Beware the Light

I wake up from my nap to the bellowing train horn. I leave my eyes close, hoping that like normal I would fall back to sleep. As I start to drift away, I am startled again by the train horn. I felt the horn send tremors through my whole body. That’s odd. I think to myself about it, before realizing my whole body is shaking.

My eyes open and immediately the area is nothing I recognize. The dark living room where I was watching tv has been replaced by a train car cabin.

I sit up and look around. To my right there is a large window. Outside trees rush by. The sun is peeking over the horizon gently kissing the earth with fresh rays of the day. In front of me is another bench, but it is empty. The gold stands out to me as it makes a clear zigzag pattern in the corner of the dark blue cushions.

A thin wooden door sits to my left, with a golden handle to slide it back. The door has been painted on creating a background the same color blue as the seats for a golden logo saying “LR” in fancy script.

There is something in my right pocket. Maybe it is my wallet. But I feel it more and realize it is too big for that. I pull it out and it is a small notebook with a pen. I open it and it is blank.

I wonder how I got here. Where is my wallet is and a ticket for my ride? I do not want to get arrested as a stowaway. Maybe there is someone out in the hall or in another car that can give me some answers.

As I stand up there is a faint crunch. On the floor is a small white envelope, probably slid under the door somehow while I was sleeping. Maybe it is my ticket. Falling back into the seat I open it up and read on a small paper,

Hello, you are now part of the Enlighten project. I know this probably confusing but it will soon make sense. Please just stay calm. You joined us in the middle of the night. Soon we will be in the next town. There you will be given the reward you earned. Sincerely, LR

I look out the window and see nothing but trees and the rail. Up ahead it looks like the rail bends to the right before it disappears behind the dense lines of pines and oaks.

My mind focuses back onto the letter. What does it mean? What is this Enlighten project? Who is LR? How is it that I was taken while I was sleeping in my home, or do not remember leaving and boarding a train?

Before I panic I remember to tell myself to breathe. Four seconds in, hold, and then four out. The air seems to slow down. I do the breathing again. Four in, hold, four out.

On the other side of the thin door is a muffled whisper. I put the envelope into the small notebook and shove it back into my pocket. My hand grasps the pen tight, ready to shank any person who attacks me.

I grab the cold handle on the door and slowly put force into the pull to open the door. There is no movement. My body tenses as this nice cabin has become my cage. I attempt again only to be met with the same fate. My hand releases the handle. Tears form on my eyes as I realize my fate.

My eyes stay focused on the door. Wondering if it was really stuck. As I ponder what will happen next for me a little bit of red catches my attention. It is right under the handle. No wonder I missed it at first it is maybe the size of a pencil eraser. In it is a tiny little lock symbol. Right above it, in the bottom of the handle is something too. Sticking down, maybe the length of the tip of the pen is something pointed diagonally.

With faith I stand back up, my heart racing as hope once again enters my thoughts. I reach out and decide to push the little bit to face the other way. It worked!

The red section also turned green with an open lock symbol. My heartbeat intensifies. I feel it behind my ears as I shake with excitement. I grab the door and grasp the pen once again. As I pull this time the door moves. The door glided open silently.

I peeked to the left of my cabin and saw the source of the muffled voices.

Two people are talking. One was a shorter small blonde woman. Her straight hair whipped as she turns her head towards the person beside her. She seems to be frantic and frazzled about something. Beside her was a man who is much calmer. His short brown hair had a shine in the morning sun. I see his silhouette also showed a full beard, and he was fairly fit.

Straightening my back as I approach them, I prepare for the worst. I decide to creep towards them slowly still, trying to hear what they are saying.

“What happened?” the woman says. “We both have no clue how we are here but…”

She stops and shrieks. Her eyes met mines and I braced for a punch from the man beside her. But it never came.

“Who are you?” He asks quickly and authoritatively.

“I am Paul” I reply. “Are you guys also here with no idea how you got here?”

The man’s eyebrow peaked at this question. The woman responded quickly “Yes”.

After a pause they introduce themselves as Sheila and Michael. Sheila then starts off by stating when she woke up she had two things. The first was a note just like the one I had. The second was a smaller handwritten note that only said, “QNVRAN YKN GJLKY”. Odd how it is a code. What could this code say?

I stayed calm and asked Michael about anything he might have woken up with. Again, it was the note from the project company. And also, he has a diagram of two circles split into eight sections. One has the numbers one through eight on the outside, with the numbers flipped backwards on the inside. The next circle looked more like a gear, but around it is letters. They were in the order “H,F,C,G,D,A,E,B”. There was also an arrow going counterclockwise on both.

We all agreed that right now the paper gave us little to work with. I said all I have is a notebook and a pen. I wonder is the symbolism on Michael’s paper will help us with the code, but Sheila starts talking about how we need to leave the train car if possible. We look around and find it is the last car of the train. The only way is to go forward.

We go to the next car. Michael takes lead and goes slowly first, making sure no one is waiting for us in the next area. Once he signals it is clear Sheila goes. I follow closely behind her, hopping the little gap between car platforms. The cool crisp air also wakes me up, startling me as it was summer, and my hometown is usually hot as hell this time of year. The fresh air smells good, with that forest smell of pine and nature. The air roars around the cars.

In the next car, we all pause and assess the surroundings. There are a few lights lighting up the car. The windows were covered with metal. The room has a small room built into it cutting the car in half. The room on our side has a few paintings and lamps on the walls, and a electric safe. In the other room is an upright piano and a door locked to the next car. The light in the next car seems to be coming from windows to outside again.

