Passengers. (working title)

The street was dark and quiet. The fog was thick and glided gracefully before her, seeming to pour into any side streets and sit in the pot-holes that decorated the quiet road. Mary Louise pulled her blazer around her tightly in order to fend off the sharp cold air and, taking in a deep breath, felt the blast of cold fill her throat, causing the fine hairs on her arms to rise up. The street lamps that encompassed the street emitted so feeble a glow that she could barely see 10 meters ahead but she could make out the two dark figures that leant against the wall, their heads turned to watch her.

They began to stalk towards her; one held a can of beer in his hand, the other had his hands pushed tightly into his pockets. Both wore dark smiles upon their pale, ghoul-like faces. Mary, remembering all the advice she had ever heard from her husband, took a deep breath, looked down at the ground and walked swiftly past them. She was pulled back suddenly as the largest of the men yanked at her handbag, tearing it from her grasp as she swore and shouted at them. She opened her mouth to scream but a large hand clasped over it with force, causing her teeth to slam into her lip and the warm, metallic substance to seep into her mouth. Mary kicked aimlessly in front of her and bit down hard. With a yelp, the man tore his hand away reflexively, his eyes growing wide with rage.

“My husband’s a police man!” She managed to shout at the man who scurried through her bag. He looked up at her, stepped towards her and violently pushed her against the dirty brick wall behind her. As they continued to hiss icy words at her, she spotted the black handle of a knife protruding from one of the men’s pockets. Her heart raced further as she watched the man in front of her with wild eyes. He reached into his pocket and yanked out the blade. She’d tried to scream but no sound followed. She managed to push her leg forward forcefully towards the man in front, knocking him back. A sharp pain filled her body before she yanked herself free of the other man’s grasp and sprinted.

She didn’t know if they were following her, she just ran, opening her mouth to scream with what little air was left in her tight lungs. But the streets had cleared along with the fog, and the streetlights appeared to be even dimmer now. She risked a quick glance behind to find that even the two men had disappeared. She was alone but did not stop running until she reached the station.

The sound of her heels echoed around the corridor as she hurried through the empty train station. Mary Louise was still shaking and the back of her head throbbed. A wave of relief overwhelmed her when she saw the train sitting at the platform, its doors wide open beckoning her to enter. She had no idea where it was headed; it didn’t matter, as long as it took her away from here.

There was no one else on the platform as she slowed down and stepped on to the train. A teenage boy sat opposite the doors on the left with his head in his hands, leaning against the chair in front. Towards the front of the carriage, Mary Louise caught sight of an old man with greying hair, sat peacefully on his own.

She still felt breathless as she sat down across from the boy. He was tall with dark brown hair, cut just short of his shoulders. His oversized black jeans were ripped at the ends and his grey trainers covered in mud.

Mary looked down at her hands where she was fiddling with one of the cuffs of her dark blue blazer jacket, picking at a thread that had come loose. She watched the doors willing them to shut, fearing who may come hurrying down the halls towards her.

As much as she tried, she was unable to push away the memory of the two hooded men and the otherwise empty, dark street. She grasped at what remained of the handles of her bag in an attempt to control her shaking hands. Meanwhile, the sound of the old man coughing filled the otherwise soundless carriage, causing her to look up. The old man sat still looking straight ahead. White, thin hair surrounded the bald circle at the top of his head that reflected what little light there was emitted from the row of lights on the ceiling of the carriage.

Lost in her own thoughts, Mary Louise was pulled from her reverie by the soft sound of the boy beside her sniffing. He remained fixed in the same position, looking anguished and frail, engulfed by the train that remained still and soundless. She looked down at her hands that were clenched tightly into fists and, peeling her fingers back from her palms, saw crescent shaped indentations in her skin where her nails had dug in. As the memory of the grey mist cleared from her mind, her thoughts travelled to her husband, Phil. He would be returning from a long day at work to find the kids sitting on the old, green tattered sofa, staring blankly at the flashing television in front of them. He would kiss them each on their checks and prepare another ready-meal. For now, it would be just another normal evening for them; they were used to Mary working late. But even then, she had been intending on staying at a friend’s house that evening. There was no way she could be under the same roof as him for any longer, not after she found those disgusting messages to his colleague at work.

