text: The clouds are completely still in the sky. Each little fleck of winding grey vapor perfectly frozen in place, like someone had taken a photo and suspended it in the sky. All of us in this town are used to such a sight by now, it was one that occurred every week. It marked the arrival of the train. I could hear the freakish howling of its rusted wheels echo through the valley. How it reaches us we still don't know. There isn't any one left alive to set it in motion. More troubling is where the train goes. I have followed the track and found the end of the line: the crumbled remains of a bridge. It would seem that it had nowhere to go and no way of getting back and yet it returns to us every single week. I can see the stream of black smoke approaching. Over the weeks many people have gotten aboard the train. We never see them again. Everyone just assumes they're dead. The long grey body of the train glides around the corner, it's rusted bolts and warped ridges coming into view. The engine is totally silent, the only noise coming from the rough metal of the wheels scraping against the tracks. It comes to a stop and the doors open. As usual, it's empty. I can't stand not knowing anymore. This week, I will be the one that boards. I move my leg forwards slowly, just placing the tips of my toes in the carriage. I breathe in deeply, eyes focused on the gap between the train and the platform. Would I die if I step in this train? Even if I did, would that matter? I felt the worn skin of my hands from the endless hours I had spent in the fields. Would I rather return and never know, or would I rather risk death? I breathe out slowly. Grasping the rough metal of the door frame, I cross over the gap and into the carriage. The doors slide shut. The carriage wobbles slightly as the steam engine awakens. The wheels begin to turn and I see my town fading into the distance. A pale red carpet lay across the floor of the carriage. Moss and fungus had grown over most of the windows and lined the interior. The white paint was peeling off and is covered in sour yellow blotches. Much to my dismay, there aren't any seats around. Looking through the door to the next carriage, I can see what must be the driver's compartment up ahead. I push the door open and walk into the next carriage. It's the same as the previous one. The carpet is stiff, more like wood than fabric. As I open the door to the driver's compartment and step in, I find myself stepping onto the stiff red carpet. I quickly glance up. Another carriage stretches out in front of me, the driver's compartment seemingly behind the door up ahead. I walk quickly through this carriage and open the door, only to find myself setting foot into another carriage. I begin to run and keep going through a seemingly endless amount of carriages. I collapse to the floor breathing quickly, sweat dripping from my forehead. My heart aches and my body feels heavy. I grasp onto the wall and pull myself up. Outside, I can see water. Just water, stretching for miles and miles. I glance back and see the same endless ocean out of the other windows. I feel the train beginning to slow down. I clutch tightly onto my chest and try to slow my breath. As I looked closer at the water I could see that like the clouds, it was frozen in place. The train glides slowly to a stop. The worn metal of the door grinds against the frame as they heave themselves open. I pick myself up gently and look out the door. Small gems of light danced across the surface of the water as the sun shone down on the ocean. My hands are shaking uncontrollably as I reach down to touch the ocean. I feel each ridge of the water. It doesn't feel cold or hot, it doesn't feel like anything. My hand just moves across its surface without any sort of sensation. I step out carefully and walk forward. The ocean feels totally flat beneath my feet. I stood totally still, my heart still aching. The gems of light began to move forwards across each ridge of the water, gathering at a single point in front of me. The light rose up from the surface of the water and started to take shape. It soon became clear what the light was forming. It was a human figure. The light began to settle and fade, the detail of the figure becoming much clearer. It was a women, much taller than me. Her arms and legs are very slender and long. Her skin is white like snow and clung tightly to every bone in her body. Her eyes are perfectly spherical, she has no eyelids, instead the flesh seems to curve smoothly inward to form eye sockets. She had no hair anywhere on her body. Where her nose should be there was only smooth skin. Her lips where very thin and her mouth stretched across most of her face. I could barely breath. I wanted to run back onto the train but my entire body felt stuck in place. "I can see you" Her voice is like velvet. I can almost feel it flowing over and around my body. My heart felt so heavy, like it could fall through my chest at any moment. "Why do you fear me?" I opened my mouth to answer. All I managed was a small croak. My throat was so dry. She tilted her head slightly and raised her long arms up, draping them over my shoulders. I finally manage to push out a sentence. "W-who... are you?" "I'm the one that waits for you until there is no more light." She steps back slightly and stares directly into my eyes. I can't look away. It feels as though iron clamps are keeping my head in place. I can't make my eyes look away. I mutter quietly, "where am I?" "You are in the place things go when they are no longer in sight." Her eyes feel like they are pulling me towards her. Sweat drips down my forehead. My legs feel weak. It feels as though a thick fog has enveloped my mind. "W-where are the others that boarded that train?" She arches her back slightly and move closer. "They are right here with me" "With... you?" "I feel them moving. I hear their thoughts and I feel their fear. They thrash and writhe and scream, but they do not understand that they are safe with me." I desperately try to hold back the urge to vomit. I feel a lump in my throat. I want to cry. The sky begins to fade away, revealing bright colours streaking quickly by. The ocean begins to move again, small waves lapping over my feet. Large clocks begin to rise and float on the surface. The sound of their ticking is like an explosion ringing through my head, piercing my body and my mind. She was now right in front of my face. "Do you remember the moment when your town became the last on Earth?" "I... no... It feels like things have... always been that way. What's going on? Please, please tell me." "Your town has been the last for a very long time. Everyone else, I took away. The tracks get shorter and I get closer whenever one of you boards that train." The colours in the sky spin and warp into a liquid. It drips over my body and seeps into my eyes. I can no longer see. I feel as though I am floating away from my body. Like the very walls of my mind are melting away. In the distance, I can hear something. Like glass being shattered. I feel myself falling towards the sound, the ticking of the clocks getting quieter and quieter. My vision begins to return, and I am looking at myself. The sound is clear to me now: it is the screaming of millions of people. I see the skin of my body begin to turn grey. It shrivels and clings to my skull before it starts to peel away and maggots crawl through my bones. The women moves her arms off my body, and it becomes clear I am seeing through her eyes. She walks back and the tide of the ocean beneath her grows slowly stronger and stronger. She lets herself be carried away as the sun emerges from the black sky. As the light dances and hops across the water, I feel my thoughts drift into the sea. I don't even remember my own name, or where I came from. I feel millions of hands pull my mind apart like it is liquid. My thoughts shine bright blue in the inky black vortex of screaming, before being pulled apart by its current. Their colour fades to black.