One by One

The Departure

     There were only nine more trains departing at or after this time and only two were stopping at the mansion. Alex had realized that the return train wouldn't get there after a week or so and wondered if this was the right choice. He thought that this was what he had wished for and went along with it. He bought a ticket at the booth and ran to catch the train for St. Attucks. The clock above the post on the stop had read, 10:24. His train departed at 10:30.

     Alex handed the ticket to the conductor and climbed aboard. He saw that there were 4 people on the train with to him. He'd assumed that the other 4 were on another train or decided not to come.

     Alex noticed that they wore faces of suspicion or nervousness.

     They had stayed silent for a while and Alex heard the call of the conductor yell, "Last stop for St. Attucks! Last call!

     After about one minute, the train departed. The silenced continued until one of them decided to break the tension. She was a light tan skinned woman who appeared to be in her twenties. She had wavy and mostly black hair that Alex suspected was dyed but didn't want to judge. She had some black freckles dotted along her cheeks. Her clothing was of a dark blue and the material was undistinguishable for Alex. She had introduced herself as Anya Crim.

     Anya asked, "Are you all here for the supposed party?"

     Everybody on the train had replied some form of the word yes except for a man wearing a brown hat sitting in the corner of the cabin they were in. He was also wearing a brown button-up coat and had the sliver of gray hair. He had tall collars on his coat he was wearing pitch black shades. He looked like a detective of some sorts.

     Before anyone could say anything upon noticing him, he said, "I'm detective Rubin. I'll be accompanying you all on this 'party'. I haven't received an invite but my reasoning is that the host will hide among the guests in order to seem inconspicuous. There's probably a reason he invited all of you all here and I'm going to get to the bottom of it."

     Everybody wasn't sure how to react to that. Alex decided to ask, "But what if the host is in plain sight?"

     He replied, "Then I'll stay unless if he or she wants me to leave."

     Alex thought, Hmm, strange... But I shouldn't question it. He turned to the other three people in their compartment. He had asked for their names and they had replied "Laurel" and "Bill".

     Laurel appeared to be a white woman with blonde hair. She had a crooked nose and glared at everything. Alex wondered if there was something else beneath that glare of hers.

     Bill, on the other hand, was a brown-skinned man wearing a badge and a small US flag tie pin on his green coat. Alex thought he looked like a veteran. Much to Alex's surprise, Bill's hair was a flaming red hot color.

     After a while, Anya got up and decided to explore the train. She disappeared for 10 minutes or so. While she was gone, Alex asked Laurel if she knew when the train would get to their stop.

     She replied, "Hmm, I don't know but I can say that it's 10:46. Now please, I need to get some rest." She promptly left the cabin.

     Alex had asked Bill the same question after telling him that the time was 10:46.

     Bill said, "Given that information, I can supply that we will reach our destination in fifty-four minutes if it is still 10:46. By now it might be 10:47 but I'm not sure."

    Alex thought that Bill had sounded smart. But given that they should be waiting another fifty-four minutes, Alex decided to look outside the windows. He thought, Oh man, I am so guilty... That merchant surely is going to force me into more work or fire me for this! They had just left the city and entered what appeared to be a large field with nothing except for some animals here and there. There was also the occasional tree. Dark clouds loomed over the scenery and he could finally no longer see any sign of brightness or the sun in the distance. The Moon appeared to be in its Waxing Gibbous phase.

     After a while, Anya returned to the cabin. She said, "Huh, there's certainly some interesting stuff in here. I even found a dead rat!"

     Alex felt that he could have gone without that last piece of information. Bill didn't even look the slightest bit unnerved. Anya then turned and sat down next to Alex. Alex thought she smelled like ceramics, oddly enough. He looked around and saw a clock on the wall. He then realized that when he was talking to Laurel, she didn't have a watch. She must have used the clock. Alex read the clock and it said 10:57. 10 Minutes or so had passed.

     After a while, Anya had exclaimed, "Oh! I also saw somebody else on the train! He said he was also invited to the party. Like the rest of us, he seemed suspicious of this gig. Also, he said his name was Dale Tucker."

     Bill replied, "Interesting, thanks for telling us, Anya."

     Anya gave a word of thanks and then leaned on the wall as she was sitting down. The clock now read 11:04. Alex gave a slight groan and then tried to fall asleep. He might have succeeded until he heard some snores. Alex wondered if they were coming from Anya or Laurel. But, they sounded close to him so he assumed they were Anya's. When he opened his eyes, he saw that it was Bill snoring. Anya was awake and blinking and staring off into the distance. The clock now read 11:19.

     Alex silently thought, Twenty-one minutes now... Yay? He had given up on falling asleep now. Alex asked, "Anya, what else did you see on your journey through the compartments?"

     Anya replied, "Well, the room on the very end has a door that leads off onto the tracks and contains the dead rat. The room before that has Dale. I saw Laurel walk into the room before that... Also... Um... Hmm. Right! The room before that has some crates labeled 'Prince'. I'm not sure why they're here and why they're labeled that. The room before that contains us and finally, I'm pretty sure that the room before us is the boiler and conductor."

     Alex said, "Thanks for letting me know. I'll be looking around now."

     Alex got up and left the compartment. He saw the crates labeled "Prince". He expected them to be made out of wood, but they were made out of a solid metal or plastic. As promised, the rooms after that had Laurel and Dale. Laurel was asleep while Dale was uninterested. Alex decided not to disturb either one of them. The final room did indeed contain a door that leads on to the tracks behind them. The moon was a sparkling night watchman in the distance.

     For some reason, Alex tried to open the door. As expected, it was locked. He looked into the corner and saw the dead rat that Anya described. He looked at it and saw a hole in its body. Its entrails were scattered and messy. Alex wondered what had done this and why. Upon closer inspection, he saw that there was a glint of something shiny inside the rat. Since he didn't want to touch the rat's insides, he picked up the rat from the fur and shook it a little. The metal thing fell out.

     Alex realized it was a key. He picked it up and wiped it on his shirt and the wall. He tried the key in the door that leads to the tracks but it didn't work. He pocketed the key and returned to his compartment. The clock now read 11:36. He could now see the mansion and St. Attucks in the background. It was a small dot. Alex noticed that Anya had now fallen asleep.

     Alex looked through the window of the boiler room with the conductor. He was careful not to open the door. He didn't want to disturb the conductor. The clock now read 11:38.

     He couldn't wait to get there and started pacing. He thought of his "home" and wondered what would happen to him when he got back. The clock read 11:39. Getting closer to midnight, he thought.

     Before he knew it, the train lurched to a stop. He fell down and he heard Laurel grumble in the next compartment. He saw three people already there. He figured one of them decided not to come.

     The clock read 11:40. They were here.