Gullet

"Momma," he said, "when can we go back home?"

"We're always home baby."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Home is where the heart belongs, and as long as you hold yourself and those you love in your heart, you're always at home."

"There's a TV room in my heart?"

She smiled at her son before bursting out into a small laugh. "No, not like that, but do you know what's even better than TV?"

"What?"

"Your imagination."

"What's that?'

"It's a tool of your mind."

"My mind has a toolbox?"

She chuckled at that, "Yes, and no. Still, the more you imagine, the better outcomes you can try to reach and find for yourself?"

"What's an outcome?"

"A result."

"What's a result?"

"An affect."

"What's an affect?"

"One thing that occurs after another."

"Like what," he put his grubby little mitts on her knee, boosting himself upwards. The glow of curiosity being so alight in his eyes.

"Here's an example," she started. "Let's say you water the flower bed at home. What do you think will happen?"

"The flowers will live and not get crinkly?"

"Exactly! Do you know what else will happen?"

"What?"

She scooped him up in her arms, "Momma will give you lots of hugs and kisses for being such a good and strong little man." She kissed his cheek multiple times, making him giggle from being ticklish. "See? That's a result. It's an outcome. Sometimes we don't always get the outcome we want, and other times we get other unexpected results."

"Can we go home?"

She smiled at him, knowing that he wouldn't stop asking until she gave him a definitive answer, "Yes. Yes we can. Come on," she placed him down and stood up, "let's go." Having her hand lowered to his height, he reached out and grabbed for it as they continued to waltz off towards the door.

Looking up at her, for some reason he couldn't tell why it felt like her arm was growing longer, or was it just maybe that he was growing shorter. But, if her arm was growing longer, and she wasn't stooping or slouching and she kept getting taller, then the only logical reason was that he was getting shorter at the same time.

Taking her hand out of his to push open the immense weight of the door, they were greeted with a bright light. Almost as if she had completely forgotten that he was there, she stepped on through leaving him alone. Watching her stroll on without him made him feel abandoned, uncherished, and unloved.

"Mama?" He spoke up when she took her first step into the light without reaching her hand back down again. "Mama?" He spoke up again, as her mid-portion had gone through. "Mama!" He screamed at the top of his lungs as her foot was pulled up from the floor into the magical, all-consuming, rays of light.

Not wanting to be left behind, he ran after her, in pursuit of his mama. Instantly blinded by the light, he immediately shut his eyes, still seeing the intensity of the luminosity piercing through his eyelids. Then, for some reason, like a light switch had been flipped, everything went pitch black. With his eyes closed, he fell forward, until he just fell and didn't stop falling.

Gravity overtook him. The ticklish feeling of falling shook his belly. His brain felt like it was just behind him instead of inside of him. The sound of the rushing air blew past his ears as he was the only thing causing there to be any form of air.

Just as he'd hit the surface with a devastating crunch, especially in his neck, he lurched forward, snorting himself awake. Still stuck in a daze of confusion and exhaustion, he began to wipe his face. For some odd reason he was always overheating in dreams where he was falling.

Shaking his head to look around, he saw a few others all sitting in their seats solemnly. The only sounds made were the occasional coughing, sneezing, and raspy allergy affected breathing. Feeling his feet move underneath him, he knew that they were moving, but where, and more importantly, why?

"'Scuse me sir," he turned towards the man next to him, "would you happen to know the time?"

"Well, why of course," he looked at his wristwatch, "it's seven thirty."

Knowing that it was the middle of July he asked him another question, "Morning or evening?"

"Why, evening of course."

"Well, if I may ask, do you know where we are?"

"Shut him up Bill, will ya'?" An irritated voice answered him. "I've had a long day already and its going to be even longer if you can't keep quiet."

"Hush now Charles," William retorted, "sorry about that young lad. Most of us here don't like to be reminded about what's currently going to happen."

"Wait what? What do you mean?"

"The entire car is solemn for a reason."

"Yeah, but why?"

"Simple, it's because we've all one the lottery."

"The lottery? Wouldn't that be a cause for celebration?" Not understanding the two-and-two he'd been given to put together, he asked the man for more context. "I'm sorry sir I don't follow. Where are all these folk from?"

"Why, Allendale of course, myself included."

"Wait a minute, I'm not from Allendale. Well, I was there this weekend house sitting for a friend actually." The entire train cabin turned their attention towards him in shock an awe. As if a gruesome scene just took place in a horror film that you desperately wanted to look away from, but you couldn't, they all pitied him. "What? Was it something I said? Do you guys not like outsiders?"

"Dude," Charles said, "dick move."

"Huh?"

"If I may ask young lad," William spoke up, "who is this friend that you speak of?"

"Oh, he's an old high school friend of mine. We actually met in middle school. A lot of people said that we looked so alike most thought that we were brothers, if not cousins. Heck, he even gave me a matching jacket last year at New Years."

"Yes sir, but what is his name?"

"Doesn't matter now Bill," Charles said bluntly. "There's nothing we can do. Sure, his friend may have broken a law and well abused it, but if we stop now just for one person, the whole town could be at stake."

"What stake," he turned to ask Charles.

"Young lad," William continued, "who is your friend's name, if I may ask?"

"Oh, it's Eliot."

"That snake," Charles replied, "I knew I didn't like the guy, but I'd never knew he'd stoop so low as to do this."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you have a cell phone on you by chance?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You better send a message to any family and friends you got, like right now."

"Why is that?"

"Cause we're running out of time. Our stop's about to come up in the next minute."

"What do you mean?"

"Listen kid, just do it, and thank me later. You'll have all the time in the world afterwards."

"Okay," he answered Charles in a weird questioning tone. "whatever you say man." Opening up his phone, he messaged his family and friend groupchats as quickly as he could. "Hey guys, I'm on some weird train ride right now, and I don't know where I'm currently at. Just wanted to let you know, cause some passenger told me to do so. Later."

Wrapping his arm around the young man, William asked, "Have you been able to find peace?"

"Peace?"

"Yes."

"Well, in a few things. Like I know I can't control my height or change the fact that I burn easily in the sun, but yeah I've learned to like who I am."

"That'll be all you need."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, pretty soon we're not even going to have that," William turned towards him with a tear streaming down the side of his cheek as his eyes went bloodshot red.

Then, before they new it, gravity seemed to have shifted, until they learned that it was the train that had shifted. Bodies piled up on the emergency exit door, he held a tight clutch onto William.

Feeling a strong hand grip his shoulder, he turned around to see who it was, "Hey kid, don't die angry. Let me do that for you. Elliot may have been a good friend to you in life, but not anymore. He's practically said that he values his more than yours, and that's something I can't abide by."

"What are you even talking about?! What's going on?!"

Charles pointed upwards as several curved, hook-shaped white porcelain looking daggers pierced the metal of the hull of the train car.

"Just don't die angry, okay? Snakes come in all shapes and sizes, and it saddens me to know that you've just learned that they also come in different forms, including those of your close friends."

He broke down crying.