Ghost Train

Chapter 2

It was black at first. Not the black that suffocates, but the one that is empty with space. I felt nothing, but soon my senses started to regain themselves. First, I heard the sound of a whistle bellowing out of control, and I could even hear the metallic clinks of metal grinding against metal. Then a most peculiar scent of smoke with a taste of nature came wafting into my nose, filling me with pictures of a place I could not see. But, soon the setting of my mind popped out of my head and drew a forest hillside dotted with trees and wavy grass. At the bottom of the hill, there was a rusty railroad track with a wooden bench beside it to await wandering souls that could look out to the gorgeous sunset that shone pink and gold across the sky.
I couldn't believe i had created that from my mind! Or was it still in my mind?

What if im in my mind? Is this all a dream? Well, it must be a dream because how else would you exp-....Wait, I'm dead. I remember. I just jumped right off the roof of my apartment building and died right then and there. Funny how people imagined death as a way to escape your thoughts and worries so you could be a soul, with God caring for you or whatever. Its a funny joke really, getting to live eternity always stuck in your mind. Props to the guy who made this afterlife.

I laughed for a brief moment before a wind picked up the earthy dust around the tracks, stinging my face and hands which were useless in fighting the pellets of Earth. The dust eventually whipped into my mouth, filling my taste buds with an eerie gritty taste of minerals and polluted air. Which still had the faint aroma of smoke here and there.

I hated the wind here. It had no temperature, or even a calm bellowing wind that would give you a gentle wake in the morning.
No, here the wind was dry and came in violent gusts. It was miserable. But soon my misery was cut short by the shrieking noise of a whistle.

Turning towards the sound I saw a great black locomotive come steadily along the tracks. Its wheels turning and chugging along.  I watched as it made it's stop right in front of me, with one of the car doors facing me.

I just stood in silence. I had never seen a train like this. I had only seen buses and subways. My eyes went wide staring at this humongous figure.

Suddenly the car door opened up, pouring out a blinding light making my bronze colored eyes seem golden.
I turned my face away only to feel the heat of the light turn cool and see the ground turn brown again.
I turned around, standing in front of me was an older man probably about 50 or so with a thousand wrinkles on his skin and a salt and pepper beard. The wrinkles made his face and blue eyes droop slightly giving him a tired feature. I stared at him, not really knowing what else to do. "You boarding the train miss?" I looked up and saw him smiling at me waiting for an answer.
"I.. I don't know. Am I suppose to?"

"Depends on where your going."

Where I'm going? How was I supposed to know where I was going. I didn't even know where I was. But maybe he could give me some answers.

"Ok, umm sir where exactly are we in the first place?"

"You don't know?"
He looked at me funny and brought out a clipboard from thin air.
How did he do that!
He must have seen the surprise in my face because he smiled and shook his head.

"I forget that you people don't have any special magic from where you come from. Odd.. you people invented the greatest machines of all time, you would think flying cars and things like that would be available, but nope.
Instead you make nonsensical toys and stuff that only degrades the environment. "

He shook his head and read down his list that had names on it.

"Let's see here, Mary Green, Jenna Hartfield, John Anders, and Aria Salenta. Any of those names yours by any chance?"

"No, sir."

The old man sighed and made his clipboard disappear.

"I was afraid you'd say that. Great now I know they'll bump me down to landscaping duties."

"What?"

" Nothing. So child what is your name?"

He looked up at me, and at first my mind went blank. What's my name? I knew those other names weren't mine, so what is mine? Think. What's the name of a girl with bronze eyes, a heart shaped face, and long thick dark brown hair, that's all scenery to an olive skin toned background.
Thinking even harder I found a first name. Angel.

"My name is Angel, I whispered."

"What's that?"

"My name is Angel!"
My voice came out a lot stronger than what I thought it would.

" Well you certainly seem like one. "

I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or complimenting me.

" And your last name, Angel?"

"Cooper. My last name is Cooper.

I felt accomplished somehow, for remembering such a tiny detail, but considering the only other thing I knew which was the fact that I'm dead, it seemed like a big improvement to me.

"Well Angel Cooper, seems you jumped into the wrong life."
He snickered at his little joke, as if it was completely normal to joke about somebody's death.

A little annoyed I asked him, "So what life am I supposed to be in?"

Looking down at his clipboard he flipped through a couple pages before he found my page.

"Well, your a long way from your own train station city girl. Your train waits in our capital city. Which is about 50 miles from here. "

"Oh. So, who's life did I jump into?"

"there's no time for questions. Your going to have to get on the train so I can take you to the city. So hop on board, and we shall leave. Oh my name is George by the way, thanks for asking. "
He ended with a hiss of annoyance and walked up the trains steps, stopping at the top to wait for me.

Hesitant at first, I only took small steps towards the train, but thanks to the man basically pulling me in, I was sitting on a leathery cushion in no time.

******

Hey, hope you like the new story part.
Still trying to get better at writing so I hope it's good.