I frowned.
"What?"
"It hasn't appeared on public railway maps since then."
I laughed nervously.
"That's impossible."
"Then explain why your train stopped here."
I couldn't.
Because she was right.
I had traveled this route before.
Many times.
There had never been a station here.
The woman removed a folded newspaper from her bag.
She handed it to me.
It was old.
Very old.
The paper crumbled beneath my fingers.
A photograph filled the front page.
My breath caught.
The man smiling beside reporters looked exactly like my husband.
Only younger.
Different hairstyle.
Different glasses.
Same face.
The headline read:
"Businessman Missing After Wife Disappears During Overnight Train Journey."
I looked up sharply.
"This isn't him."
The woman didn't answer.
Instead she pointed toward the photograph.
Only then did I notice another detail.
Standing in the background...
Almost hidden behind police officers...
was the colorful woman herself.
May you like
She hadn't aged at all.
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