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| Photo by Bryce |
It was late at night and I was out on the tracks in my pjs, the rocks and railway ties freezing cold under my bare feet. I was already out behind the plaza and heading straight towards the iron light-bridge. The lights hanging above the north tracks – the one I was walking on – glowed an emerald/ Kryptonite green, indicating a train was coming from the east…right behind me.
I wanted to turn around and run, wanted to go home; if Mom
knew I was out at night, walking the tracks in my bare feet, she’d kill me. I
had to get back before she got home from bowling…wait, she was home from
bowling
…
And then I knew, I was being summoned and there was no
escape. I staggered forward, like a zombie, even though I flailed my arms like
I was trying to fly.
A light rain began to fall and there was a mist in the night
air, giving the landscape a strange ethereal glow, magnified by the low,
sepia-clouds which seemed to hang just above the light bridge. I was soaked to
the skin, the rain augmented by my tears – I was so wet, I wondered if I’d
pissed myself.
I passed beneath the light bridge like a condemned man
walking beneath the gallows. I kept faltering along, compelled to move towards
a final destination I wanted desperately to avoid, unable to stop, unable to
flee.
At last I reached the spot, leaving the tracks and wading
through the tall, wet, grass.
She laid on her back, her white skin
gleaming like alabaster in the semi-darkness. Her head was still attached and,
as I arrived, she opened her red-rimmed eyes and smiled.
But it was not a friendly smile.
As I watched in horrified fascination, she twisted her head
vigorously back and forth and then, with a gently POP, it detached, hovered
momentarily by the trunk of the neck, and then suddenly shot forward, as if it
was planning to butt heads with me, her hair flapping like wet wings, mouth
agape and shrieking:
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was up on the tracks, trying to run, but my legs were like
lead, the stones hurt my feet and I just couldn’t seem to move, move, move. I
threw a quick look over my shoulder and the head was hanging there, following
right behind me, slit move open to reveal shiny sharp teeth…
And then everything around me went white.
I turned my head, only to be blinded by the headlamp of the
locomotive bearing down at me full speed, no attempt to break. The shriek of my
tormentor and the roar of the locomotive merged into a cacophony with my
screams.
And then it hit me and everything around me went black.
I awoke to find myself safe in bed, but my pyjamas and bed
sheets were sopping, so for a few moments I was afraid I had actually pissed
the bed (and wouldn’t Mom have been pissed). But then, I realized it was only
sweat, although that was bad enough; I had had a nightmare and had practically
drowned myself with perspiration out of sheer terror. I stripped butt naked,
tossed my muggy pajamas onto the floor and pulled back my blankets to
help the sheets dry out. I knew what I must do.
The next afternoon, as soon as I could get away from school,
I took what was left of the money, plus what small change I possessed, put it
in an old letter envelop and put it back where I had, borrowed it. I then
hightailed it out of there; I wouldn’t be visiting the tracks for a while.
I was pretty sure she was outside my window for a few days,
but I slept with the curtains pulled tight and I never peeped. I stayed in
after dark too and resisted any urge to run across the street to the store for
a bag of chips or something.
I did see her one night, or at least I thought I did; Mom
insisted I run across and get Eileen from upstairs a deck of Alpines and I had
no choice but to go. I ran across as quickly as I could, but on the way back, I
saw something flit into circle of light cast by the nearest street lamp. I
bolted for the service door and didn’t look back, even when I felt a flash of
cold air on the back of my neck.
Of course, by the end of the school year, I had forgotten
all about it; I had other problems to worry about.
