All Aboard The Train

Jason Green lived in a small one bedroom flat beside the railway line. The District Line to be precise, there was no more than twenty feet from his kitchen window to the track. He was on the third floor of a three story block, the top floor!

Jason lived alone, he was thirty seven, divorced, no kids,no parents, drank far too much than was good for him, smoked a bit not a lot, not since the Doctor told him he had weak lungs, steady job with the local council, boring of course but at least he was in work.

It was just after nine o’clock on a Thursday night, the news was boring and he decided to go to the kitchen and pour himself a beer.

Being June it was still light outside and he was surprised to see a train on the tracks outside the flat. It had stopped. That was strange, he’d lived in the flat for over two years, seen hundreds, probably thousands of trains go by but never seen one stopped outside before.

He could see through the windows of the train, he could see people, this amused him, if he could see them, he wondered if they could see him, he waived!

No one took any notice of him; he opened his window and shouted.

“Heh, hi there!”

He waived as he shouted, still no response. He noticed that they were all sat very still, no one seemed to be talking, which was strange, if a train suddenly stopped on the tracks he thought people would be talking to each other discussing why it had happened, perhaps even angry, but they all just sat there.

One of the faces on the train looked familiar, wow, it was the spitting image of his Uncle Ernie and he seemed to be sitting next to his old Aunt Eva.

He ran to his bedroom and opened his bedside draw, he took out a cheap pair of binoculars that he’d bought for bird watching a long time ago, seemed like a good idea at the time!

He ran back to the kitchen put the binoculars to his eyes and started to focus.

“Fuck me” was all he could say. Those two people really did look like his old Aunt and Uncle, but they were long gone, Ernie died in 86 and Eva died three years after.

Then a female stood up and went to the window, she was looking straight at him, she was trying to say something, she looked worried. He put down the binoculars and started to think, what if these people were in trouble, what if the driver of the train had died and they were somehow all trapped inside, what if some kind of gas was in the train and they were all slowly dying.

Fuck he should call someone. He picked up his mobile, fuck, no signal and no house phone; there was nothing for it he had to try to help.

He opened the door of his flat and ran down the three flights of stairs and into the small communal garden area. There was a hole under the wire fence that led to the railway line, the foxes had made it so that they could get from one side to the other. He wasn’t a big man and he pushed and squirmed his body until he was under the fence. He was now looking up at the train just feet away from him, it was one of those old fashioned trains with doors that opened outwards he hadn’t seen one of those in years.

He looked up, the woman was still at the window, she was still trying to tell him something. He climbed up the bank and pulled himself up onto the running rail of the train. He was now looking into the carriage through the window, everyone looked really pleased to see him. He shouted.

“It’s ok, I’m here, I’ll get you out”

He turned the handle of the door, it opened outwards, he had to be careful otherwise he would be swung back against the train, he did it gently, gradually manoeuvring himself onto the other side of the door. He was now inside, the door closed behind him, he looked at all the people on the train, they were smiling at him, a man approached him, it WAS his Uncle Ernie.

“Welcome Jason”

Then he heard another voice.

“All Aboard…..”

The train started to move, he wanted to speak but nothing came out, all he could see was his flat slowly disappearing through the window. He sat down, he smiled.

He suddenly realised he knew most people on the train, all relatives all deceased. Then the voice he’d missed for so long, the voice he’d dreamed of hearing for over ten years.

“Hello Boy, glad you could make it, I’ve missed you!”

It was his Dad.