Short and Long Stories Part 2

The Community

I had finished my shift in a call centre, which was located in the city, and after dealing with innumerable complaints from angry bank customers, I was relieved to get a seat in the overcrowded train. As I settled down into my seat, I slowly began to relax as the train slipped by familiar suburban stations.

After falling asleep, I suddenly jolted awake, fearing that I had missed my stop. The sun was still shining brightly at 6 pm, due to daylight saving, and as I looked out of the window, I was surprised at the unfamiliar scene before me. On the left side of the train, there was a large expanse of water, a receding headland, and expensive looking houses that were scattered along the beach-front. It looked like the harbour that I knew so well, but when I looked out of the window on my right, there was nothing but barren scrub-land that sloped up and away from the station's rickety old platform. And scattered among the scrub-land were narrow huts, numbering about six, which were situated about five hundred metres apart. As I stared at these queer looking huts, there was a solitary human figure standing motionless in some of them. It was all very strange, but as I was still feeling groggy, I assumed it was only a dream. But just then the train lurched to an abrupt halt, and a gruff voice announced over the intercom.

"Attention all passengers, due to a track blockage further up the line, you are required to disembark temporarily, in the interests of your safety".

The other passengers begin to leave the train quickly, so I reluctantly joined them on the platform. A cheery looking uniformed station employee walked along the platform telling us that we would have to move onto the island, as it was going to take some time to fix the train. He disappeared very soon after this grim pronouncement, so I was left with no other recourse, but to follow the others along a narrow bridge that led away from the platform. An unsettling feeling began to grow in the pit of my stomach. I must have gotten onto the wrong train. My normal commute home rarely varied as I caught the same train every day. But like most days, I was in such a hurry to get home that I had barely glanced up at the indicator board and had just rushed onto the train.

The path that we were following meandered through the scrub-land and then led away from the water further back into the island. The path came to an abrupt end in a large clearing. The clearing was full of white marquees, and there were small groups of people who were either sitting around picnic tables or standing around chatting.

I had begun to tire of this bizarre charade so I pulled out my mobile phone to ring my mother to tell her I would be delayed, but the screen showed that there was no service available. I tried to ask some of the people that had left the train if I could use one of their phones, but they just ignored me and seemed to walk off in a daze. I walked up to a picnic table where a man and a woman were sitting.

"Hi! I seem to be having problems with my phone. There's no reception. Can I use your phone?" I asked.

They looked at me uneasily and then quickly moved away.

Annoyed at their rudeness, I tried asking other people why there was no phone reception, and if I could use their phone, but they too moved quickly away. In frustration, I headed back to the station to see if I could find the station assistant. But the platform was empty and the train had disappeared.

After wandering around the platform for a few minutes, the station assistant suddenly appeared again.

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to go back to the community. You can't wait here," he said.

I was feeling very unnerved, "Why can't I wait here? What's going on anyway, and where's the train? And why can't I use my mobile?" I demanded. "I'm seriously going to complain to State Rail about this."