End of the Line

The train shot forwards running along a suspension railway above an endless chasm. Its blue painted exterior was eroded from the bottom up, revealing a rusted underbelly like an upside-down bald patch.

Leonard watched from the half-open window at the back, the ominous flatline that rang in his ears fading away. He could not see any station through the smoke. He managed to stick his head out of the window to look down into a true void. While there was nothing beneath them, the smell of sulphur, ash and burning wafted upwards from that nothing. It was not too overpowering, but it did make his eyes sting. It was like the train was dangling over an infinitely large ash tray. Leonard retracted his head and washed the tears away from his eyes, leaving flecks of black residue left on his hand.

Turning around, Leonard looked down the length of the train to see numerous people sitting in booths or standing awkwardly. As he watched, a few sat down next to others, but did not talk to each other. Leonard started to slowly walk forwards; his feet unstable as the carriage swayed. The train drifted around a bend and the train segmented, revealing three carriages ahead. Leonard gripped the nearby seat until the turn finished, and then continued to step forward. It seemed like an old-fashioned train with booths running along either side, a small table in the middle of each booth.

What was this train? Where was it going? Leonard inspected his fellow passengers to try and understand. Most of them appeared elderly, at least older than seventy, but there were also other middle-aged people, like him, as well as younger adults and even children although far fewer. As he reached the end of the first carriage it connected to the second, there was even a cot with a tiny baby, too small to be human. It was snuffling away within the wooden slats. If Leonard had to guess, he was probably dead, on his way to the afterlife. He couldn’t remember dying. He couldn’t remember what was happening before he died. He couldn’t remember much at all.

Leonard looked an empty booth, but he had clearly taken too long to sit down as now most passengers had found a place. There was a one booth to his right with only a single occupant – a young girl with straight blonde hair and large, brown eyes. He sat down opposite her, waiting for her to react. She looked as confused as he felt and did not seem to notice his existence.

Staring out the window, Leonard wondered what was out in the black gloom. He could smell sulphur and smoke coming in through a grate at the top of the windows. While he could hear the click clack as they ran along the suspension railway, he had not seen any form of engine yet. Shuffling sideways, he looked ahead yet could not see a clear view of what pulled them along.

“Hi.” Leonard turned back to the girl, and she matched his stare.

“Hi,” responded Leonard. He gave her a small smile.

“Where are we going?” He could sense the complete trust she placed in him to answer with the omniscience of an adult. He leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table.

“I don’t know, but I’m sure it’s somewhere really nice.”

“How do you know?”

“I can feel it in my gut.” The girl did not seem too satisfied with his answer as she gave some form of grimace and then stared back out the window without responding. Her hands shot up to grasp her arms suddenly, but then slowly receded. They sat in silence for what could have been a few minutes or a few hours. Leonard’s sense of time struggled on this train. He tried to remember who he was; where he was from; and who his parents were. But whenever he thought he was close, the memories slid away. It was like trying to remember the dream which told him the meaning of life.

Re-focussing on the outside, he could see they were travelling alongside a dark, rocky cliff-face. The void had topography, but he could not see where the cliffs rose from.

A man approached Leonard and the girl in the booth and paused next to them. He wore an ordinary business suit without a tie, he had short, curly brown hair and a clean, curly beard hanging down over his neck, cutting into a sharp end around his collar bone. His olive complexion made him look Mediterranean, or middle eastern. His eyes were a vibrant yellow and seemed to emanate light as he smiled broadly revealing unnaturally white teeth. This did not concern Leonard.

“Well, this is ironic.”

He jabbed a finger at the nameless girl, “You, beat it.” She frowned but slipped off her seat and walked further down the train to sit within Leonard’s view. Her hands shot up again to grasp her arms, but again they slowly sank as she looked confused.

“Leonard, c’mon mate, pay attention.” Thumb and forefinger rapidly clicked in front his eyes and Leonard focussed back on the man who was now sitting across from him in the booth.

“We need to discuss your case and we now only have…” the man pulled out his phone and looked at it, “… fourteen minutes and thirty seconds to do so.”

“My case?” In response to Leonard’s question, the man pulled out a binder, zipped it open and retrieved about ten pages of paper.

“Ok, let’s see here.” The man’s fiery eyes darted through the pages before puckering his lips and giving a short exhale. “Alright, three counts of cold-blooded homicide, one of them a child. Shiiit – not looking good Leonard, my friend.”

“Who are you?”

“The name’s Ennugi. Now, Leonard Williams from,” Ennugi rapidly flicked back through the pages and looked confused for a moment, “…Tennis-see, we need to quickly work out your honourable deeds in life to help offset,” Ennugi smirked, “Child murder.”

