The Green Hills

Introduction

"If I don't get a shoulder massage in the next hour I'm gonna go crazy", I spent days hunched over a computer, writing paper after paper, every day, all day, just to make ends meet.

"Go get your college degree", they said. "You'll be happy", they said. But truth be told, I was not happy. The clock on the lower right hand side of my computer was at 5:58, not that I had much to do after work.

Just as the clock struck five I submitted the file and shutdown my computer. I checked out my time card and walked out of there as swiftly as I could. On the street below I could hear the honking cars. Streetlights were beginning to turn on, and the bright signs and smog clouded my view of the sky.

I just stood by the bus stop post with my satchel weighing me down. The big metal box was sure taking it's time arriving a full fifteen minutes late. But I scanned my bus card and took a seat near the back.

Constantly I found myself thinking, "What's the point?" I had money, yeah, that was never a problem, I just didn't have anything to look forward to. It seemed as if all I lived to do was, work, pay bills, and work again. The work wasn't meaningful. It was meaningless, repetitive, stressing, and what for? A good salary? It meant nothing if I didn't enjoy doing it.

I looked out the window to see men and women coming home, hugging their spouses before going inside cozy little apartments. I didn't have anyone like that, I wished I did, but I just simply didn't.

Soon the bus came to my stop, and I got off walking to my dull apartment. As I opened the door I was greeted by silence. Maybe beside the small refrigerator humming. I dropped my bag on the floor and sat on my soft couch. My tiredness combined with forgetting to turn the light on, allowed to pass out on the piece of furniture.

Normally I didn't dream of much, just darkness but this time it was different. I saw a house surrounded by vegetable plots, an orchard, and a grain field. The house beautifully built with dark stained wood and a tile roof. This was a good dream if I could ever remember having one. The version of me in the dream actually seemed content with life.

He had two kids runnin around helping him, and a beautiful wife.I wanted that, but would I ever get it?

He had a little orange tractor to help tend the land and their was always a bounty, he never struggled. But most importantly he was happier, much happier than I. Instead, I was alone in the city with wealth, but no happiness. Why did I envy a life so much that isn't mine?

"It could be yours", I heard a soft voice in the dream, it wasn't a familiar one. But it sounded like a woman. I didn't respond I couldn't see the speaker.

"Do you want what you saw in the dream?", it was then she appeared. She had pale skin, black hair, and blue eyes. She wore a simple black dress, and a smile, a twisted smile. All I could think was yes, yes I did want it.

She seemed to respond to me when she said, "Then watch closely". The scenery of the farm soon changed into the huge concrete walls of the train station. "There's a door, in one of the walls that only a few can see, there's a crack in the floor and in that crack you'll find a key, it's on platform one".

This dream was starting to get interesting. "Once you open the door, follow the hall, it leads to Platform Zero". Never once heard of a platform zero, but it was just a dream. "I must get going now, but I'll see you soon, ta ta". Then the dream went black again. What had I just seen?

I woke up, my stomach growled.Must've forgotten to eat dinner. I stood up off the couch and headed to the kitchen in my apartment. The fridge was mostly bare, besides for a pack of tofu and a couple beers. I pulled the tofu out and set it on the counter where I noticed a slip of paper.

At first I didn't give it much thought, but as I put some rice noodles on the boil I was more tempted to see what it said. After getting the rest of the food cooking I picked up the slip.

It was golden yellow and the material was thick, like cardstock. On the top in bold letters it read "Greenhill Railway Company", it was a ticket. Further down there were slots, one had the words, "Platform 0", the next read "Time/date: 7:15 PM. February 19, 2017", that was tomorrow.

This had to be trick, but then how did it get there? Someone would've had to broke into my apartment, but evidence of that was nonexistent. Was it legit or was it trick?

The smell of burnt food broke my concentration, "Shit". Fortunately the food was still salvageable and with a bit of scraping I cleaned the skillet. Once again I sat on the couch but this time I was munching on a bit of pasta. I turned the sixty-inch flat screen television to the History Channel and Ice Road Truckers was on.

It was just a rerun but there wasn't anything better to watch. Once again I found myself drifting to sleep and I managed to press the power button before I completely dozed off.

Once again I found myself dreaming about that strange place, where everything was good, and that version of me who actually had a smile on his face.Soon it just once again faded away. But i started to wonder, could an actual place exist?

How do I know if this ticket is real? What if it's a prank?

But there was always the part of me, just thinking, just hoping, it actually existed.

Morning greeted me with blinding rays showing through the sliding door. The wall clock read 7:34. My dishes from last night were still sitting on the coffee table and I was still in my work clothes. I was in no hurry that morning, my bus came at 9:00, so I still had over an hour to get ready for work.

After washing my dishes I picked out my clothes for the day. I was out of clean khakis so I opted just to grab a pair of blue jeans and a plaid shirt from my dresser.

A nice hot shower did wonders to wake me up, it temporarily eased the muscle pain in my shoulders, offering some relief. Then the thought of the mysterious dreams I had yesterday came back, "Platform zero", I muttered to myself. I knew the city had an subway system but it had been out of use for over fifty years.

Most if not all the entrances were capped off decades ago.