Kinetic Stream

A foggy hangover feel existed in her brain. She rubbed her eyes until she could comfortably keep them open. She could see the tops of 5 other heads from where she was seated. All sitting in a seat same as she was. The seats were grey pho leather with dark grey stitching. The seat read Kinetic Stream with lines coming from it, giving it the appearance of speeding forward.

Next, she noticed she was in jeans and a sweatshirt. She wiggled her toes and fingers then stretched her arms up. Movement was coming back to her limbs. Her muscles had felt so stiff she wondered how long she had been sitting like this. In a perfect 90° angle position. She found her luggage bag tucked neatly in position with her name neatly printed on the tag. She had no recollection of why she was on the train or where she was going. She couldn't remember buying a train ticket in all her 40yrs of life.

"Hey, hello, You?! Do you know where this train is going?", A groggy man was yelling at her. "Ummmm, not exactly at the moment", she heard herself respond.

Like a moth to light she ripped the curtain open over the window near her seat, pressing her forehead to the window. Scenic, a costal scene progressed by. "Do you have a name miss?", the same man as before asked. "Yes, its Delilah" "Well Delilah, none of us know where the train is going and even stranger none of us so far can recall how or why we are on this train. We can’t remember. Can you?" It was a strange relief knowing the others were as confused as she. The relief was clouded by a slight panic at the unknown of the situation. "No, I gained consciousness slowly and couldn’t remember.", she replied.

She pulled her luggage to her and began to comb through the contents. She was searching for clues from anything she packed. Even more bizarre was all that was packed was a T-Shirt that said Nebraska, a pair of jeans, 1 single thong underwear, a bra, some socks, and a single bag of corn kernel seeds. The uncanny thing was she didn’t know anything about Nebraska and didn’t feel she had ever been there. She found her I.D. She was from Oregon, at least according to her license, why would there only be a shirt from Nebraska.

"Do any of you have luggage? Do you recognize any of your packed items?", she asked openly to the other train members. The last memory she had was being at home watching a commercial about traveling. She had turned off the T.V., put her I.D in her pocket, and gone to work. Nothing after that. She couldn’t even recall what her work was. If she walked or drove, etc. The travel commercial was clear in her mind. She could picture it as if she had just seen it.

The other members were searching for luggage. A few had found a bag and were rummaging through them. A couple passengers had no luggage. A woman with no luggage kept explaining she would never have left without her things. She seemed very prim and proper, somehow, I believed she wasn't the type to leave without her things. Just then the passenger who had spoken to her first said, "has anyone noticed the train has been picking up speed ever so slightly every half hour or so? I pay scrupulous attention to my surroundings. I was a wildlife scout and it’s just my nature to be aware. I'm certain that the train has been picking up momentum every 30 min or so". Panic permeated the train passengers, as all went to the windows, as if truth lay just outside the confinements of its walls. Those who had phones and enough battery began using the timer to see if this was true. The next 30 min were silence. Barely a breath was audible as all tried to judge for themselves if the rate was increasing.

30 minutes struck. A woman held her phone up, "Its 30 min. just now". Sure, enough the man was right. All felt the rate kick up beneath their feet. They all glanced at each other with blank stares as if beckoning for someone to give the meaning of this situation and how to stop it. Some bickering set in as people tried to decipher the next best move. A woman who I guess is a psychiatrist in her daily life was searching for commonalities between the passengers; Searching for a reason for why they all would be chosen. Another man was looking for a string to pull or a button to push for notifying of a stop or an automatic stop. He knew some about trains and was prepared to go to the locomotive car to see what was happening. He also wanted to search for an emergency brake or an independent brake system. Everyone agreed the brake idea sounded promising.

It took some time, but eventually the man, Ray, did locate the brakes and the emergency brake. Elation spread throughout the passengers. They had found no operator or train employees during their search. It was, it seemed to all the passengers, an empty train except for them. All in unison, simultaneously they agreed it was time to use the brakes. Ray and a woman named Janie agreed to be the ones to do it. "Count of three", Ray yelled. "Ok", Janie confirmed. "One, Two, Three, PULL!", Ray instructed. All the passengers watched as nothing happened with the rate of the train. It momentarily had made a screeching sound, then the most perplexing thing was identified. First identified by Janie then all the others. The scene out the window had changed and the time of day. Disbelief passed through me. I must be dreaming she thought. The Scout, as we were calling him, turned to Ray and said, "slap me". Ray normally looked like the kind of man who would have argued against the action, but given the circumstances was thinking he needed the same action. He agreed and slapped the Scout. He winced, "that hurt", he rubbed his face where he was slapped. "I'm definitely awake".

