TICKETS, PLEASE

[egghead]

Rachel was drunk. Not buzzed, not tipsy, she was absolutely shit-faced. The kind of drunk that got her into trouble; she'd already started three bar fights (won two of them) and crashed a wedding, but the night wasn't over yet...and something in the distance caught her eye.

It was a light, coming closer and closer, stabbing through the thick fog. The wail of a whistle was the only indication that it was a train, and once it pulled up beside her, the fog twisted away enough to reveal its grandeur but not enough to see the tracks.

She doesn't remember if this place was a station, but stumbles on board anyway.

Inside the carriage was the pleasant glow of lamps and rows of soft velvet seats. It was completely deserted and looked like it had been for awhile. There were some cobwebs and a thin sheet of dust covering the tables, but other than that everything seemed well-cared for.

A very uncoordinated Rachel sits down in one of the booths, and it was only at that point she was sitting still enough to feel that the train started moving again...

Glancing down at the poorly written note in Declan's hand, he examined it one more time with just as much confusion as the last. It was cold, foggy and was getting to him through his cheap jacket. His uncle had been missing for a few months and as much as he was kind of okay with it, he needed him to pay the rent. The piece of paper held directions, possibly to where he was.

A heavy sigh created a cloud of breath in front of him, through it, and the fog, Declan saw the beam of the train finally approaching. After waiting at a desolate stop with only a flickering light and bench near the tracks, it was a relief. The train was different than he expected, then again he never ridden one before.

It felt empty, was anyone else on board? Wasn't someone supposed to ask for a ticket? Declan decided to brush off the questions for now and tossed his bag on one of the seats. The lighting was comfortable and reminded him of his first home.

Though, Through the small window on the door to the next car he saw someone sitting, curious for human interaction, Declan opened the door quietly.

She spotted a boy, much younger than her and with a face hidden by dark hair. He almost looked familiar...somehow. Torn between approaching him and ignoring him, she followed her gut to go with the latter and slithered up from her seat.

"Heey, kid," she slurred as she leaned on the wall in a way that she thought was sexy but actually looked really uncomfortable. "Got a cig?"

Declan stared at the red head with almost no expression, she was obviously really drunk.

"Sorry, I don't smoke." He came through the door completely and closed it. "Do...you know if there's...uhh I guess you would say...staff on this train?" It was probably hopeless to ask a drunk anything. For some reason, this woman felt awfully familiar, maybe it was just the similar behaviour to his uncle.

The woman slumped more of her weight against the wall and yanked out a flask from her purse. She took a quick swig of whatever was inside and wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her jacket. "Naaah, nah, I didn't see anybody..."

She started to stagger towards him, her gait noticeably unsteady, and got close enough for him to smell the alcohol on her breath. "So, what's a little boy like you doing out this late?"

Gertrude stood at the boarding platform, his coat blowing in the foggy wind. He was headed to a teachers convention in Barbadice, a city not too far from where he lived. Unfortunately, the only way to get there was by passenger train since the town was known for having anti-aircraft artillery around its perimeters. The other unfortunate thing was that the train station was on the other side of the city so it was relatively close to a religious village. There were many members at the station giving out pamphlets about their tree god. And yet ANOTHER unfortunate thing was that Gertrude was only able to pay for the cheapest train ticket to get to Barbadice so he didn't have high hopes for how his ride to his get-together would look like.

"It should arrive any minute now..."

Just then, a large industrial engine pulled in with multiple passenger cars following right behind it. Gertrude felt uneasy as he wondered if this was his train. It was around the time it should have arrived. As Gertrude reluctantly moved towards the doors, he then noticed a woman with red hair in one of the windows of passenger cars. She looked as if she was about to harass a little boy. Gertrude wouldn't stand for this. He took off towards the car with the woman without noticing that there wasn't even someone asking for tickets.

Taking a few steps back as the woman sauntered over, Declan winced when her face got close, the obvious smell from a long night of drinking emanating from every part of her.

