The Night Train

The train took forever to come. We weren’t surprised, as usual, since the transportation system has been this way since the beginning of time. Even with modern technology and the fastest land transport ever to appear, it was still unreliable due to a human factor: inefficiency.
Every one of us had to wait for almost an hour with the incessant ‘Due to unforeseen circumstances the train is delayed and will arrive shortly yada yada…’ and like fools we cramped at the station yearning to go home to our beds and some even dinner.
I leaned over the rails to peek at the station before to see if there was any sight of the train but I only saw the darkening skies.
“This happens at least once a month,” a middle age woman said to me.
“Oh, I hardly take the train actually,” I replied.
“Terrible service, and to think we are heading for a technology oriented status.” A younger man joined in the conversation as we rant out of frustrations.
“Like they say 1st world progress 3rd world regress.” We laughed at the trite remark I made.
“This city, like all cities is going to the dogs.” The man who was a little older than I was said.
“Everything is going up. Crimes, prices and inefficiency.” The woman continued dissing the metropolis and we giggled as strangers often do in their first encounter.
From the corner of my eye I thought I saw smoke billowing from the station where the train was suppose to be approaching from. But it was past twilight and I wasn’t sure.
“Do you think the station’s on fire or something.” The two strangers gathered closer to me to view the direction my fingertip was pointing out.
“I don’t see any fire,” the woman said.
“It’s cloudy but it could be just the haze,” the man replied.
I squinted my eyes again to be sure but the distance and muzzy night did not allow me a clear vision. “I wonder if the train’s had its days.”
“Sometimes I wonder that too.” The middle age woman announced. “Sometimes I wonder if the accidents are inevitable with their incompetence.”
“It’ll only be a matter of time before we find out. It’s been years since the trains were upgraded and the management changed hands from the experts to the inadequate political cronies. They won’t improve the system because they need to sell cars.”
We looked at the man unearthing one conspiracy after another and we went silent for a moment. Each of us dulled into pensive temperaments as we brood over the thought. Such was the state of the country but underdogs like us had very little we could do. Elections were fixed, tops guns were puppets and our lives were dictated to the whims and fancies of the corrupt.
“I think I see the train coming.” I broke the humdrum to flush away the depression that was about to set in.
“Yeah I see it too.” The man said.
“One hour and twenty minutes.” The woman said as she checked her watch. “At least it didn’t beat the record of two and a half hours the last time I experienced it. We smiled amiably to one another and waited as the tracks squealed and trembled from the approaching train.
Everyone marched closer to the waiting line in a disorderly manner since there was no authority to queue us up. The sound of the light rail transit was prominent when it ran over the rusted tracks and it we would be lucky if we could even find a place to stand.
As it lunged forward from the darkness I could see a brilliant reflection glowing from the interior as though the people we dancing and having a time of their lives. When the train finally arrived I saw an illuminated flame engulfing its belly like a crematorium through the glass window. The people were screaming and thrashing themselves to put out the fire but I could not hear a single sound. I was petrified as I stood there watching the horrendous imagery of death. I couldn’t say a word and I didn’t know what to do.
Once the train came to a full stop the doors swished opened and the charred people continued to burn and struggle but not dashing out. The push at my shoulder woke me up as the crowd narrowed together to squeeze into the doors. The two strangers whom I exchanged dialogues with both gazed at me at the same time. We were flabbergasted to the brink of losing our sanity. No one saw what we saw. All three of us retreated to the back to allow the passengers board the coach. The fiery human sacrifices vanished when the commuters blended into their spaces. And before we knew it the train sprinted away into the dark.
The woman went back to the bench to sit, the man leaned against the pillar and I paced around them trying to grasp the idea in my head. Did all three of us see ghosts or did we hallucinate at the same time?
“I think I’ll take a cab home.” The man got up to leave, we didn’t respond to that and watched him trudge away to the stairs and then into the night.
“Did we just witness some paranormal incident? “ I asked.
“I’m too old to want to know any of these. I don’t think I can take the train either. I’ll catch someone to fetch me or I’ll take the bus.” She rose from the seat and staggered on.
“But, don’t you want to know if we could have prevented that? I mean if it was going to happen.”
“You do what you have to do I’m better off being ignorant.” She waved without looking back.
I sat at the station for a few more minutes and wondered what would be splashed on the headlines and if I could have made any difference being the insignificant being that I was in this country.