Short Horror Stories

It rolls around after dusk

The wheels rolled and the smog spat out into the night sky filled with only few stars to illuminate the way. She laid in her bed and her eyes shot open as this was a nightly routine for her. She would sleep early and sleep well she did until the screeching sounds of the wheels on the train tracks awakened her slumber. She could recall every single movement the train made at this point due to the fact she had been living directly by it the past seven years. First, the piercing whistle that resembled a scream of a lady. Soon following, the rumbling that could be felt throughout her home. It vibrated underneath her feet, her bed and next to her nightstand. The legs of the table would wiggle like it were trying to escape the train's path. Then, even with her eyes closed tightly; she knew exactly when the train would puff out the polluted smoke into the air. Her bed sat beside her window for her to view the train's passing and while doing so, the dimming street lamp outside of her window would go dark, flash, dark, flash for when the train and its carts would cover the lighting. For awhile, the lady found it to be quite peaceful. It was like a lullaby and knowing that there were people on the train, it made her feel not so lonely. However over the passing years, she found it to be a massive disturbance to her sleep and how loud the screeching wheels caused her so many migraines, she found herself becoming more cruel during the day because she knew at night that same old train would distract her from her restful slumber.
"That damn train..." She would mutter under her breath while it passed by and in the reflection of her window was herself with the darkest circles. "You're making me look like a monster." She added on, her voice trembled like an upset child. She fell back to sleep once the train passed yet even in her dreams, the train still wasn't absent.

She sat in the red velvet booth of the train, reading a newspaper but her crossed leg bounces like she was waiting for somebody, but who? She hadn't even known herself though she continued feeling anxious. In the newspaper, it spoke of a disappearance of a lady in the area. She never knew of the lady, but she looked quite similar to her in appearance. Chest length brunette hair and petite. She looks up from the newspaper as a new creak erupted throughout the cart, but not one caused by the wheels turning nor by the wind. It was still as could be outside. A man walked in, dressed nicely in a dark suit with a fedora.
"Hello ma'am." His voice was low before he sat down across from her. She wasn't sure why, but she felt her skin grow cold and goosebumps raised when she looked at this man who hid his face.
"Who are you?" She asked the man, but he didn't answer.
He only replied with one statement.
"You should wake up now."

The lady awoke, sitting upright in her bed and her head might as well have been on a swivel. She looked all around her dark room and noticed her window was halfway opened. She slammed the window and its rattle followed by silence as to mock her growing sense of fear. Had she forgotten to close the window? No, better question. When had she opened it in the first place? With the window incident and the uneasy dream she had, she decides to make a visit to her kitchen and calm down with a cozy drink such as hot chocolate. It was her favorite drink but while sipping on it, she still couldn't shake off all the thoughts racing through her head. The quiet ticking of her watch alerted her and she looks to see that it was forty minutes passed midnight.
"Maybe...Maybe I'll just get ready for work early today." She spoke aloud to herself to drown out the fear that was slowly building up inside of her body.

Her work day goes on as usual yet longer because of her early arrival. She cleans up her office space until a coworker stops by.
"Suzy, you're looking awfully tired today. Are you feeling well?" He questioned, his voice concerned and warming like a fireplace.
She grabbed her purse. "Yes, I'm fine. It's just that train that goes by every night, I can't ever sleep because of that thing."
"Train? Train..." Her coworker repeated the words and furrowed his brows like he were trying to remember if there was a train in the town.
"Yeah, the one that goes by my home every night." She said and walks out of the building and without invitation, he walks alongside her.
"Oh yes, perhaps so. I live in the same area, but not close enough to be kept awake at night by it." He lets out a gentle laugh and a dimple deepened in his cheek.
"Yes...perhaps. Well, I'll see you next week Dean." She says her final goodbyes to him and gets onto the sidewalk back home.

After a heavy dinner, she lays down into her bed earlier that night and glances over to the watch that was strapped to her wrist. 9:27. It would be quite awhile until she would be awoken by the train, so now would be the best time to get in some sleep, so that she did. She closed her eyes and drowned in the silence until the train rolled around once more.

The rumbling awoken her but this time, she did not find herself tucked away safely under the blankets. This time she awoke to sitting up in a booth, a red velvet one like from her dream. She looked all around, looking for anybody but nobody was there to accompany her. All except for one person whose shoes caused the floor to creak beneath him.
"Y-you're...the man from my dream." She stuttered over her words. He laughed from deep within his chest and a cartoonish smirk came across his lips.
"You're right where you need to be, Suzy. We're all right where we need to be."