( In character Podcast Post )
[Podcast Transcript] Now playing — The Last Train
I'm Atreus and this is The Liminal Record — a documented account of places that weren't meant to exist... And the people who found them anyway.
Just like many of us I'd assume you'd have taken a train at least once in your life. Seeing the bustling stops and echos of voices during peak time but have you ever been on the last train of the night?
I've had a submission by an anonymous individual here in [redacted] recounting an eerie night on the last train. Allow me to read it for you.
" Hey Atreus,
I've beena long time listener and have been debating sending in this story for months now because honestly, even writing it out makes my skin crawl. I finally gained the courage to send it in after last night's podcast.
This happened to me about 3 years ago after a very late night shift in town. For privacy reasons I don't want to share which station this happened at since I still travel through there, and every time I do, I still feel those watchful eyes.
It was around midnight when I reached the station. It was fairly empty except a young girl who definitely looked too young to be standing at a station alone at night but I didn't question it. She was standing by the vending machines in a school uniform I didn't recognise.
I shrugged it off and a few minutes later the train arrived but it was weird in a sense that it was quiet. The brakes didn't sound and it just sort of slid in to the station like it was on ice.
Then just as I walked towards the opening doors the girls voice called out to me.
"Don't get on!"
She called out to me and I had stopped momentarily just because of the way she said it. There was urgency in her voice and I just couldn't shake that guy feeling that I should listen, however, this was the last train. I needed to.
It honestly annoyed me more than anything but left me a little creeped out because I noted she wasn't getting on. It didn't matter. I was tired, cold and just wanted to go home so I boarded anyway with a shrug and an eye roll. Kids. Then her voice again.
"Don't get off at the next stop"
At first everything was completely normal.
The carriage was empty except for me. The lights worked. The announcements played normally. I remember putting my headphones in for a bit.
Then after maybe five minutes, the train started slowing down.
The lights flickered once.
Then again.
Then everything went completely dark.
When the train finally stopped, I looked outside expecting another station, but there was nothing there except darkness.
No lights. No people. Nothing.
The doors opened anyway.
My alarm bells started going off and I remember feeling this sickening dread in the pit of my stomach. I looked outside and the station looked abandoned, dark and I could hear water dripping echoes through the platform. The girls warning sang through my head as anxiety started to creep in.
That's when the lights flickered on again inside the carriage. When I turned my head I almost screamed. The train wasn't empty anymore. Every single seat was occupied.
I blinked a few times to comprehend what I was seeing because I could have sworn there was no one on this train at this hour.
There were about 20ish people inside the carriage with me now. An older woman with wet hair and an umbrella, a young business man that looked like his face had been dragged across gravel, a little kid who was staring directly at the floor with muddy shoes. And not a single one of them looked like they were alive.
Their skin was a dull sickly grey and one man looked like his chest had caved in, crushed and disjointed. Then all at once their heads seemed to slowly turn upwards.
They were staring at me.
I froze and panic set in as their eyes looked at me. My body was quivering and everything in me screamed "RUN!" Breathing hurt as my legs got the jitters ready to bolt out those God forsaken doors. I didn't care about the darkness of the abandoned station outside as much anymore. All I knew was that I needed out and I needed out NOW.
Just as I reached the platform I saw that same young girl again and I froze in my tracks. How? I never saw her get on the train at the station nor had the doors been open for very long. How could she have been right in front of the doors? Questions, questions, questions. It was the look on her face that made me freeze. She was just as panicked as I was and just as my foot was about to leave the train she shouts in the same shared panic.
"Don't get off!" She was yelling at me, "you won't be able to go back if you step off that train!" Her eyes were glaring at me. A warning. The same warning. She told me not to get on and now she's telling me not to get off?
This is when I heard shuffling behind me. What I nightmare I thought. The shuffling of what sounded like footsteps getting closer and closer as my heart hammered in my chest. Still, I stayed and listened to the girl before taking a few steps backwards away from the doors as they started to shut. I suddenly felt extremely claustrophobic as I felt like I was bumping in to something cold. I didn't dare look out of fear.
The lights when out again for what felt like forever and had felt breathing down my neck and distant yet close murmers.
Then suddenly everything was normal again the next time I blinked and the train was moving again. Bright lights, the announcement of the next stop.
The train arrived at the next station as if nothing happened. The carriage was empty and I got off shaking so badly I could barely walk. Before the train took off again I noticed someone standing at the end of the platform further down.
It was her.
My heart stopped for a moment and I felt my knees give out from under me. She didn't look menacing, if anything she was smiling what looked like… relief? Sitting on the floor of the station staring at her she waved, I blinked, and she was gone.
She was nowhere to be found and no one could move that fast realistically… I don't who or what she was but what I do know is that if I had stepped off that train and on to that platform I would not be here to write this email to you today."
Thank you, Anon for sending this in for our listeners today. A horrifying story and a cautionary tale for many taking the night night train.
I'm Atreus, and this has been another entry in The Liminal Record.
Stay observant. Stay curious.
And if something seems out of place... It probably is
[End transcript] End of audio.