Mary Louise fumbled around in her damaged, crocodile skin handbag hoping to find the cold, metal structure of her phone. Her friend would be concerned of her whereabouts, wouldn’t she? Mary wasn’t sure. They were not necessarily close and she had not even told her why she was staying, fearing that it wouldn’t be long before the rest of the town knew what had happened. Things never stayed a secret there long. She didn’t want to imagine how people would look at her after they found out… The phone was gone. She breathed out and closed her eyes, disappointed. She looked across the aisle to the boy who remained unmoved.

“Excuse me, do you know when this train is scheduled to depart?” she asked him, shocked slightly by the weak voice that sounded as if it belonged to someone else. At first, the boy didn’t move, his fists remained clenched together tightly. Then she saw him turn his head slowly towards her, revealing his glassy, worried eyes and arched eyebrows.

“Dunno.” He barely whispered in response.

“And where is it going?” She asked him.

He merely shrugged before placing his head back on the chair in front. The lights on the platform flickered suddenly, making her look up quickly in a panic. Her eyes remained fixed on the hall leading down to the platform, expecting to see the dark figures charging down the hall towards her. She grasped the edge of her seat tightly with both hands and waited.

***

His eyes were squeezed shut tightly. All he could see was black. His head rested against his arms on the chair in front. How long had he been here for? It seemed like hours now. Yet still Riley had been unable to stop his hands from shaking, nor make, no matter how many times he blinked, the tears in his eyes disappear. Images of his sister with her flowing blonde hair and her dimpled grin as she fluttered around the living room, flashed across his mind only making his heart wrench further. He was sure he had made the right decision; he could not risk it. Who knew what would happen if they got their hands on them. With a tight blink of his eyes he pushed that thought away from his mind too. Then the tears began to flow again; what had he gotten himself into? All he’d wanted was to be able to look after them, to make sure they were safe and ensure that they’d get what they needed. Knowing his past, no one had wanted to give him a job. Not after what his father had done. But it had all gone wrong. Everything from the moment his father had left them until that moment in the abandoned warehouse. The memory of the warehouse alone sent shivers down his spine. It’s smashed windows, large rusted door and the metal chains that had hung from the beam of the roof.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the lady beside him jerk up suddenly. He’d recognized her from the front page of a newspaper, the lawyer who was doing ‘great things’ for the city. She had stood with her arms folded across her chest her fierce eyes looking outwards, the tall infrastructures of the city behind her. But now she had an air of fragility and cautiousness about her, totally alert of her surroundings. Perhaps he should be feeling cautious too, he thought, knowing that Derek would have people out looking for him right now. Perhaps he was hoping that they’d come after him and relieve his family of the potential pain and threats? But the truth was that they never would. They would never let this go. Not after what he had done earlier that night.

His ears were still ringing. He wished it would just stop. The sound of water dripping began to echo around the tunnel, hanging momentarily in the quiet air and Riley tried to focus on each individual high-pitched drip. He let out a deep breath and lifted his head from his arms, sliding his hands down his thighs. He looked out of the obscured plastic window and saw the walls of the dark tunnels lined with a map of thick black cables. That was all that surrounded the train. He felt as if it was secluded from the rest of the world and for once was grateful for it.

In his pocket he felt the bulging structure of his phone as it dug into his leg and was immediately reminded of how his heart had dropped when it had begun to ring. With shaking hands he had taken it out and branded across the screen was the name that repeatedly sent shivers down his spine. ‘Derek.’ The voice had growled across the phone, giving him orders accompanied by the usual threats. He’d gotten up from his threadbare sofa and peeled open the front door quietly, trying not to wake his mother and sister. The cold air smacked him in the face as he’d jogged down alleyways, hiding in the shadows of the surrounding buildings, the sudden sound of a dog or a door causing panic to spread through his veins. Derek’s final command of “Steal them. Get it done. Or else” continued to echo in his mind, each syllable a loud thump in his chest that repeatedly summoned the image of his mother, his sister into his mind. His legs felt stiff but that threat seemed to be the only thing keeping them moving. He’d begun to slow as he grew nearer. Riley knew that Tony would have his people out stalking the streets, their hands pushed tightly into their pockets. He had seen them before on his first job and had never forgotten the size of them.

