The train ride

Fear tastes like you are sucking a brick and it smells like smoke. At first, she thought she was dreaming. This was not one of those slow-motion dreams. She felt drunk and wet. There were loud inhuman screams. Was she screaming? As she awakened, she realized the screams were coming from two sources. There were five individuals crammed up against the door of what looked like a train car. All five of them were screaming, additionally, the source of the louder screams/screeches were the train tracts, wheels, and brakes that seemed to be broken.

The drunk feeling was explained as she stared out the dark window mutely, the train’s car was swaying drunkenly. No wonder she felt woozy. There was the smell of vomit and fresh urine. Someone had lost control of their bladder in the chaos. She saw a young man vomiting and most of it was splashing onto an older man’s lap and legs. That was sickening. She vaguely wondered if the two were father and son.

Why was she on the floor? What was she doing on this train? She was supposed to be in town speaking to her doctor. She felt a cold fear creeping up her spine. The last thing she remembered was getting on her horse, Sage, and riding fast. How did she end up on this train? Oh God, she thought, please don’t let me die! Don’t let them win.

Because she believed her life was at risk, she felt ashamed that these people on the train would die because of her. She suspected this broken train was another effort of her in-laws to get rid of her.

The horrible gnawing in her stomach that afflicted her for the last four days was showing its ugly head now. What was she to do? There was no holding this thing back. It was painful and explosive. She had no control of her body when this started. She remembered that she hadn’t eaten anything since 4 pm yesterday. She could not trust the food or the water in that house anymore. Yesterday, she just ate two carrots she dug up from the garden. Maybe nothing would be in her stomach. What a way to die! The stench from vomitus, urine, and her diarrheal contribution would give the rescuers a difficult time when they came to this train car.

She left the house in the early morning hours. No one knew she was leaving. She had muffled Sage’s hooves. They walked for at least two miles before she let Sage have her head and they flew.

There was no train between the ranch and town! The nearest railroad tracks were in Durango. Her ranch was in Aurora. That was over 350 miles away. So where was she, where was Sage, how and why was she on this train? More importantly what was happening with this train? Was this another act by her in-laws to wipe her off the face of the earth? Would she survive when it crashed? She was deathly afraid that no one would be alive at the end of this ride.

Her watch pocket watch was digging into her left hip. She also felt her wedding rings on her hand. Whoever put her on this train did not rob her. They wanted her to be identified. The time according to her watch was 8 pm. How could it be 8 pm? She left the house at precisely 2 am. She had to wait for the last ranch hand to come home from his nightly carousing. She did not want to meet someone coming home as she was leaving.

She discovered that the wetness was blood. Oh, Dear God! She became conscious of pain on the right side of her head and face. One eye was shut down. She realized that she could not move. She attempted to speak, to scream even, but only groans came out.

The people in the train car looked startled when they heard her. Did they think she was dead? What was going on? She had no memory of boarding a train and no ticket, no bag. The train kept hurtling non-stop and she was unable to move her body only her hands. Maybe the blows to her head had taken her memory. She said a quick prayer that somehow, she would survive this hellish train ride. A woman crawled over to her side on the floor and tried to soothe her. She used the universal lie – ‘We are going to be alright- No one was going to be alright.

Suddenly, the train car jerked to a stop same time there was a loud crashing and grinding sound. Then they all screamed as they felt the car tilting over to the side she was on. All those bodies came rushing over to her side of the train car. They all fell around and on top of her. No one had control over their bodies.

The pain was intense. The young man curled up into a ball groaning, the old man was now sitting on her right hip. The woman who came to soothe her was now lying across her chest and tummy. She could not breathe. There was nowhere for them to go. Gravity was creating this crush. They were falling. She was at the bottom of the human pile.

They all heard it. Splash! Oh my God! Was she going to drown without knowing who was responsible? Was this it? She was not ready to die. Yes, there were heartbreaks and stunning discoveries in her family life, but she could cope with God’s help. Please God, let me live.

The car was filling up with water. She was already covered except for her head which was on the woman’s lap now. The older man was trying to break open a window. They all heard the saw before they saw the guys. Thank God was her first thought. She was underwater by now and struggling to breathe. The woman was lifting her head so she could get some air, but it was scary. The men threw a rope, and she was the first to be placed in the harness and pulled out. That was the cause of excruciating pain in her head and legs.

Now that she was out of the water, she realized her left eye was shut due to dried blood and swelling.

Then she saw the area, she recognized it. She was more than 400 miles away from the ranch. What was the meaning of this? She knew no one here and she did not know what happened to her and the train.

The rescue team took her and the other passengers to a hospital nearby. Her injuries were blunt trauma wounds to her left head and left face. A bruised but not broken left jaw. A small tear on her left eyelid which was swollen shut and oozing blood. She was beaten in the back and left side. She could not tell who did it or why. She did know who she was, however, fear made her stay quiet. She did not want her assailants to know where she was when the news hit the air.

She saw the woman who saved her life by holding her head above the water. She was nursing a broken arm. She sustained that injury after being rescued. She fell out of the car she was in because the door was not properly closed when they started driving. She told the girl two men threw her body into the train car when it was leaving the Leedstown train station. What she thought, Leedstown was far from home. The woman went on to say that shortly after they threw the body on the train the train sped and started swaying on the tracks. They all thought she was a dead body. Because of how they threw her and ran off.

No one saw their faces. The train left Leedstown at 740 pm and they were in the hospital by 810 pm. Everything happened so quickly. She was determined to remain alive, however, she wanted to understand what happened and know who was behind it.

During the exam, the emergency doctor discovered that she was pregnant. Ohhhhh! She felt joy and fear simultaneously. Both she and this baby would be in danger. She was very happy to have a piece of her beloved husband with her. She could only imagine the anger the family would feel when they learned this. The doctor also confirmed that she was slowly being poisoned by the old Visine drops left behind by her husband.

The blows to her head and face were intended to be fatal. Somehow, she survived but had no recollection of anything beyond riding very fast on her horse. She wondered about poor Sage. Where was her horse? Is she hurt just like her? Did she survive?

In a canyon, over 400 miles away, a Black horse with white socks and a white tail was calmly eating grass. If only she could tell her mistress what happened that early morning. Her 28-year-old stepson and his uncle, her husband’s younger brother, sneaked up on her from behind.