Blurred Lines

Thump, screech, thump, screech. He blinked slowly, barely awake, between the motion and the sounds his head spun with dizziness. Lights were flashing. Pain shot through his back and shoulders, he squirmed. He was atop a metal bed, no blanket or pillow in sight. He pushed himself up to look around.

Blurry.

Unfocused.

Vague shapes seeped through. Poles and seats were easy enough to make out, but other things were being filtered through with more difficulty. He squinted, shapes of people came into focus. Their details blended together into dark blobs.

“What’s going on?” His words hung in the air. He swung his feet around, placing his bare feet flat on a metal floor. He recoiled at the touch, his nose scrunched up, placing his feet down to stand.

“Hello?” He waved at the blob of a person. Stepping forward something crunched under his foot. On the floor were glasses, one lens cracked, and the frame twisted. Bending down he took hold of them and placed them on his face.

Clarity.

He scanned the area he was in, firstly the blobs. Mannequins filled the seats, some dressed as men, others as women. Upon counting there were fifteen. All dressed as if from another time period. One, directly across from the metal bed, was dressed as a train conductor from the 1800s. A door was stationed to his right, a small glass window looking into an engine room. He patted his pockets and turned them inside out. “Okay, no ticket.”

He ran his eyes around the car looking for any signs. “I can’t be the only one here,” he mumbled. The engine room had no one inside and the lever, to accelerate, was set to maximum force. He walked over to the conductor mannequin. Searching its pockets he found a watch with the time set to 3:30. Stuffing that in his own pocket he moved onto the next mannequin. This one was dressed in Edwardian attire.

Pulling a pin out of its hair he ran back to the engine room door. “There has to be a lock hole somewhere.” He ran his hands up and down the door to no avail.Turning around there was a second door on the other end of the passenger car. On the other side the mannequins continued on. He jiggled the door handle.

Unmoving.

A small key hole beside the handle. Sliding the pin within he worked the lock, occasionally hearing a popping sound. The door slid to the side with one last pop. A policeman was stationed near the door in the other car. Black combat boots covered his feet and a thick leather belt was around the mannequin’s waist.

“These will have to do.” He bent down, removing the boots and placing them on his own feet. He grabbed the belt and placed it loosely around his waist. “Just in case.” A few of the mannequins looked half melted. Half of the car was singed from floor to ceiling. The fire marks extending out from one of the side doors. He knelt down running his hand over the marks pulling soot up on his fingers.

Thud.

He looked down the length of the car to another door which had a woman on the other side. She slammed her hand against the metal frame. He rushed down to her.

“Hey,” he yelled. Her mouth was moving, but no sound was coming through. Her eyes were big and her arms flailed about. “Just hold on, I’m gonna get this door open.” He held up his hands and motioned for her to wait. His hands frantically searched for the pin. “I got it, just hold on.” He held the pin in front of the window before he switched to the lock. Each pop caused a smile to spread across his face.

When the final pop came she pushed the door open and jumped through hugging him. “Thank you, thank you so much.” Her hands grabbed the back of his shirt as sobs came out of her. “They took them, they took all of them.”

He pulled her off and held her shoulders. “What did you say?”

“They took the other passengers…”

“There were more people?” He let go of her rushing into the car he just rescued her from. He searched all over. “Where are they? All I see are these stupid things!” He threw one of the mannequins on the floor.

She jumped when it hit the floor. “I don’t know, all I know is there were more people and those doors opened.” She pointed at the side doors. “Then people came on the train and left with a passenger.” Her voice cracked.

He dropped his head. The arm of the mannequin he threw lay between his legs. “Wait…” He lifted his head. “You said they came through those doors? The train is moving, we have to pry them open.” He slapped his knees and stood up. “Can you help me wedge this in?” He pointed to the mannequin arm.

She shook her head. “I’m not going near those doors.”

“I know you are scared, but what if we have a chance to escape?”

Silence.

“Hey, do you remember your name?” He took a step closer to her. “It might do us good to pause for a moment and gather our thoughts, I can’t remember my name. Can you recall yours?” He was standing in front of her.

“I’ve tried, but I can’t. I don’t even have a ticket to tell me what I was doing.” She angled her feet pointing her toes together, her bare feet sliding on the metal.

“Me either! I looked, but there was nothing. What if we pick temporary names? You know, until we remember?” He reached his hand out to her.

She gave a weak nod.

“What do I look like to you? Tom, Fred, David, Chad?” He gave her a smile as he continued to hold out his hand.

“Actually you look like Matt to me. What do I look like?” She reached out and took his hand.

“Matt it is, can I call you Sarah?” He stepped closer, wrapping her in a hug.

She nodded her head. “Sarah would be fine.”

“Well, Sarah, what do you say we work together to get free? If anything comes through that door it will have two people ready to deal with it.” He stepped back holding her shoulders again. “I’ll watch your back, can you watch mine?”

She stepped through the door. “What do you have in mind? You can count on me.”

He reached down and picked up the arm. “We have to try and pry that door open. There has to be a reason they could get on a runaway train.” He jammed the hand in where the side doors met.

They both grabbed the shoulder and bicep of the mannequin pushing. The doors separated a few inches. Light poured into the car causing them both to squint

He let go of the mannequin and grabbed the right side door. “Can you look in?” His arms strained under the weight.

She dropped the arm and moved closer to the gap. “It isn’t moving. It’s just light on the other side.”

The door slammed shut as his fingers let go. “I couldn’t hold it any longer. Are you sure?”

Sarah nodded. “It was really bright, but completely stationary. Whatever it is, it is completely different from this train.”

“Are you up for an escape plan?” Matt grabbed a whole mannequin.

“What did you have in mind?” She grabbed a hair tie off one of the mannequins and tied her hair up. “Whatever we do, we have to be quick.”

The side door in another car opened flooding it with light.