Young Writers Society

Sarah took a deep breath. She didn't know where to begin.

"He just... wasn't acting like himself. And, he... uh, he changed. I don't how to describe it. But he looked like, ten years older. And really bad."

She still wasn't sure she wasn't to disclose the part about his room looking like a jail.

"And I asked him about this ring. It's not the ring he gave me. He told me, he didn't buy it for me. Someone named Ed did. I have no idea what he's talking about." Sarah looked back in the hallway where she'd come from. "Plus, there's what Alex said about Nixon and Kennedy how it was 1967. I don't know, this place gives me the creeps."

Jack was starting to get an idea.

It wasn't an idea he liked that much. The thought that something was wrong with his memory wasn't a fun one, and it still didn't answer all the questions he had about why he looked the way he did. But if he took himself out as an outlier, a pattern was starting to appear and make sense.

He took a deep breath.

"I...I have an idea of what's going on," he admitted. "But I'm not sure if it's true or not, and it doesn't explain why we're here."

He glanced between Sarah and Bo.

"Kirux mentioned losing his memory of the past six months," he slowly said. "But what if it wasn't just Kirux who lost his memory? Maybe we all did. Everyone but Kirux and I look older than we should, and even the two of us went through changes we don't remember."

"I am not wondering either," Winter said, looking up at the windows, gazing at the sky like it was the most intriguing thing she'd ever laid eyes on, "People always have to wonder about things. Are you afraid?" she turned to look at Alex then, tilting her head.

xXx

Megara was bored by the conversation pretty quickly. "Well, it's been a lovely chat, but I think it's about time some answers were kindly requested of whoever's in charge here." She stood and turned to go find the highest level of authority available.

Bo stood in silence for a moment, staring between Jack and Sarah.

He didn't like Jack's idea at all because it made sense. That would explain why he looked older, and why he couldn't remember what happened to him, or how he lost an eye, or how many years had passed. But it begged the question: how much of his memory had been lost? A few years? A few decades? He wasn't the best at telling ages but he knew he was well past 20, and even imagining what his future would look like in one year was overwhelming, never mind five or ten.

He just wished he could pretend like this was a dream, but it was very quickly feeling like it wasn't one.

"... I used to have two eyes," he said quietly. It felt weird saying it in past-tense. Like an admission of a truth that he still didn't want to believe. "When I was nineteen."

When he was nineteen. Because he might not be now, even though he couldn't remember things.

"If we all lost our memories, does that mean someone took them or were we all just in some kind of freak accident together? Because - well, I don't think I know any of you guys. Then again, maybe I just don't remember."

Jack wasn't sure what to say.

The last thing he remembered was being a regular old teenager. He had looked like himself, and the world had made sense - memory loss, kidnappings, and strange appearance changes were all just things in the comics and books he read.

But now he was pretty sure he was Tim Drake, and he couldn't even remember why. How long had he looked like this? Was he just missing a few days? A month? A year? More than that? And if he looked like Tim Drake now, where was Lila?

He bit his lip, trying to hold back what felt like the beginning of a panic attack.

"I don't know," Jack said. If he was Tim Drake now, he had a sneaking suspicion that some random villain was involved. But it wouldn't explain the Robin suit, and wouldn't explain why people who definitely weren't in the same situation as him had lost their memories and ended up here.

He ran his fingers through his hair.

God, he felt like he was going crazy. Maybe he was. But it wasn't like he could just say that he had somehow become Robin. You know, that kid in tights who always hangs out with Batman? The one from Teen Titans, and Titans, and the Lego Batman movie, except not because that was all Dick Grayson and yes there's a difference?

"I don't even remember why I look like this," Jack started to say, a little bit of a nervous laugh slipping into his voice. He hadn't done that since he was a kid. There hadn't been a reason to. His life occasionally had problems, but none of them were ever as big as this.

Sarah also didn’t like Jack’s idea because that would have explained most everything. Why she looked like she was in her thirties. Why the clothes fit her so oddly. Why she had a different ring.

"So, in the future... I'm no longer married to Jay and I marry someone named Ed." Sarah bit her lip. That wasn't possible. "I don't know about that."

She looked at the ring again. It was nice, far too nice for Jay to afford. "I also don't see how I could know either of you. If I'm still alive in 2020.... I should look 82." She could't even think that far ahead." The others said nothing. "Well, I'm going to go back to the observation room to try and find them. Join me or not."

She started walking and the tears came. She wasn't really sure why. Something about all of this... she just wanted it to be over.

Sarah had a point. If they all knew each other, some of them should have been a whole lot older. At least, Sarah definitely should've, and probably Alex from the sounds of it - wherever she was at now.

He watched as Sarah started to walk away. Neither Sarah or Jack seemed okay. He was in the same boat, of course, but he couldn't just freak out. Not at a time like this.

He took in a short breath and put a hand on Jack's shoulder. He didn't know how old Jack was supposed to be, and forgot how old Jack had said he was, but Bo hoped that his sheer size would make him look capable or something.

