The Fourth Station

I suddenly found myself in an unfamiliar train station.

My eyes wander around, not a soul to be found. The surroundings are clean, and there isn’t a speck of dust wherever I look.

Contrast that to the dreadful atmosphere around me, where the air is heavy and stagnant.

Where the hell am I?

I pulled out my phone to check for reception, but of course.

None.

I pull my headphones down to my neck to try to absorb my surroundings. Just as I do, a jingle plays from the speakers of the station. A combination of notes that I’ve never heard before. It sounds dissonant yet harmonious in a dreadful sense. Then, at the end, a feminine voice says “Welcome to the Fourth Station” in a distorted way. It feels like 10 copies of the voice were being played at once, with each of them a half step lower than the other.

I’ve listened to a lot of music, but this is definitely new to me.

Ugh. It makes me sick.

I explore the place, checking every nook and cranny for additional hints as to where I might be. But nothing turns up.

“Fourth Station, huh.”

That’s my only clue as to where I am. But nobody really names a station after a number. It’s usually named after a place or sometimes a name. I’ve never heard of a station just named “Fourth”.

This jingle is starting to get on my nerves.

I wear my headphones again to try to stifle the noise, but it doesn’t work. It feels like the jingle is being played directly to my brain.

Repeating.

Over and over. Increasing in volume every second it’s played.

This is insane.

I rush over to what looks like the main office to look for a way to stop it. Luckily, I find the computer seemingly the one responsible for it. Written on the screen was something I’m starting to get familiar with.

“Welcome to the Fourth Station”

I minimize that window, and another one pops up. This time it’s a security footage of a dimly lit staircase. The camera, from what I can deduce, is placed at the top right corner of the room, as I can see a staircase going down at the bottom left and the one going up at the far right.

The staircase looks different. A stark contrast to the station’s cleanliness. I thought of minimizing it, thinking that it’s maybe a part of the station that I haven’t seen, maybe something beyond the locked doors that I couldn’t break through.

But something intriguing pops up on the screen.

A person who looks like me emerges from the staircase and heads to the far-right side of the room towards the door that leads to another room. He stands in front of it for a couple of seconds before he starts knocking softly.

Knock. Knock.

Knock. Knock.

I remove my headphones and gulp.

Knock. Knock.

The knocks continue.

I start to sweat profusely.

I’m pretty sure I didn’t take any stairs when I reached this place. In fact, I don’t think there is a staircase there!

Knock. Knock.

“Hello? Is someone there?”

A voice echoes from behind the door. I freeze, I don’t know what to do. A single mistake here can spell out something grim, and I didn’t want to make that mistake.

Why does that guy look exactly like me down to the voice?!

“Uhh, this is the main office, right? I just want to ask that you turn down the jingle that’s been playing over and over, as it has been bothering the other passengers for quite a bit… Thank you.”

Wait, other passengers? There are other people in here?

As I‘m about to rush out and talk to whoever is on the other side of the door, the lights turn off, leaving only the monitor of the screen as my source of light. I look at it and see that the person had already vanished. Where the hell did he come from?

I minimize the window and look for the music player. I find it quickly and stop it. I let out a sigh of relief as the jingle finally stops. But just as the first problem was solved, another one emerges.

I look at the door.

If I take what just happened into consideration, the logical conclusion would be that I’d be welcomed by a pair of staircases. Oneis going up, the other is going down. I prepare myself for whatever is on the other side and slowly open the door. What greeted me was complete darkness.

Huh?

I grab my phone and turn on the built-in flashlight.

It really is the same thing. I’ve been transported to another part of the station.

In front of me are two staircases just like what I saw in the security footage. My eyes dart around the room looking for a CCTV Camera, but I can’t find one. I turn back to see if I can check out the footage once more, but the door I came from had already vanished and was replaced by a stone wall oozing with green fluid from its gaps. I survey the surroundings and find that the stairs leading to the floor above me lead to nowhere. There’s a wall similar to the one I saw earlier that’s standing in the way.

I guess the only way is down.

