Secret Places and Hidden Things

Chapter Twenty-Eight

A long time ago...

It had been days. Weeks, even. William had lost count. It was just as Jack had said, the train stayed parked on the road out front of the diner, its engine a steady low rumbling with the occasional hiss. For the first time in as long as he could remember, William felt tired. He could still remember his old life vaguely. It had been empty, mostly. This is how he felt now.

The diner had some bedrooms upstairs, and he spent long hours laying in bed, drifting in and out of sleep. If he dreamed, he couldn't remember it. Jack spent most of his time sitting at the bar listening to the old record player. Sometimes William would join him, but he was distant and talked little.

He often thought about the train. He knew Jack didn't want to get on it, but it seemed to be their only option. He'd long ago abandoned his boredom, but there was something else hovering in the air. A kind of inevitability that could only be resisted for so long. William wasn't even sure why they were resisting. He trusted Jack, but in the end, there wasn't anything for them here.

The first few days, William spent his time walking. The diner was nestled in the deep place between three hills, and William found that, if he kept the train in sight, he could make his way all the way to the edges. Standing on top of the highest hill, he could see a long distance, a vast unbroken pine forest. As soon as he began walking down the other side, though, he was once again heading for the diner. All paths led back to the train.

He had also tried following the train. This proved to be more difficult, though, because as soon as the diner was out of sight, he was heading back towards it. He'd opened the doors on a few of the cars, and they were mostly full of crates and boxes. He knew Jack would love to dig through them, but they were all just out of reach. He wasn't going to risk getting on in case the train left suddenly.

Those first few days, William had prepared himself for a long stay. He often thought about what it would mean to grow old sitting in the diner, and it didn't seem so bad to him. There was a fireplace out back, and they roasted marshmallows each night. Jack seemed happy, but he slowly began to withdraw into himself. He spent a lot of time clicking his device, like there was something important he had to check on every few minutes. When William asked about it, he would change the subject.

In spite of all this, William was content. At first it had felt like waiting, but soon this gave way to resting. He felt very old and frail, and began to move slowly. He had heard all the songs on the record player at least twenty times by now, but each time he grew more fond of them. If his time wandering had washed away his anxieties, his time at the diner was washing away expectation and desire. Everything stayed the same, without exception. Even the food was the same. It was sitting on a table for him in the morning. He would eat as the sun slowly rose and the moths disappeared from the screen. He would watch the fog roll away and listen to the low, distant rumbling of the train and the hiss of the pines. Then he'd go sit on the front step, and watch the swaying trees, the train a long line up over the hill.

Sometimes Jack would sit with him in the mornings. He wouldn't say anything unless William did, but he held onto his arm in a sad kind of way. He would take one of Williams hands and trace his fingers, then hold it tightly. He was like a lost child.

"I'm not leaving, Jack," He would say, "You don't need to worry. I really like it here now. We can stay here forever."

Jack would just smile weakly and look away.

In the afternoons, William would collect wood out in the forest and bring it down to the fire pit. Sometimes he would see birds, but aside from that there didn't seem to be anything living in the forest. He enjoyed himself, climbing up onto the rocks and looking out over the valley. The weather was usually chilly, and the sun stayed low on the horizon, but he always seemed to have an abundance of warm clothes to wear.

One day, when he was out walking, he surprised a fox. It was sitting next to a tree, digging carefully at its roots. William became very still and watched for a while. Once the fox noticed him, it jumped, and leapt around to face him with a yip. It stood for a moment, considering him, then trotted off into the trees. William followed it for a little while as best he could, but soon it disappeared over the crest of the hill and was gone.

William went back to the place it was digging. It didn't look like anything special, but after digging a bit more he found some oddly shaped mushrooms. He left them sitting on a rock next to the tree in case the fox came back. When he checked the next day, they were gone.

William didn't see the fox again, but as the days wore on he began to wonder about it more and more. It was the only thing that had changed the whole time they were there.

Then, a few days after he saw the fox, Jack went to sleep and never woke up. William found him laid out on one of the beds, his eyes closed lightly. He hadn't seen him all day, so he'd gone searching. He shook his shoulders and made loud noises but nothing worked.

The diner wasn't the same after this. When Jack had been with him, he had been content to stay, but without him around, even in his withdrawn mood, the place felt empty. He was a ghost, haunting the last remains of a life he could hardly remember. He and Jack had traveled and wandered for so long that he had grown accustomed to company. Now he was back to the place he had been before. Alone.

He began to wonder if the fox was the answer. He would get up in the morning and hike all around the valley looking for clues as to whether the fox was still around. He found a few more holes with distinct footprints in the dirt, but he never saw the fox.

William could feel things coming to a close. He began to obsess about the train. He would stand next to it, trying to understand why Jack had been so afraid. He had been at the diner so long, now, that he had almost forgotten there was actually an option. Finally, after a long day of thinking, he decided it was time to leave. He grabbed a few things he wanted to take with and went up to Jack's room.

He hadn't looked in on Jack for many days, and he was surprised to find him exactly as he had been. He looked as if he'd just fallen asleep. William picked him up and carried him down the stairs and out to the road. The train, ready as ever, sat waiting, and as he approached it, a distant whistle sounded. It knew he had finally made a decision.

The door of the train was open, and he lifted Jack up and set him on the floor. As he was about to climb in himself, he heard a loud bark from behind him. He turned to look. The fox had finally reappeared.

It was sitting there, very still, watching him from the tree line next to the road.

"Well, what else am I supposed to do?" he shouted to the fox, "I can't just let him sleep forever!"

The fox just turned and trotted off into the trees. William took a few running steps after it before a sudden gripping horror seized his heart. From behind him, there was a loud hiss, and the train began to move. William whirled around, but it was too late. The train had already begun to pick up speed. He could still see Jack, a car or so ahead.

He began to run, but the dread weighed on him so heavily that he couldn't lift his legs. The train sped off, much faster than should have been possible, and William was, once again, alone.