“My honourable deeds?”

“And if you’re already struggling to think of one good deed, things ain’t looking good, mate. By my count, for your crimes, you’d need to help about half a million old ladies across the road to offset this. I tell you what, when you get to the Courthouse and they place you on those scales, these murders are going to catapult you straight down to the pits; it’ll be like flinging a kitten with a fucking trebuchet.” The man pointed straight down the aisle. The smell the sulphur and ash came across stronger. The man looked at his phone again. “Twelve minutes left before we arrive.”

“Um… ok. Uh, I once lent three k to my friend Seb.” Leonard did not know who Seb was, he couldn’t even remember his face. But he knew he had done this. Ennugi again rapidly flicked through the pages.

“Sebastian Myer? Who then used that three k to buy heroin – which you knew he would – and eventually died of overdose? Shit that’s even worse. The prosecutor ain’t going to miss that one.” Ennugi scribbled some notes down on the paper. “Ok, we need even more good deeds now.” Leonard shifted in the chair, causing the leather to squeak. He might have imagined it, but the carriage felt it got hotter and he was sweating in his shirt.

“Um… I helped family members move. Aunt Sue, Big Jim- “The names rolled out of his mouth, but again he could not recall who these people were. “Ok, better. Good, keep ‘em coming.”

“I fostered a child!” A sense of pride welled in his chest. Ennugi sighed, leaned back, and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“Yeah, that normally would be good, but you ended up murdering her, remember?” Leonard’s stomach lurched. He had to swallow a few times before he muttered,

“Oh, right.”

“Ok… yeah... right...” Ennugi tapped his pen on the paper several times while staring at Leonard with a furrowed brow.

“Listen, we have,” Ennugi checked his phone again, “…around seven minutes before this train pulls into the Courthouse and you’re all herded out into the waiting rooms like guilty cows. So far, we have helping your aunt and cousin move home to tip the scales away from three murders and causing a friend to overdose. You’re looking a bit fucked to be perfectly frank. You are truly a horrible person with no redeeming actions.” Ennugi pulled out a cigarette and placed in his mouth. He breathed deep while slowly moving through the ten papers which contained the summation of Leonard’s life in them. A pathetic ten pages with a bloody end. He carefully slipped the papers back into the binder.

“How did I murder her?” Ennugi raised an eyebrow.

“Her? Memory coming back a bit there?” Ennugi reached back into the binder and pulled out the sheets of paper, reading over them with eyes of dull, liquid gold.

“House fire,” he said matter of fact, “Burnt her and the two adoptive parents to an absolute crisp.”

“How do you know I caused the fire?” Ennugi scoffed.

“Look at where you are. Look at me,” he tapped the paper in his hand, “We are the omniscient adults to you children.” The click-clack of the suspension railway was deafening. Ennugi took another deep breath, staring around the carriage at the other passengers before turning back to Leonard.

“Plus, you soldered the exterior handles shut. The intent was as clear as a crystal.” Leonard wiped the tears from his eyes. He could not tell if it was the atmosphere or whether he felt genuine remorse for his actions. But he was scared of where he was going to end up, where his actions were taking him.

Ennugi flung the dead cigarette out the window and leaned in close to read some of the writing. Leonard leaned in close too. Now that he could see the pages, it all looked like lines and triangles to him.

“Not even an act of kindness to help keep the Shredders at bay. Shame. Well, no bonus for me on this one.”

“Why did I do it?” Ennugi frowned before flicking through the rest of the papers.

“Doesn’t say. Clearly the clerk didn’t feel it was relevant to the case… but you could ask her.” Ennugi turned around and looked at the directly the girl. She was now sitting across from a couple who had found their place across from her. She was smiling as she talked with them animatedly.

“No, I don’t think so,” said Leonard.

“Just as well. It would take more than…” Ennugi pulled is phone out of his pocket and glanced at it, “…forty-five seconds to dissect.” Now Leonard was highly conscious of every second passing. He could feel the train starting to slow down.

“What was your last meal, out of curiosity?” asked Ennugi.

“Tea and biscuits.” Ennugi laughed.

“Are you serious? Not a red lobster with good wine, but some fucking tea and biscuits?”

“Just like my mee-maw used to give me. Same brand and everything.”

“Right.” Ennugi stood up abruptly and slapped Leonard on the shoulder.

“Well good luck down there, mate, I’ll never see you again. Oh! And don’t resist, it’s even worse.” Ennugi walked across the aisle where there was suddenly a door he had not noticed earlier. As Ennugi opened the door into the darkness, Leonard was hit the sound of the grinding gears on the railway as the train drew to a stop, sounding remarkably like the screams of billions of humans. The door slammed shut and Leonard was alone.