A train too late
By PoisonInk
An abandoned train station of which i dont know more than i can
see. It seems that manny years have passed since somebody dropped
on
the
dusty platform, the air has been glued to walls like a rust. Sometimes,
on the contrary, I think the station was abandoned not long before
my
arrival
and the blind silence surrounding me hides a secret.
In
front
of
the platform extending southward there is a field. Once it was, i
think,
cultivated. Now it`s wild, covered with small, rough grass. The field
downs
to a point in a valley then climbs a low hill where the grass strips
alternating
with gray spots of the soil ravaged by the sun. In the distance,
i
can
see the black line of a forest where the train truck is lost. Another
track passing the train station makes a loop behind the warehouse,
but
after a few hundred meters it stops right before the swamp. Probably
would
have had to cross the swamp, but the project failed or was abandoned
with
the station.I could not find another explanation. A hard stench is
coming
from that direction. Fortunately, the wind now blows from the fields
and
woods, so it takes away the filthy smell of the swamp.
The
clock
on
the
platform, that at first moment seemed a normal clock,
clearly
indicate that time
itself has stopped here
to
run
normally. Only the minute
hand turns.The hour stands
still,
it
seems
stuck
in
the mud and it could not
move forward.
So,
you
know,
the
minute hand is spinning in
vain.
In one room i`ve found a lot of invoices in wich
the
hours of arrivals
and departures where carefully noted, accurate up to a second. However,
the names of towns are missing. As if either did not matter where
the
trains came from or where they were headed. All the trains had to
pass
however at the exact time, not even one second late on their way of
nowhere
to nowhere. Even more curious is, i can`t see anywhere passenger ticket
counters. I searched all over the station, taking every single room.
I
found nothing that could serve for such a purpose, wich is strange,
especially
since there is a waiting room close to normal, with banks around,
nailed
to the walls. But without a ticket counter.
In contrast,
on
the platform waiting room therea are two light bulbs. They are useless
in daylight and perhaps miserable at night. They can not been extinguished.
There is no switch. At day, the two light bulbs spread a dirty light
that
only helps the spiders to continue their work. At night, however,
that
light
is not entirely useless. Since i have to say, at night a wind blows
continuously
and monotonously. It starts soon after sunset and it last until morning.
A choking red dust is aroused by the dry grass and mostly from the
barren
parts toward the forest. Later, a deaf sound penetrates from the marsh,
probably the sound of reeds. Without those two lights, the nights
would
certainly be much harder to bear in this desert, where i dont even
know where I am or how i got here.
Even the name of
the station is a charade. It is reduced to three letters, white on
a
pale
blue background, hanging over the entrance to the waiting room: ERO.
I
do not see the gaps left by fallen letters. Apparently, the station
name
was written incomplete and mysterious unpurpose, as if someone had
wanted
to leave every traveler to chose whatever name he wanted. I took
a
piece
of chalk and I played trying to compose a word by adding one letter:
EROS.
HERO. ZERO.
...