"We'll figure this out," he said. He didn't really know if they would, but he had to say it like he meant it. He tried to imagine what his dad would do. He could only picture his dad marching through the train to find the guy in charge and interrogating him and things probably... escalating.

Okay, nevermind. What would Bo do?

"We should go with her," he said, before following after Sarah with hurried steps, catching up with her.

"I'm coming with you," he said, even though it was obvious that he was when he walked up beside her.

At the front of the train, the Conductor stared at a girl. He wasn't sure how much she remembered, if she even remembered any of it. She looked fierce and the Conductor was almost afraid, until he remembered that he was an immortal demon.

"You're not supposed to be here," he said. He took a deep breath. Then, he thought of an idea.

Something that would put all of them truly to the test.

Just then, all the lights in the train flickered before they went black.

**

Are you afraid? Winter asked Alex.

She was just about to respond when she saw Sarah and Bo come into the observation room. And then, all of the lights went out. It was pitch black and Alex couldn't see her hand in front of her face.

The train abruptly stopped.

What was going on?

Jack entered the observation room just as the lights went out. His hand immediately grasped for the thing closest to him - Bo - as he tried to push aside the wave of fear that had just overcome him. He knew it was stupid and childish to still be scared of the dark, but it was the one childhood fear he had never gotten over.

(He was still afraid of spiders, but that was still a very justifiable fear, thank you very much.)

"What's going on-" he started to say, unknowingly voicing exactly what Alex had been wondering.

But before he got a chance to finish the question, the room was suddenly cast in a gentle, warm glow.

Jack continued to cling to Bo's arm as he stared at its source. It was some kind of giant glowing key, with little star-like designs covering its hilt and even a little of its blade (?). There was even a little star key chain coming off of its hilt, but the key chain was as cartoonishly big as the rest of the key.

He looked up.

Kirux was holding the key, and he was looking very very confused about it. But then a tiny smile began to spread across his face as he looked down at the key. Something told him that Kirux found comfort in whatever was going on, even if he was just as clueless as Jack was when it came to what exactly the key was.

The key wasn't the perfect light source. It didn't illuminate the entire deck, and it cast weird shadows on almost everyone's faces. Jack didn't even dare to look up at Bo's face - combine his height, buffness and scar, and he was bound to look terrifying in the weird lighting.

But it was still something.

...Something that had a meaning to Kirux, even if he didn't seem to know what the meaning was.

"...Is now a good time to tell Kirux, Winter and Alex about us losing our memories?" Jack hesitantly asked.

Kirux immediately stiffened, and the glow slightly dimmed.

Bo was honestly glad that Jack clung to him because he was about to do the same, but the contact shocked him enough to keep him lucid. It kept him from freaking out.

The sudden darkness combined with the train abruptly stopping almost made him lost his already fragile equilibrium, but he steadied himself for Jack to lean on and stood up straight and tall. He didn't think he'd grown a ton between nineteen and whatever he was now, but he felt taller. Stronger. More capable.

But also scared.

He didn't know what kind of glowing key Kirux was holding, but it almost looked like a toy you could get from the store - or rather, like the real model that the off-model toy was based on.

"We lost our memories too," Bo said to Kirux, in response to Jack. "I don't know if there would be a better time to say it than this. So uh... yeah. That would explain why we're older than we remember being and why everything feels so weird."

He cleared his throat.

"But uh, anyways. Anyone got a flashlight? Looks like the power went out."

Alex was scared.

She'd never been in a situation like this before except for once. The summer she turned seven, there had been a massive thunderstorm in Bozeman and they'd lost their power. They'd lit a candle and her mother had made her tea and let her sleep in her bed.

"Alex," her mother had said. "It's all right." And her mother had held her while they'd watched the rain pour down the window like a waterfall.

This wasn't like that. Her mother wasn't here.

They'd lost their memories.

Suddenly it came back to Alex. She remembered where she knew Margaret. There was a house, in the mountains. There was a man. Her man.

Suddenly, a voice came over the PA.

"This is your conductor. We appear to have derailed..."

His voice faded.

Then, they heard screams coming from the car where all their cabins were. Funnily enough, nobody in the pitch black observation car was screaming. But that didn't matter. Alex thought she heard her mother. And a baby.... but not just any baby. She knew those cries. But from where?

The key went clattering to the ground.

Winnie was screaming. She was somewhere on the train and she was screaming. And Kirux knew he had lost his memories again, just like Jack said, because he suddenly remembered where he had heard that scream before. There had been all of those monsters. They had tried getting Winnie. And he had stepped in the way, and one of them had gotten his eye, and it had hurt so so badly-

His hand went up to cover his golden eye. His other eye was wide with horror as he went bumping into the person behind him. He remembered making that key on the ground appear. And he knew that he was okay, and that Winnie was okay then, but she had given him a really scary look when she had seen all of the blood.

Winnie kept screaming.


Lila was somewhere on the train, and she was screaming.

Lila didn't scream a lot. Jack could barely remember the last time he had heard it. But the sound of her screaming sent a chill running up his spine for a reason he couldn't understand. She hadn't just gotten scared of a bug. That was a scream of terror. Why did he know what she sounded like when she was terrified for her life?

