The Train

I shouldn't have left the house that night. I knew it the moment I slammed the door shut behind me, my girlfriend's voice was lingering in my ears. I didn't even grab my jacket. Just my helmet, my keys, and the need to get away from everything and the motorcycle felt like it was the only thing that could drown out the argument that was replaying in my head.

I wasnt trying to go anywhere, I just needed distance, from her, from the house. Leaving and clearing my head seemed like the right thing to do at the time, and the moment I hit the highway, I aimed for the countryside.

Mainly because theres less traffic. Less noise. Less... everything.

Just open road and the hum of the engine beneath me. It was about 1:07 a.m., the kind of hour where the world feels empty, like everyone else is asleep and you're the only one left awake. And The further I rode, the darker it got.

No streetlights. No houses. Just the beam of my headlight cutting through empty fields and the cold air biting at my arms.

My mind wasn't focused at the time. All I kept doing was replaying the argument, every word, every tone, which made me think more so I slowed down, letting the quietness swallow me.

That's when I reached the train crossing.

The red lights blinked lazily, as if they were half-asleep. I didn't hear anything at all. No rumble, no horn, nothing. Just silence. I rolled to a stop, the looked down the tracks.

Nothing.

Just darkness stretching forever and I almost said screw it. I almost rolled forward. But the moment I leaned the bike in that direction.

WHOOM.

A train exploded out of the darkness, blasting past me so fast the wind slapped my helmet sideways, and it had No headlights on. Not even a warning other then the stop lights. It was just a roaring blur tearing through the night like it had materialized from a void and it made My heart punch my ribs. I was frozen and my breath felt like it was stuck in my throat.

The train seemed like it kept going... and going... and going.

After a minute, I frowned.
After a few more, my stomach started to tighten.

I whispered to myself,
"What the hell..."

It felt endless.I killed the engine and listened, but the moment the bike went silent, the night changed. The darkness behind me... shifted. I didn't hear anything but I felt it. Like the air around me had thickened. Like the night itself was leaning closer.

I checked my phone and didn't understand why I had no service and when the screen lit up my face, something flickered at the edge of my vision.

A shape.
A movement.
A smear of black against black.

I snapped my head toward it and there was nothing. But when I looked back down the road, the darkness wasn't just darkness anymore. It was dense, like a wall of black fog rolling toward me, swallowing the road, the fields, everything. It wasnt anything ive ever seen. It was completely wrong. Too heavy, too absolute, like it wasn't just absence of light but presence of something else. My chest tightened with fright. My fingers went numb.

I tried to start the bike.

Click.

Nothing. I kept trying.

Click-click.

I couldnt breathe right. Hyperventilating was only thing that kept me from fainting while the blackness behind me crept closer and closer swallowing the faint outline of the world. I could see it now - not moving fast, but moving with purpose.

Like it knew I was here. Like it had been waiting.

My pulse hammered. My throat closed. I couldn't breathe right.

I looked left - black.
I looked right - black.
I looked behind me and something moved.

Not fast. Not slow. Just... deliberate.

There was a shift in the fog, like something inside it was stepping forward, towards me. I fumbled the starter again, hands shaking so hard I almost dropped the bike.

Click.

The blackness was nearly at my back tire. I felt it, a pressure, a coldness, a presence leaning in, reaching for me. I slammed my thumb on the starter and then..

VRRROOOMMM.

The engine roared to life at the exact moment the last train car screamed past. The crossing arms lifted. I didn't think. I didn't breathe, i didnt hesitate. I just launched forward. And the other side of the tracks wasn't better at all. The darkness was waiting there too. It swallowed the road ahead, thicker than before, like the world beyond the crossing didn't exist anymore either. My headlight hit it and died instantly, like the beam was being eaten. Like the pitch black void absorbed it and I panicked even more. Almost felt like i forgot how to ride my bike.

My breath came in sharp, broken bursts. My hands were slick on the grips. I could hear my heartbeat louder than the engine. But I rode anyway. I rode because stopping meant letting that thing, that fog, reach me. The blackness was pressing me from every direction, shrinking the world to the size of my headlight. My vision was blurry and tunneled. My chest burned, and i felt it caving in. My helmet even felt too tight. My lungs felt like they were shutting down. I couldn't tell if I was moving forward or if the darkness was swallowing me whole.

I just knew one thing.

That Whatever was in that fog...
Whatever almost took me at the tracks...
Whatever followed me... wasn't done trying.