He began to get nervous, almost breaking a sweat from the sudden closeness. "L-Little boy?!" Declan squinted his eyes in a flustered frustration, stepping back even more. His darting eyes caught sight of a tall guy walking over, he seemed to be rushing towards them. He didn't look like staff but at least it was going to save him from the embarrassing situation.

Rachel grinned wide, showing off a gap where a canine used to be, and slammed her hand hard against the wall where he stood, trapping him.

"What's wrong?" she sloshed. "Do I make you neeervous?"

Gertrude slid the door to the room wide open in a loud slam and marched over to the red-clad woman. He grabbed her arm and ripped her away from her prey. He then shouted,

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?"

Declan slipped away once the man grabbed her, straightening his clothes and hair out.

"She's drunk, don't bother." His head looked back up from pulling the hem of his sweater down. Though, wanting to ask more questions about why the train was so empty, he decided not to since it seems a dispute was about to happen. Declan pulled out his cellphone and glanced at the not delivered exclamation, disatisfied. He had forgotten to get minutes at the convenient store before boarding.

 

[Dingus]

Gertrude turned towards the boy and realized that it wasn't actually a little kid, it was a young man. Perhaps it was from where he was standing he seemed younger than he actually was. He then turned back towards the woman, also realizing she let all her weight go as Gertrude held her in the air by her wrist. As she swung back and forth, he stared at the drool leaking from her mouth as he began to think.

"This is pathetic."

 

[egghead]

The next thing she knew, Rachel was dangling from the grip of a man with a giant monitor for a head. "What the hell. lemme go!" she started thrashing around when her brain started working again. "Thish isn't how you treat a lady, dammit!"

 

[Atom]

Declan's cell phone closed with loud clack, then shoving it back into his pockets. "I don't think you approach people how you did me either.." His words came out in just over a whisper, probably to keep from them hearing.

"You're going above and beyond, man." He called out to the tv head with tired eyes. There was no point in arguing with drunk people, he knew that all too well.

 

[Dingus]

"Fuck it."

He dropped the woman from his grip. As she hit the carpeted ground of the train car he tried his best to look unimpressed at her.

"Go sit down and sober up..."

Gertrude shuffled over to one of the red seats and sat down with a large drop. He pointed towards the boy fumbling with his phone.

"What's your name, young man?"

 

[Atom]

Slowly, Declan shifted his eyes toward the man pointing at him and stared in silence. Hesitant at first, he spoke up. "Declan." He had no interest in learning their names so he turned away and looked out the window. The reflection was strong but behind it the fog refused to let up, it was kind of odd.

It looked cold outside, he got chills just thinking about it from inside the warm lighted train car.

 

[egghead]

After being dumped on the floor, Rachel propped herself up against one of the booths and closed her eyes as the world spun around her. She was silent for a little while, only grunting and hiccuping whenever she started to wobble.

"Hmph, sober up..." she snorted out a laugh. "How dare you I'm the soberest girl in the room!"

 

[Dingus]

The TV-headed man stared at the eye patch-wearing drunk as she began mumbling. He then turned back to the boy name Declan. He was staring away into the fog.

"Uh, yeah. My name is Gertrude Schneider..."

It didn't seem like Declan cared at all.

After a couple awkward moments of silence Gertrude turned towards the drunk woman passed out in the next row. There was a charm about her that he couldn't quite point out.

"Hey Declan, let's sober her up."

 

[Atom]

Much to his dismay, they both kept talking. I guess this is what he got for initiation conversation in the first place, he should really stop that.

"Why don't you do it yourself?" He scoffed and turned back around from the window to then glance at the drunk on the floor.
"How about you show her how to really treat a lady, then?" Declan narrowed his eyes and snickered in a teasing manner. Maybe Gertrude would shut up now.

