Press. Release. Wait.

Sounds in the Dark

I hung up the phone.

I'm not really sure why I did but immediately upon hearing him say the words dog treats I slammed the train telephone down and crossed my arms.

The call rang out from the train.

CALL FROM TRAIN 6.

I stared off into the distance.

CALL FROM TRAIN 6.

I tried to ignore the voice.

CALL FROM TRAIN 6.

"SHUT UP!"

CALL FROM TRAIN 6

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" I screamed again.

CALL FROM TRAIN 6

I took a few deep breaths, calming myself to talk to Adam.

CALL FROM TRAIN 6

I psyched myself up...

CALL FR... and grabbed the phone.

"Hey, sorry," I said, "we must have gotten disconnected somehow."

"Oh... Okay. It's okay. I was nervous there for a second."

"Nah, it's totally cool. We're fine. We're both totally fine." My panic gave way to almost a sarcastic calm.

"Are you okay?" Adam questioned.

"Ummm... yeah. I just kind of want to figure this out."

"Okay... good."

There was silence. Long silence. A silence where the dog stared at me even as I tried to ignore it. I couldn't see the dog. But I knew it was staring at me.

"Stop it!" I snapped at the dog.

"What?" Adam had heard me.

I totally forgot to tell him.

"Oh, I found a dog."

"A living dog?"

"...Yeah."

"Well if you find me he'll get some treats."

"Yeah," I mumbled absentmindedly.

Adam was picking up on something. I don't think he had any idea how deep it was but I could tell he was realizing something was wrong. Even if he was just interpreting my voice.

"What's up?"

"Nothing."

"Please, please tell me."

"Nothing's up."

There was another long silence.

"Ok, FINE," I shouted into the phone, "the dog treats. The fucking dog treats man. I know where you are because I WAS THERE. I was definitely there."

"Okay..." Adam said, "so find me."

I brought the phone up to my shoulder and held it while I looked out towards the empty train car. I tried to light it up but I only managed to get a dim reflection of myself against the window.

I grabbed the handle of the door.

It opened.

Oh.

Am I crazy?

I was not crazy. I do believe the doors were made to open on the inside. But locked from the outside to prevent anyone from walking through the cars. That was... irrelevant at this point though.

The chord of the phone was getting a little stretched out but I held it to the very edge until I saw the speaker that I had spent so much time lying against, talking to Adam.

"So... I should be looking at you." I called into the phone.

"What do you mean you should?

"Look at the speaker."

"Okay."

"What does it say?"

"It says press, release, wait."

"Above that."

"In case of emergency press button to speak-"

"Directly to train operator." I finished.

"Okay, what does this prove? You're in a different car..."

"Wait, give me a second."

I fumbled in the dark for a second, shining the light across the car train until I found my prize. A small red purse with a few choice items inside."

"Describe the purse," I said.

"It's red. With some kind of insignia on it for the buckle. Some brand name or something I can't read it."

I looked down to mine. It was the same.

"Go on," I led him.

"There's a small silver bottle in it with a black twist-off cap. It's really small. Not sure why anyone would be carrying around so little water. And maybe like 6 dog treats."

I took a deep breath.

"Open the bottle," I called out to him, "don't drink from it."

"What is this about?" Adam called into me.

"I don't really know," I humored him. Because I kind of did. "I thought that was water when I saw it."

"What do you mean when you saw it?"

I picked up the bottle.

"I'm looking at it now."

"What?"

"Take a sip. Just a small sip."

I heard him unscrew it. Then suddenly I heard a spitting sound.

"What the fuck?" he sputtered, "that's--"

"Vodka."

There was another long silence. It was a different kind of silence. It felt empty. Strange.

"When were you here?" Adam whispered into the speaker.

"I told you I'm here now!"

"That's... that's not how anything works..."

"You think I don't know how that fucking works?" I screamed into the phone, "You think I would be telling you this if I wasn't one hundred fucking percent sure this was what was happening?"

"Okay. Okay! I believe you!"

You don't believe me.

"I know you don't fucking believe me!" I screamed into the phone.

"Okay... fine I don't believe you."

"What do you want me to do? You want me to describe every millimeter of this goddamn train car for you? You want me to start magnifying every piece of dust in this stupid goddamn piece of bullshit in order to convince you that we are in the same fucking train car?" With that last word I stomped my foot as hard as I could onto the metal grating, nearly hurting myself in the process.

"Wait..." he stumbled to find words. "I heard that."

"You... you heard me stomp my foot?"

"Do it again."

I stomped it again.

"No," he said, "not that time.

He paused.

"There it is!" he yelled, "listen!"

"I'm not doing anything."

"Listen over the phone!"

I put my ear against the phone. I couldn't hear much. Just his breathing. Then... a small FOOMPH. A knock that surely must have been a lot louder for him.

"Can you hear it?" he called out to me.

"I can hear it over the phone."

"It's just like you from-- FOOMPH-- before."

"Yeah-- FOOMPH-- it is."