Can Time Really Fly?

I was drifting into sleep when I felt a slight tickle on my left ankle, reached down to scratch it, and noticed my shoe felt odd, large, and clunky, unlike the slender pumps I had put on this morning when I left my apartment for work. Oh my God! Where was I? This train isn't the commuter train I had boarded ten minutes ago! I always slept on the commuter train until I felt it stop at the station, but this train was racing out of control, shifting me back and forth in my seat. The seat covers were old and torn, and dirt on the floor accumulated in the cracks of the rubber matting in the aisles. The window next to my face reeked of earth, and it was hard to see out, but from what I could see, old cars driving past the train had to be from the 1950s!

I reached for my purse that was sitting on the floor, but the purse I found wasn't my purse. This purse was a dirty white with a big gold latch on the front, something I wouldn't be caught dead carrying! I must have someone else's bag, but if so, where was mine? Slowly, I opened the top latch and looked inside.

A large black wallet stuffed with receipts and pictures protruded from the depths of the purse, and I pulled it out feeling like a thief. I undid the snap that was barely holding the wallet closed, and there was my driver's license; only the picture was of an older woman with my name! If that was someone else's purse, then who was I? I had to find someone else on the train who could help me.

I turned and saw my reflection in the window, looking like I was an old, old woman. A feeling of fear rose inside me, my skin felt clammy, and I wanted to run away and get off this train from Hell! My body ached when I tried to stand up, and I grabbed the thin, metal bar next to the seat to steady myself. My dress was navy blue, my shoes were black, big, and clumsy, and I noticed I had on ankle socks. Ankle socks, for God's sake! The train was going at a tremendous speed, making it hard to walk to the glass door that led to the next car. Someone on this runaway train should be able to tell me who I was and what was happening!

I grabbed the metal handle on the door and shoved it clockwise to open it. It was warm between the two cars, so I hurried. That's odd. Nobody is sitting in this car either, but the floors are cleaner, and the plastic floor mats have carpet. The seat covers have a lot of wear, but not as bad as in the last car. I sat down in the first seat I came to and glanced outside. A truck rumbled slowly past the train and stopped at the light. The man in the vehicle looked up at the train and waved at me. Startled, I jumped back, wondering why he waved, my heart pounding wildly, and a trickle of sweat ran down my brow. The light changed, and the truck pulled away, leaving me feeling foolish. The vehicles seemed more up-to-date, a friendly town, definitely not stuck in the 1950s anymore, but when? It didn't matter as long as I could return to where I had been. I pushed forward to the next car, the wild speed of the train causing me to grab the seats to steady myself as I walked down the narrow aisle. Each vehicle was newer than the last one, so perhaps if I hurried through each to the front of the train, I would be back to where I was. That made no sense, but it seemed to be what was happening. I pushed through the big door leading to the next car, shoved the handle down, and moved to the next compartment.

At first, I didn't see him sitting there all alone. Once he caught my eye, I was very intrigued. He was the only person in the car, and his head hung slightly forward as though he were sleeping. He had dark, almost black, curly hair and appeared middle-aged.

I barely noticed I was wearing a long, empire-waist dress with handmade beads hanging around my neck. My long hair draped over my shoulders and dangled limply in front of my face when I bent over to see if the man was breathing. Words began forming on my lips when the man raised his head and looked at me. His eyes held wisdom and a trace of fear, maybe an awakening.

"When you go to sleep, that's the reality, and when you're awake, that's the dream," he offered with conviction.

Instantly his head returned to resting on his chest, and he continued to sleep. I didn't know what to think. I backed away from him and tripped over the hem of my skirt, landing on my knees, and I noticed a bright, gold key under the seat. Was this the answer to my dilemma? Or would this key push me further into the nightmare I was living? I crawled on my hands and knees to where I could reach the key.'My hand shook when I grabbed for it, and once I grasped the excellent, hard key, I jerked it quickly before the odd man woke up. It tingled in my hands, and the vibration ran up my arms to my elbows. I closed my eyes, and my mind continued to race through each car, my body and face getting younger with each new car I entered. I was almost to the engine where I would find my answers, but I hesitated, wondering what I would find when I walked into that door.

