last train to eternity (3)

They looked as desperate as she felt, their eyes filled with a mix of hope and fear. She joined them, keeping her distance but close enough to listen. An old man was speaking, his voice barely more than a whisper.

"They say the train comes at midnight," he said. "If you believe, you can see it. But you must be willing to leave everything behind." Violet's heart pounded in her chest.

She had nothing left to lose, but the thought of stepping into the unknown terrified her. She had lost her family to the war, her friends to famine. All she had left were memories and the tattered clothes on her back.