He could barely see what was going on in the observation deck. He didn't even know where Lila was. But he had to find her-

There was another person screaming.

The man screaming had to be somewhere in his twenties. His wasn't a scream of terror - it was a scream of pain. Maybe it was because he knew he had lost some of his memory, but Jack was sure he knew deep down who that person screaming was. That he wasn't supposed to scream, because the first time he had ever seen him he had stood there silently and stared instead of screaming at the broken bodies underneath the tightrope.

A name suddenly came to him.

"James?" he asked. Why did he feel like asking if Lila was okay didn't make any sense? Why did he feel like only James could possibly be there right now? Who even was James? "James, where are you?"

The world was fading in and out of focus. Darkness mixed with red and sharp, sharp silver as he tried to stay awake. He had to stay awake. As he tried to look past all of the smoke curling around them, the radio kept playing the same song in the background - stuck forever in a loop of irony and symbolism.

“Only the good die young!”

“Lila,” he croaked, wheezing as he tried to move. There was something in his lung. He didn’t want to see what the something was. He just had to keep reaching out, trying to grab onto something warm. Human. Alive. Lila. “Lila, please. Please be okay-”

His fingers brushed up against skin.

And then the world faded to darkness one last time.

Jack's grip on Bo's arm tightened.

"N-No," he managed to get out as the memory - that was what it was, wasn't it? - reemerged from wherever it had been locked away. "No. That-That couldn't have...couldn't have...Oh God."

His arms suddenly fell to the side.

Lila and James kept screaming.

Lila was gone. He was gone. How had he forgotten about the car crash? He still couldn't remember what happened next, but he had..he had...

"I-I killed her," he whispered, hands shooting up to cover his mouth. "And I'm-I'm dead..."

So many people were screaming. Blood-curdling, horror-filled screams echoed into the room from the passenger cabin somewhere down the train, and he recognized none of them, but somehow he knew where they were all from.

They were the cries of people finding their loved ones dead. The cries of people stumbling upon bodies that he killed.

A deathly cold took hold of him, and his breath felt ragged. Jack was squeezing the life out of his arm, but he hardly felt it. Someone bumped into him on the other side, but he couldn't see it. He found himself beginning to tremble as a wave of insurmountable guilt washed over him.

He'd become a murder like his father.

When Jack let go, disappearing into the darkness, Bo fell to his knees. His head was spinning, and he couldn't tell up from down. He couldn't see in front of him, and he couldn't tell how far he was from the ground. He couldn't even begin to guess.

He could hear a voice in his head, telling him to stay strong. To suck it up. To man up, but he couldn't remember who. He couldn't remember why the words stung so much, or why he couldn't shake it. And he wanted to listen - he really did - but his body, his mind, his emotions wouldn't listen. He was drowning.

What happened?

Bo was holding his head, hands on his ears, trying to block out the sounds of the screams he couldn't help, and he couldn't face. They were too loud.

Megara's mind went blank. Screaming, screaming, screaming. Familiar screaming. A terrified child was screaming and something in her was breaking. Why do I care? It was just some kid. Not a threat, not a mark, no one.

Over and over she thought that. He's no one.

Somehow, she knew it wasn't true.

xXx

Winter could hear Summer screaming, but she couldn't sense her near. Her voice was not echoed in her head. She is not here. This is a trick.

Suddenly, Winter could remember something. A grave. A stone surrounded by a bed of ever-growing flowers where the ground could never freeze. Summer had wanted to be buried in the Rainless Lands.

A tear slipped out and frosted over on her cheek. This is a trick. The work of a witch. Winter would not forget if Summer had died.

Sarah heard her son. And a... daughter?

She didn't know of a daughter. But still, she stood up and ran as fast as she could to the cabins. She could barely see, but it didn't matter. There was a strong possibility that this was a trap, but that didn't matter.

"Adam?" She said. "Susan?"

Susan?

Then, everything hit her like a ton of bricks. Finding out after a rare date with Jay, a trip to the movies to see Splendor in the Grass. The difficult pregnancy. The beautiful but sick baby girl. Something was wrong from the beginning...

She pounded on the door.

"I'm here. Mommy's here."

But the door was locked. For a brief moment, the lights flickered back on. Then, the train toppled over onto its side. It was too fast to do anything.

The first thing that was Sarah was aware that she was being thrown by the force of the the literal train wreck and that she'd hit her head.

Then, everything went black.

**

The first thing she felt was the sunlight, and then she heard the chirping birds.

They were in a massive field on a perfect summer day. The others with her.

Sarah remembered. She remembered everything. It was 1971. Alex was the much younger lover her husband had taken after they divorced, the first member of his cult that had killed five people. The others... she'd met them when they'd been on the ship.

And Jay was standing in front of them. No, not Jay. He was in a Conductor's uniform, and something was wrong. This was the same man that had changed into the teenage version of her daughter that would never be. She sat up and tried her best to keep a straight face.

"Out of all of you, only Sarah went for her loved ones. I'm disappointed," he said. "But I think Sarah's earned the right to go home. The rest of you, well... we're not done yet."