I want to go back for a moment, but the door behind is locked too, and as I tell this to the others we realize this is a puzzle.

Not knowing our fate to come we start deciding what to do next. We sit in the middle space and go over again what we have.

Michael looks intently at his and Sheila’s papers. “What is they are connected. Like some sort of clues to make the letters turn into a phrase.”

“Good idea” Sheila stutters out. “Paul, can you look at this with us and start writing the things down?”

I nod and begin to write the alphabet down in a straight line across the paper. Michael starts whispering to himself. “Numbers flipped… flipped… flipped… guys that is it, part of this is flip. The arrows probably also mean something, like shift in a direction.”

“Should I flip the alphabet?” I ask. Michael nods and I put below the alphabet a flipped version.

“How much do we need to shift?” Sheila questions. Michael looks intently at the papers again. I feel like he is watching the letters and numbers move in front of him. He eyes dart around as if looking for the answer himself.

After many tense heartbeats he looks up and tell me to shift it 8, and we can move the number down bit by bit if needed.

I scribble the letters down starting eight up. Then I jot down the letters from Sheila’s note. “QNRVAN YKN GJLKY” my hand starts shaking in anticipation as I do the deciphering.

My heart sinks. I know the others see it in my face. A tear starts to run down my face. We are stuck and nothing will change that now. The code created the message “GDLHQD OAD WZBAO”. It wis a failure and now we will never go to our homes.

Michael looks down at the papers. Sheila does too. Michael starts messing with a wedding ring on his left hand. It is golden. He must really love his wife. Sheila starts have another panic attack. We are done.

Suddenly Sheila lets out a gasp, and this time it was not followed by the normal sobbing. No, this time she screamed almost like a vison had hit her. “Backwards” she says to us.

Michael and I look at her puzzled about this word. She repeats it and points to the arrows. They go counterclockwise, which is a universal symbol for backwards. I try the code again, decipher it and smile the largest I have ever. Soon I am chuckling.

Within seconds I am hysterical. I put it down and let them read that it now states “BEWARE THE LIGHT”.

Now Michael asks what to do now because we still need a safe code. We stand up and look at the only other things in the room, the pictures.

One picture is a detailed painting of an alley at night. It had one small light, but mostly it showcased a silhouetted city and a moon.

Another was a Painting that was fairly common type. It was a table with various fruits on it. The banana apples and grapes all looked delicious. The blue wall helped the fruit pop off the background.

Lastly was a painting of the end of a tunnel. The light rays bled into the dark tunnel, and a little bit of forest peeked out from behind it. We all saw that and just knew that it was. No words were needed. It was the going into the light.

I grab the painting. I look to Michael and Sheila, whom the latter looks anxious of the grab. With a smirk I say, “Beware the light.” And then I proceed to pull the painting off the wall.

On the wall there is nothing behind the painting. But on the other side of the canvas there is a string of numbers; 1297820. Michael goes to the safe and we get the numbers put in.

It works! And Sheila snatches up a key inside. This key clearly fit the door as like the keyhole it was large. Not only that but the same patina was on the bronze looking metals.

We walk into the next room and see out the windows and a piano. The door is locked with a red light on. Sheila steps up and says she does have some training, so we let her sit down while we figure out what to do next. The papers we sit down, including the deciphered message, on the piano so she could see it too.

Sheila speaks up soon, declaring, “Hey guys, these letters on the second circle are the letters of the musical alphabet, including the older H.”

We ask her to play them in the order of the circle. She does but nothing happens.

Michael asks her then to do in order only the musical notes in the deciphered message. She does slowly. First playing in the middle of this old upright a B. Then an E. followed by an A, what she says is a B flat, then and E, again an E, and then B flat once more.

At that point in front of us the door unlocks, with the red light turned green. I sigh a huge relief. We all cheer quickly before heading out the door.

On the other side we are greeted with a completely unknown sight. We are not outside, but in a room with five other people. Two of them had rifles and looked like guards normally seen at very important places. They were dressed in bulletproof armor and black and grey clothes

The three in the middle were dressed well, and all sitting at different computers. One stands up, a woman with glasses. She has on a blue dress with gold accents. I assume she may be in charge of this operation.

“Hello, and welcome to the Light project. You all have passed the test we had for you guys. Thank you for your cooperation.” The woman tells us. She sounds robotic, as if this is rehearsed a lot. “We will send you each home soon. Please just wait calmly in the area to your left. Again, thank you and may the light guide you.”

To the left are a couple sofas, which we take a seat at. I get us all to give the others our numbers so we can keep in touch after this. I shake Michael’s hand, and Sheila gives us all a hug. We made it through whatever test I guess we were forced into. By whom or why I do not know.

The guards and two others come over, and they blindfold us before we are taken away. I get dropped off in front of my apartment and reflect on the whole ordeal.

Inside I reach my phone. It had only been the day, and luckily, I did not have any missed calls. I reach into my pocket to get the numbers and put them in my phone. But the numbers are gone. They must have been taken out of my pocket. I mumble to myself “Those assholes.”

I remember what the lady said, “May the light guide you”. It is a peculiar sentence. After everything though, I know that I should beware the light. Yet a part of me is also uneasy with that, as it seems they put that there. What a contradiction.

Who were they? I have no answers, and the only thing I can do now is hope to not cross their paths again.

I go to get food from my fridge, and on the counter, there is a small paper like the one with the formal note on the train. It makes my whole body tremble with only two letters. “LR”