I slowly make my way downstairs with the little light my phone’s torch can produce. The deeper I go, the dimmer my light gets. I can also feel my surroundings getting colder and heavier. It’s starting to affect my breathing.

Ugh, it’s starting to sting my lungs.

I let out a sigh.

Huh?

Condensation?

As my breathing starts getting huffier, I notice that I can see condensation from it, too. Probably because of the temperature around me. Good thing I’m wearing a jacket. That’s not the only weird thing, though. I check the stairs I just descended from and find that there’s a wall preventing me from going up.

It’s the same thing as earlier, at least from where I started. Am I just going in loops?

I ponder.

I don’t think so, but that’s just a deduction from the temperature. There’s also a chance that the room just so happened to suddenly get colder.

This isn’t helping me at all. I need more information.

I walk upstairs and examine the wall. The green slime thing, whatever the hell it was, produces an abhorrent smell enough to make an adult’s stomach turn inside out while also giving them a mind-shattering headache.

Despite that, I still push through as I saw something that piques my interest. In this particular wall, there’s a small gap. I’m guessing that I can probably peek through it and see where this slime is coming from.

I wish I hadn’t.

There are a bunch of bodies, all of them covered with the green slime present all over this labyrinth of a staircase. No, wait. They weren’t covered by it. It’s directly fused into their bodies; each of them showcased warped facial expressions straight out of a nightmare. Some of them were contorted into postures the human body just wouldn’t be able to do. Some of them appear to be running away from something with outstretched hands and terrified eyes.

Then, there’s a sudden jolt. It was subtle, but I saw it.

The body was of a man, though compared to the ones beside him, he seemed a little more fortunate. He still retained most of his body. The only jellified part of him was his eyes. His head moves slightly towards my direction, it‘s slow and kind of robotic. It seems like he was fighting an external force putting pressure on his neck.

All of a sudden, the pressure breaks, and his eyes meet mine. His mouth slowly breaks into a wide smile, revealing his gums and teeth that are jellified as well. His head tilts to the side violently while still maintaining eye contact. My eyes just can’t break away from him. I want to step back and run away, but I couldn’t.

“Just what the hell are you?!” I yell.

No other choice pops into my mind as my whole body is paralyzed from the fear that emanates from that room. However, the moment my voice reverberates, the jellified people are no longer in sight, and the green slime is nowhere to be found. The wall still stands there, but there is nothing behind it anymore.

I can’t stay here anymore. I need to get the hell out of here as soon as possible.

I force myself to run downstairs and look for the elusive exit, which I found not even a couple of floors below. I open the door, which had ‘exit’ written above it, and leave that hellish labyrinth.

What greets me is a familiar sight.

The Fourth Station.

It was the same way as I left it. Save for one thing.

There’s a train waiting at the platform. It looks like an old train; completely different from the one I rode when I got here. A lone man stands in front of the train’s doors. He wears an old train conductor’s uniform, and his face is covered by his hat. In his right hand, he holds tickets covered with, from what I can assume, bloodstains.

I look behind me and find that the door behind me has vanished once more.

“Uhh, hey.” I approach the conductor.

No answer.

“Do you know where this is?”

Kind of a dumb question, I know. But damn, I just need someone to confirm where the hell I am.

He shrugs the question off once more and just motions for me to enter the train.

“Hey! I’m talking to you!”

I grab his collar and pull him towards me.

“Where the hell am I and what the hell is this place?!”

I look at him in anger while I shake him violently, but he says nothing and again motions for me to enter the train. Realizing that nothing will come out of this, I give up and just follow his instructions. I don’t know where this is going, but this might be my only exit. I might as well take the risk. I sit just beside the exit, giving me a window seat and a chance to get out just in case something bad happens.

When I sit down, the door beside me closes slowly, and the door that connects each carriage opens. There was an influx of passengers I’ve never seen before, and they’re taking their seats around me. Some are even standing and looking down at me.

They didn’t look like humans. I mean, they do. They look exactly like humans, but they don’t feel like one. There’s something robotic to them that I just can’t put my finger on. They just felt lifeless. Eyes open, staring at something, and never blinking.

The train starts moving, and together with it, their bodies start swaying like trees being blown away by the wind, losing and regaining their balance.