Riley had remained glued to the shadows, peering around corners before running across the street. The warehouse had grown as he approached, along with his fear of what was inside. It seemed to reign over the surrounding area and streets, casting a shadow of darkness and fear beneath it. No light ever escaped from the smashed windows. It had always been associated with bad events thanks to the childhood ghost stories that the children on the street would tell each time they walked past. Any noises that escaped the cracks in the walls or the smashed windows were ghosts who had been haunting it since a deadly explosion 50 years earlier, or the mad man who lived there and was rumoured to eat animals alive. Even though his belief in those stories had faded over time, for Riley it did not prevent the heavy weight that he felt in his chest each time he passed it.

He’d been around the perimeter several times with Derek, forced to memorize all entrances and locations. The door was across the street, merely 10 meters away from him. He’d glanced quickly around him before sprinting across the street.

The door was splintered and rust encircled the handle. With a slight push, the door had glided open. It had been just as dark inside as out and once Riley’s eyes had adjusted, he found himself in a long, seemingly endless corridor.

He’d heard dark voices and followed them blindly down the corridor. He moved his hand swiftly along the walls, keeping his trembling legs from falling over. He’d felt a gap in the wall and found an archway, inside an abyss of darkness. Warily he’d stepped through and followed what little light there was at the end of the corridor. He soon found himself in the doorway of a large room and above, the glass roof that had let in weak white light from the moon. Around the corner were several rows of wooden racks, most empty. The voices echoed around the room and standing behind the racks, he’d made out the figures. Four large men wearing black clothes stood in the center of the room, one leaning against a feeble wooden table. Riley had looked across the racks briskly trying to find the black backpack that Derek had described to him for so many months now. As he walked cautiously among the empty the racks, he heard the shouts of the men and clamped his lips together tightly to prevent even the lightest breath from escaping. Riley watched them as he walked around the racks, placing each of his steps carefully. He scanned the room for the backpack, his breathing now growing heavier and more panicked. There it was; a mass of black only a few meters before him. He didn’t know what was in it; he didn’t care. All he knew was that it would release his mother and sister from the dark weight that Derek’s constant threats and blackmail planted on them. He was only inches away from the bag when he felt the cold metal object touch the back of his head. The cold had seemed to send shocks of ice around his body. He had heard the ringing shot reverberate and ran.

***

The train was still. Its passengers sat lost in their own thoughts and memories. For them, with each passing moment on the train, the idea of time was slowly disappearing. They did not know that it was nearing 12am; almost time for the train’s departure.

The old man sat motionless and at peace, his face was soft and his mouth relaxed into a grin. It seemed he knew where the train was going. Mary Louise sat perched on the end of her chair, her eyes fluttering around the carriage. She thought of nothing, and took in nothing of what her eyes fell upon. Riley too had finally begun to relax; he could breath again. He smiled to himself as he let the image of his beautiful sister dancing around the room fill his mind once more.

There was one more passenger. He walked swiftly down towards the platform. He wore jeans and a dark blue turtleneck jumper. He stopped just inside the train and looked around. None of the other passengers looked up. Moments later the doors closed behind him and he sat down across from the old man.

The train was ready. A warming energy began to surround it, giving it life. It moved away from the platform, slowly at first but then gradually gathering speed. The passengers remained calm and composed as the train slipped away from the dark tunnel with its thick black cables and uncanny dripping. The train did not rattle or screech as it moved out, leaving behind it the dark world. The train moved onwards. Onwards towards the shining light that beamed before it.