Torment

Clairvoyant

Once again, myself and the other tail section passengers were crowded around Nam as he sat on the floor of the carriage and played with the wires controlling the next gate. Edgar and Tanya were next to Nam, looking at him impatiently as he worked. Curtis and I were nearer the gates. We were seated on the floor, Curtis was looking forward, awaiting the next challenge behind the gate. I sat beside him, my head resting on his shoulder as I fiddled with the baton I still had in my possession. I sighed looking up at Curtis and noticing Yona looking as spaced out as ever beside us. Edgar's harsh accent cut through our boredom. "Excuse me, sorry to bother you there, could I get you a glass of water to speed this up?" The young man asked sarcastically through the translator. "Would you get on with it, man? You're keeping us all fucking waiting." Edgar yelled after Nam ignored him and the rest of the passengers remained silent.

"That's my fault," Nam replied as he plugged another wire in. "Yeah, you are. Although you've been fucking smelling that Kronole shite that time is a probably a distant concept for you, isn't it?" Edgar shouted once more, miming the drug-taking with his hands. I shook my head before leaning closer into Curtis and shutting my eyes. Who knew how much longer we'd be here. "Of course, I do it for the Kronole," Nam replied through his translator. Curtis wrapped an arm around my waist as we continued to listen to Edgar. I smiled, pleasantly surprised by how affectionate he was being. "Here we go again. Kronole this, Kronole that... Christ almighty man, do some fucking work." Edgar spat. "You're the one who's giving me this," Nam replied, I could tell Edgar was close to losing it. "Are you thick? That's what you asked for each time you opened the gate." The man seethed.

"Yona? It's Yona right?" Curtis suddenly said causing me to open my eyes as he scratched his head through his beanie. I looked up to Curtis who was looking at Nam's daughter, she was huddled by a wall beside us. It was only now that I noticed how tired Curtis looked and the numerous cuts that littered his face, it didn't take anything away from his handsome features, but it just made me worry none the less. The young girl nodded and looked up to us slowly. "How old are you?" He asked softly. "17." The girl replied looking to us. I smiled to her as she peered at us through her hood. "17, you're a train baby then?" Curtis confirmed as the girl looked down glumly. "How about you?" Yona asked him. "17 years on Earth. 17 years in the tail section." Curtis replied sharply. I sighed, same as me, it was awful to think of it like that. "Earth? What was it like?" Yona questioned, causing me to wash over with sadness. "I don't remember," Curtis replied bluntly. "Why?" Yona pushed. "I don't want to remember anything before I met Gilliam and Hazel," Curtis replied causing me to look down sadly, I knew what awful time he was going on about, but no one else did. Silence clouded over us and I couldn't stand the awkward atmosphere.

"Earth was beautiful." I began, not letting the horrors I'd seen take that away. Yona perked up and looked towards me as Curtis continued to look at the floor. "Granted it wasn't well looked after by mankind, but there were plants, living things that grew from the ground and burst into many colours when the weather was warm." Yona looked to me with wide eyes, begging me to keep going. "There were huge masses of water that covered more of the world than land, they were called oceans and seas. Amazing creatures lived in them, they swam and breathed beneath the waves, almost like magical wonders." I explained doing my best to describe things this girl had never seen. "On land, there were many different countries, many different areas across the globe that all had different nationalities and cultures. The world had so many amazing colours, children played and learned together at school and everyone had a job that kept the planet going. It was truly such a wonderful thing. Sunsets, sunsets are something I don't think I could ever forget. When the sun, a huge star made from fire that kept the world warm from thousands of miles away in space, would sink behind the clouds indicating night-time, beautiful reds, oranges and purples would light up the sky! It was truly magical. In answer to your question, the Earth was breathtaking." I finished with a smile as Yona looked to me mesmerised, Curtis was also looking at me, I couldn't read his emotion but I could tell I had hit a nerve, the thought of life before the tail end haunting him.

Before I could continue Curtis spoke up. "Yona. Are you clairvoyant?" He asked suddenly causing me to look at him. "Clairvoyant? What's that?" She asked with a cheeky smile. I couldn't help but smile back, her expression was highly contagious.  Clairvoyant is when a person is supposedly able to perceive events in the future, I personally wasn't a fan of the supernatural but it made sense as to why Curtis would ask, Yona had predicted what was behind the last two gates with ease. "You always seem to know what's behind the gates. Do you see things in your mind?" Curtis asked the young girl, I awaited her answer eagerly, wondering if Kronole might effect minds more than we realised. Yona didn't answer but looked to the gates before standing and walking towards them.

Curtis and I followed, intrigued to see what Yona would do. As she stood in front of us she looked at the closed metal gates and moved her head like a confused puppy. Curtis looked to me unsure as I continued to grip my knife, before looking back to the girl, other tail end passengers wondering what we were doing. Yona stayed silent as she stared at the gate, me and Curtis looking forward as if we too could see something. "Don't open it..." Yona suddenly breathed. I looked to Curtis worriedly as the girl replied. What did that mean? She hadn't been wrong before, what had she seen. "What?" Curtis asked looking away from me and to the gate. Yona suddenly spun round to her father and yelled in their language, presumably telling him not to open it, but it was too late, as she did, Nam plugged one final cable into the motherboard, opening up the gates in front of us. I wasn't prepared for what I saw next.