I heard someone pull the rope that made the train's horn make a loud, resounding noise. I covered my ears and noticed the key would fit into the giant, gold lock outside the engine cabin door, but my mind was traveling, not my body, and I didn't have the strength to imagine the key turning the lock. I was immediately back in the cabin with the odd man still sleeping. The key was no longer vibrating. I knew it would shake again when I needed it, so I tucked it into the pocket of my skirt and stood up.

The next car wasn't empty either. A large, grey cat sat on the back of a seat next to the exit in the front. The cat was licking its fur, purring, looking at me as though it knew I had a problem and was enjoying my plight. The train jerked in an unsteady motion as it rounded a corner outside the small town we had just blown through. I grabbed the seat next to me to steady myself but could swear that cat was laughing. I would know I was losing my mind if it said one word to me.

I took no notice of what era my clothes represented but hurried past the purring cat and onto the next car. My heart beat a little faster when I passed the cat, and the tiny hairs on my arms and neck began to stand up, but I kept pushing on because I knew the only way off this train was to stop it from running off the tracks but to do that I had to get to the engine car.

I felt the golden key jiggle in my pocket as I pulled the last door open before the engine car. I caught a glimpse of myself in the window. My hair was cut short, my outfit was flashy, and I looked ten years younger than when I boarded the train earlier. But was that me or the older woman on the driver's license? I wasn't sure who I was, but the train had to slow down, no matter what.

Smoke billowed past the window, and the horn blew loudly. The last door was hard to open and felt stuck in place. I pushed it down with all my strength but to no avail. My hand ached, and the key began getting warm. I didn't want to let go of it, so I held on as it continued to get hot until finally, I dropped it to the ground. OMG! The key exploded, and a massive plume of white smoke rose from the floor, engulfing the space between the engineer's cabin and the car. I squatted down on the floor and put my arms around my head to protect myself, covering my ears to help blot out the sound. My eyes began to feel very tired and closed, and as though time was traveling fast, I felt myself being pulled back through all the time zones I had experienced. I went from the current squatting position to the intelligent, young girl I was before I approached the engineer's car; being a hippy and talking to that odd man; being in the 60s, and finally, the 50s and being an older woman again.

Now I felt heavier, and the sun was peeking through the window. I opened my eyes and cautiously looked around. I knew who I was! Abby Helen Carter, 23 years old, a journalist, but I wasn't on the train. I was home on the floor in front of the closet. My purse was on the floor next to me, so I reached for it to ensure my driver's license showed my picture. When I opened my purse, I had a flashback of the white bag with the gold buckle, the wallet with all the photos, and the license with the older woman's picture. I brushed those memories aside and reached for my bright, green billfold; only it wasn't bright green, it was brown. I turned to where I kept my personal information; yanked my driver's license out of the plastic carrier. I gasped, and my hand went over my mouth; the air was heavy; I could barely breathe. The picture staring back on the license was the older woman I saw on the train. I reached up to make sure my long locks were still intact. When I did, I felt a huge bump on my forehead where I must have hit my head. A chair lay upside down behind me, and I faintly remembered reaching for a book in the back of the closet shelf. The fall would account for the weird flashes about a runaway train, but not the differences in my driver's license. It was like a dream, but I wasn't asleep; I had blacked out.

I pulled myself up against the bed and turned on the television. It had to be Sunday because I remember cleaning closets on Saturday, and that's when I fell. The face on the screen looked familiar, very familiar. It was the man on the train!

"Remember Alli,

When you go to sleep, that's the reality, and when you're awake, that's the dream."

I'm awake now, so this is the dream. I'm not old or in this house, nor did I fall. I'm dreaming all of this!

I'm still on the train. Somehow, I'm on that train racing off to nowhere. There is still time to stop the runaway train; all I have to do is sleep and get back to reality. I can control the runaway train!

I immediately felt tired and once again felt myself flying through the train cars, and back to the smoke that filled the cabin where the entengineers sat.

I felt strong, powerful, as though I had the secret to life. I know that sounds odd, after all, it was just some twisted advice given to me by a random stranger, and it may not be accurate, but somehow, I knew it was.

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