Not your turn- Demise express

Part 14- Trouble

"Phil, I have to tell you something. I saw something while I was with Daniel. It's important." He hesitated. "Ok, but quickly. If something is wrong we have to move fast, maybe even go by Emily really quick." I swallowed, "That's the thing, I went by her compartment on my way here, she was gone. I came here because you know where the waiting area is. I think she might be there."

"She wasn't in her-?"

"Yes, she wasn't in her compartment. But that's not what I wanted to say!" I gathered my strength for this one. "I saw another train!"

"Another train? Are you sure? That can't be. As far as I know, there is only this one."

"As far as you know?! How much do you actually know? What are you, like some kind of secret afterlife psychic magician or something?!" I snapped at him. It wasn't fair of me to just yell at him like that, but my nerves were on edge. He just looked at me in disbelief.

"Look, I get that you're on edge cause of Emily, I am too, ok? We both know some crazy shit is going down here and we don't have time to fight, and frankly, I don't want to fight with you! So get your act together!" I nodded, accepting defeat, mainly because I didn't have any comebacks right on the spot. "Ok...now, tell me what you saw." I locked eyes with him. It was strange. I felt compassionate towards him and it was weird how some sort of friendship- if you could even call it that- had formed in such a short time. He even gave me a curious small encouraging smile.

The moment Daniel and I had left for his boss's office or whatever, I had a really bad feeling inside of me. It was similar to how it had felt every time before I fell unconscious and my spirit traveled back into my nearly lifeless body in some hospital, but different nonetheless. My field of sight narrowed and got dark around the edges and everything started to flicker, the noises around me only reached me from far away. I turned my head to took out the window while we were walking down the hall towards the portal, and watched the worlds emerge from the black nothingness and see it disappear within a blink of an eye. And that's where I saw something that caught my eye. Another train approached from the shadows, rushing by us at the same speed as us. Then time stopped. Or moved very slow at least. One specific window of the train caught my eye. A girl was standing at the window, looking out. She had a sad expression on her face and had her black hair tied into a loose braid that rested on her shoulder. She was dressed in blue high waisted jeans, her black satin top with lace was tucked into the jeans and a comfy wool gray cardigan covered her shoulders. Behind her were a man and a woman, probably her parents. They were talking to each other, but she didn't seem to want to be part of the conversation. The girl and I locked eyes and she smiled at me. Then time seemed to have recovered, and then the girl's window was gone as time flowed at its normal pace again. And then, one or two seconds later, the train was gone too. What had I just encountered? I stooped in my tracks, went back to the window, placed my hands on the cold glass and looked out, but there was no train in sight. Nothing was in sight, except for darkness. "Lia, what now? We have to get going." Daniel urged me, "Sorry, its nothing. I just thought I saw something. Nothing important." Daniel raised an eyebrow and looked at me a bit concerned, but didn't question me any further. We proceeded walking down the hallway to the portal, but before we got to it, it sprang into action. A man appeared on the portal, also wearing a uniform. Another conductor? He didn't really look like it. He was taller and better built then Daniel. "Who are you?" Daniel asked the man. "My name is Cain. I was sent by HQ to help out."

"That was fast. And help with what exactly?"

"I was told you were going to be taking a break, Daniel, so I was asked to help manage wagons 7-10 since Eve is taking over yours. That's where I'm headed right now."

"Why are you using the portals though? We need them to transport passengers. I don't know if you were told yet, but the staff isn't allowed to use the portals."

"Right, I know. I just wanted to get the feel of it you know? Really make sure I know how they work."

"Ah, I get you. Yeah, they can be tricky at first. Good luck to you anyways." Cain nodded and walked past us. "Come on Lia, let's get going."

"Wait, Wait, Wait! Cain?! I literally saw that guy once I came here. Hetalked with Everlyn and she took him to see the boss. How could he be at twoplaces at the same time?" Phil interrupted me "And Dan just let him go?" "You didn'tlet me finish yet!" I complained "But no, in fact, he went to follow him afterEvelyn showed up really mad, yelling that that man was a fraud or something.Then she and Daniel went after him and I came here after another quick faint."Phil's eyes widened. "I think there might even be two of them, and they are badnews." He started to get up from the ground and headed towards the door. "Onemore thing!" I quickly added, trying to catch his attention for another minute "Phil the girl on the other train...that was me."