“We’re now entering Kisaragi Station.”

Kisaragi? Sounds familiar

The train enters a short tunnel and emerges at a rail track in the middle of a beautiful rice field. It’s such a different vibe from where I was that my eyes took time to adjust to the brightness of the sun.

I let out a sigh of relief.

“Hey, why are you sighing?”

The person standing beside me starts talking to me.

I flinch for a second. I didn’t expect anyone to speak to me. I’m also using the term “person” loosely. They’re more… zombie. Zombie with feelings? Do they even have feelings? Probably zombies that can think. I don’t know. I didn’t reply. I just keep my eyes forward. I don’t want to be associated with these people, but he keeps pressing me with questions while his face slowly approaches mine until he is in proximity.

Then he whispers:

“The fun only starts now.”

I look at him for the first time and realize that this guy was the same guy that I saw in the gap with the jellified eyes and gums. He smiles, and his body moves erratically like someone who’s being exorcised. My chest tightens, and I’m at a loss for words. My mouth hangs open, but I can’t get anything out, not even breaths. It feels like my lungs were slowly getting drained of their oxygen.

Then all of a sudden, the sun lost its light as it was being covered by the clouds. The man starts to shake much more violently than before, to the point where I can see his bones dislocating and fracturing inside his own body. He immediately stops when the sun is at its brightest outside. Like nothing even happened.

The next one was different.

It lasted longer.

Maybe about a minute.

But that minute was enough to break this man’s body internally. His body stops shaking, and his broken bones protrudes his skin violently, sending pools of blood all around him. His body explodes soon after, sending his internals flying across the carriage.

That wasn’t all, though.

What really makes me uncomfortable are the reactions of the people around me. They were cheering. As if a great spectacle just happened right in front of them. My fear turns into anger. I cant’t fathom whatever is happening ever since I dropped into that Fourth Station. What the hell did I even do to deserve this hellish experience?! Am I cursed?! Did someone hex me?!

“Why the hell am I here?!” I scream.

My mind can’t handle it anymore. My anger turns into despair, and my despair turns into… nothingness. I quickly realize that my questions won’t be answered. It was hopeless.

“Hey, man. You don’t have time to worry about that.”

The man behind me said.

“You’re next.”

He continues.

And the sun slowly lost its glow once more.

***

I wake up short of breath and grasping my chest.

A nightmare?

I look around me. I’m back in my room. No traces of anything that happened. It’s just me in my room, that’s it. No creepy old men with exploding bodies and jellified eyes. No innards all over me, nor blood.

I’m back.

I’m finally back.

I almost shed a tear, but as if on cue, my alarm rings, notifying me that I’m almost late to my classes. So I rush to get ready and head out as soon as I can.

Crap, I’m gonna be late.

I charge straight through the crowd, doing my best to avoid bumping into people. Luckily, I still caught up to the train. Meaning, I probably won’t be late.

Probably.

The daily commute from my house to the school only takes about 30–45 minutes. But I checked my phone, and it’s been going on for about an hour now.

Maybe there’s a problem?

I’ll just wait for the conductor. They usually do checks periodically. I’ll ask them about it.

Soon thereafter, one comes into sight. She slowly makes her way through the passengers, checking if they’re okay and answering their questions or concerns whenever they have any. She handles herself differently from the conductors I’ve seen, though. She seems much more elegant, and her actions just radiate grace from all angles.

When she reaches me, she looks at me with caring eyes.

“You seem lost, child.”

Lost?

“Umm. I’m not sure I follow, Ma’am.”

“Just like I said. You seem lost.”

She repeats.

“Oh, did I enter the wrong train?”

I tilt my head to the side. I’m confused, and this raises a lot of questions. Let’s say I’m actually lost. How did she know that? Why does she seem like she knew who I am the moment she looked at me?

Just who is she?

“Hmm, let’s just say that you’re quite familiar with this station.”

“Yeah, it’s the one near my university, right?”

“Oh, no no no, baby.”

She waves her index finger.

“Huh? Then where is this headed?”

“To the Fourth Station.”

She smiles and walks away.