"Let’s try the brakes again", she heard herself offer up as a suggestion. Again, they all agreed. Again, a screeching sound was heard just before the change in scenery and time of day. Now everyone was talking over everyone else. Somewhat talking out loud and somewhat thinking out loud sharing plausibility’s and escapes. The Scout used his fingers in his mouth to whistle and silence all the passengers. "Quiet", he yelled. "I don’t know what you all think, but I want off before the train speeds up so fast we go insane on this thing or die. I am willing to jump off and then I'll contact one of you with a phone and let you know where I ended up and what’s going on with this train". "What if your phone breaks?", Ray asks. "Does anyone have a pen? We can write your numbers down on a piece of paper and on me as well as put them in my phone. One method should still be viable after I jump off." "Who agrees with this plan?", Scout asks. After 2 minutes of silence, they all agreed. "But how will you Jump? We can’t break a window to do it", I chimed in. "true" "yeah" "what will we do?", others chimed in. "Calm down I'm not going to break a window; I saw a hatch maybe for maintenance or something when Ray went to find the brake. I'll use that. If that doesn’t work, we might have to try to pry the door open somehow, maybe with a piece from the chair." With that and very little hesitation he went to where the hatch was and released the lock. He had found a blanket on the train and was preparing to wrap it around himself for protection from the jump landing. "Does the hatch lead to outside?", Janie asked. "Yeah", Scout replied "It’s going to be tricky, but I think I can do it. I'll contact one of you. I promise". With that he jumped and was gone. I watched him roll into the brush until the train moved too far away for me to see him.

The train was picking up speed it was now racing on the track. We waited 2 hours. "Any word from Scout anyone?" "No" "Nope" "Nothing" Janie added, "We can’t just keep waiting, the train is gaining a little speed every half hour. We need to get off too. Maybe he got hurt, maybe he can’t reach us, maybe our phones aren’t working right." We all had had the same thoughts just not verbalized them yet.

Try the brakes again they all decided. They tried the brakes. Nothing new. Janie stood up, went to the hatch, yelled "I was never good at waiting, I'll see what I can do", then she was gone.

The psychiatrist was looking at some luggage items. Then turned to me and asked, "You have a Nebraska T-Shirt, right?" "Yes, why?" Then she revealed from her hands 2 other T-shirts. One read Texas the other Utah. Where did you find those? One was in Scouts stuff the other Janies' stuff. Ray and the psychiatrist had no stuff. "What about the clothes you are wearing?", I inquired. "What about my clothes?" "Do you remember them, does the tag have any logo or anything? I needed there to be a commonality. I sounded like the psychiatrist in the beginning now. "I, I don’t know", the woman said. "I don’t remember them necessarily, but I have a feeling I bought them or stole them because I needed them. That’s weird, I don’t steal." She looked genuinely puzzled. The tag revealed nothing spectacular. Her dress said made in New Mexico with some brand neither had heard of. This was too much for all of them. "Trying the brakes", She yelled. Again, the same sequence of a screech and change of time and scenery.

Ray and the psychiatrist announced they were jumping together. Maybe two were needed to help one another. We hugged and then they too were gone.

I looked around. The train was zipping down the path now. There was one other passenger left. One that had been quiet compared to the others, but had agreed to trying the brakes etc. She moved towards me and revealed a Nevada T-Shirt. "What do these mean?" she asked sincerely. The girl was wearing a shirt that looked slightly dirty and had a couple holes. I wasn't one to judge because looking down I noticed my sweatshirt and jeans were a little dirty and my sweatshirt had a hole on the elbow. Weird. I thought.

"Well, do you want to try the brakes again?", I asked. "Sure, why not", she answered I tried the brakes again. No surprise the same response from the train, scenery, and time.

"The train is moving sooooo fast now", I stated. "I think I'm going to jump off too now. Stay or go, it seems an equal fate, but I'm getting hungry and thirsty. Want to jump with me?" "You go ahead", the woman responded. "Okay, I can’t promise anything obviously. I don’t know what’s going on", I told her. "I know", she responded. With that I opened the hatch, fighting the forces of air and pushed myself from the train.

I landed hard with a thud and rolled and bumped. My head felt dizzy. Eventually I stopped. My phone was cracked, but still working. I sat up, aching all over. I propped myself up against my left arm. I was okay for the most part. "No idea where I am", I said to the landscape. There were open plains in every direction I looked and beautiful rock formations scattered in spots of the plains. I got myself standing. Next was to test if I could walk. I could.

I walked and I walked. It seemed endless. Finally, I came to a building. There were people and some shops. I stopped into one of the shops. I checked my jean pockets. I had my I.D. and a credit card. Normally I wouldn't use it, but this was obviously an emergency. I bought a bag, a pair of jeans, a bra, a thong, some socks and a bag of corn kernels that said magic corn nuts abracadabra you'll be surprised how fast they disappear. I ate a couple then tucked them in my bag. They didn’t have any T-shirts and the other shirts they had were expensive and not my taste or size.

I tried to find a bus but was told it wasn’t running today. I was far from the closest airport, but a train station wasn’t too far from me. "Oh, the train", I had almost forgotten. I was forgetting. I felt dread at the thought of entering a train again so fast, but maybe at least I could find some answers. I went to the train station. I saw some T-Shirts in the gift shop. Rushed in and grabbed one in my sizes and shoved it in my bag. I didn’t even pay. I was erratic and rushing. I purchased my ticket and saw the train I needed was leaving soon. I was just going to take the train to the next location then get a ride from lyft or some taxi to the airport. Then I could fly home.

Just as I made it to the platform, I realized it was devoid of people. “However, it is a train”, I thought. "Do people still ride trains very often?". The doors opened as I pondered this idea. I grabbed my luggage, entered, and sat down exhausted from the previous events. Once on the train my body relaxed as I knew I was safely making my way home.