 

[Dingus]

Gertrude got up fast before Declan could see how angry he was getting. He knew it didn't work well since he clearly stomped out of the room faster than he should have. While mumbling about how much Declan was a brat, Gertrude tried to locate the dining car. It was strangely quiet as he strode through the next car.

And the next one.

And the next one.

Finally, he reached the dining car and leaned against the counter to wait for service. There was a bell. After mashing on the the little button for at least two minutes Gertrude finally accepted that nobody was going to serve him.

"HEY I'M HUNGRY"

No answer.

Fuck it. Gertrude swiped some garlic and pepper chips and a green colored drink. If they weren't gonna answer him they could manage to lose a bit of inventory.

He managed his way through the empty cars back whence he came.

 

[egghead]

"Ohh, is this for moi?"

She swiped the snacks and tore into them like a wild animal, her sharp teeth cutting into her fingers as she shoveled chips into her mouth. After cleaning out the bag, she washed it all down with the green soda.

"Whew..." she tossed the empty bottle over her shoulder and sighed, satisfied. "So good...Could've got me something better though."

 

[Atom]

Declan sat half disgusted while she ate, keeping an eye looking out the window for any changes through the fog. There was no light, no trees...just nothing.

Once the woman on the ground spoke again, he looked toward Gertrude. "Do you two know each other from somewhere or are you just trying to be a good guy?" Mentally cursing himself for adding his two cents instead of being quiet, Declan gave in.

"Hey lady, what's your name anyway? You remind me of my shitty uncle."

 

[Dingus]

Gertrude never felt this kind of rage. Yet he had never killed someone below the age of twenty-five.

"Pay attention, you might learn how to treat people nice, little boy."

 

[egghead]

The grin on the woman's face was the crooked drunken kind, but now there was a lucid gleam in her eye. The food seemed to have worked its magic.

"It's Rachel," she answered, "but that's boring, so call me Rae."

 

[Atom]

When Gertrude talked yet again Declan only rolled his eyes and looked away. He was really tired, as usual. "Whatever you say, you sound like an annoying teacher I used to know."

Besides, the woman had given her name, he was satisfied with the answer but began asking more questions. "So" Shoving his hands in his pockets, he glanced over to the window again.

"Where are you guys headed? This train is awfully empty, don't you think?"

 

[Dingus]

"I'm headed to Barbadice for a... teachers... convention..."

He trailed off as he stared off out the window noticing that there were no other track and that there was absolutely nothing in the surrounding vicinity. Gertrude felt uneasy but he also realized if he were panic about these abnormal circumstances, everybody would freak out as well. As the core of the trio, he refused to crack.

"Yeah, a teacher convention."

 

[egghead]

While they were exchanging small talk, Rachel got up to her feet, stumbled forward and grabbed a booth for support. She clung there for a long time before she blurted, "Hah, I don't even know where I am!"

Snorting out another laugh, she plopped down in the seat across Declan and rested her head on her hands. "And you, kiddo?"

 

[Atom]

He only nodded toward Gertrude...so he really was a teacher, huh? And why would he have to go so far for a measly teachers convention? Gertrude was such a strange person, he didn't really like him. Maybe it was the snide, know it all remarks.

Rae on the other hand, yeah he could see why she didn't know where she was. He was on the train with polar opposite people, yet they seemed to be getting along better than he could with either of them.

"I'm looking for someone, I'm headed to a town I've never heard of." Declan didn't want to give too much information away, seeing as it might put his already missing uncle in danger.
"But I've never seen such thick fog...or a train without any staff. Actually, I've never been on a train like this."

 

[Dingus]

Gertrude then added to Declan's statement.

"There was nobody in the dining car when I went..."

He then remembered.

"In fact, there was nobody in the cars on the way."

Gertrude then sat silent before saying,

"This train is going pretty slow for an industrial engine, huh?"

 

[egghead]

"Industrial what?"

Rachel either couldn't wrap her drunk mind around what they were saying or just didn't care. The suddenly uneasy atmosphere didn't seem to affect her either. "I thought it was one of those party trains."