#ooooooof...

This time, there was no reprieve from its wails--the horn kept blasting, and shutting their ears and crying wouldn’t make it go away. Like it did eleven years ago, it would continue, regardless of what Anda willed as a passenger. Forcing their eyes open, they marched forward despite the sheer force of speed fighting their body, up to the controls. As they loomed over its surface, blood dripped into its surface from the earlier blow their father had so kindly given them.

What he stated was true; there was indeed a password screen, along with a keyboard for typing it in. A hand dared to pry away from Anda’s ear to pull the emergency brake, only to find it locked in place. The screen was their only hope of survival. So to it, they turned back to.

[PASSWORD : _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ]

(”Are you shitting me? There’s nothing here? No clue, no anything? Just those characters? What if there are numbers in it? Is it all one word?”)

...Well, there was no harm in trying, was there? So counting the characters, Anda typed the most logical answer.

| P-A-S-S-W-O-R-D |

The word erased itself after a buzzer noise. Incorrect. (”Figured it wouldn’t be that easy.”)

Their head moved to look back up at the window, watching the power station creep closer and closer--they also found a mirror, which seemed to dispense from the ceiling while they were looking down at the screen. Their own reflection, bleeding and terrified, looked back at them.

(”Is that a clue?”)

But the reflection mirrored their question, looking down as Anda did.

(”So it has to do with me? Fuck--this whole car was my own personal nightmare.”) ... (”No, that’s too many characters. Um... fuck. Mirror’s not enough, reflection is too long--”) | R-A-I-L-C-A-R-S |

Another incorrect buzzer.

“Fuck, what do you want from me!?”

Another look into the view, and the mirror, meeting their eyes again. The dread of failure was beginning to pool at their feet, and motes began to form and roll from their shoulders. Helplessly, they looked into their reflection’s eyes, wishing so desperately to go home and forget any of this was happening. If they even could go home, that is. If dying here meant returning to the estate, all of this would be for nothing.

The bells of the railroad crossing chimes warned in their head again, accompanying the hopeless sobs that escaped them.

“And I won’t remember any of this. I’ll go back to thinking my parents just fucking up and left! I won’t remember the city, or Waver, or Zal and Lars, or... I won’t remember...”

A pause, mouthing out the word.

Re-mem-ber.

...

“Oh my god--”

With the station’s garage door in view, their trembling fingers typed faster than they had in their life: 

[ PASSWORD : REMEMBER ]

All at once, the lights turned from red to green, and the sound of a CLANK echoed satisfyingly from the controls. Immediately, Anda pulled the emergency brake down with every ounce of force they could muster, and the train veered sharply in another direction. They slammed into the wall from the momentum of the shift, hearing their new leg put a dent in a weaker metal cabinet. Urgency gone, the head of the beast seemed to slow, no longer hell-bent on killing Anda or anyone else that would have been caught in a catastrophic collision.

(”Remember... I’m going to beat the shit out of whoever designed this fucking death trap.”)

Using the empty chair to help them up, Anda peeked at the screen, wiping the sweat and blood from their forehead onto their sleeves.

[ Destination: SPIRALE CITY STATION ] [ Approx. Trip Duration: 4h:13m:44s ]

(”Four hours...? Where the fuck am I out here?”)

Fog began to obscure the view of the coming tracks, robbing Anda of the distraction of scenery. They patted their pockets--no phone, either. Slumping down once again, bruising back sliding down the wall, they fell into silence for a while. Four hours was a lot of time to think, now that the danger had passed. Light softly surrounded the space, but it was too overcast to seem like the rising of the sun brought with it any sense of victory. ...No--if anything, all Anda gained was losses. Their limbs began to ache, and their still-healing chest protested at the sudden burst of activity. Those four sensitive ribs groaned in place. Fog rolled in, gently pooling in the floor of the cabin, leaving a tingling feeling with it.

...Their parents were dead--one mystery that didn’t need solving. From there, events were easy to put into place, now that they had knowledge of the sorrow mote’s power. The postcards and letters, those memories, were all fabricated by a grandmother who didn’t want her only surviving family member to suffer.

The ease in which those two people were able to drop their child to help themselves was just as jarring as the rest of the revelations, if not more. Mr. Teika had sent Anda to die not once, but twice now... failing each attempt.

A hand went to the scar that ran along their hairline, fingers tracing it all the way down to the back of their neck. ... They fell back onto the floor. The sobs started up again as mist obscured their vision, uncomfortably clouding their mind. And alone in the cabin, without having to worry about looking alright for anyone else in their life, tears rolled off their cheeks freely. A mop of violet hair sank into their knees, chest heaving, hugging into the corner of the monster they had quelled.

The fog, like static, prickled at their body...

...