For once, this room was comparatively normal to the other rooms. It didn’t have anything out of the ordinary. It was a warm, well-lit room with clean, well decorated walls, a couple of well cushioned chairs and a nice desk on the side. The view outside showed a sunny view of hills and valleys instead of space. The room was out of ordinary in the sense that it seemed too ordinary.
On one of the chairs sat a gentleman, dapper from head to toe, with a well combed moustache. He saw the frantically panting passenger, and raised his kettle as a greeting.
“Hello, dear, care for some tea?”
"Huh... sure," they answered in-between breaths.
“You know, you’re very smart for entering here. Very smart indeed.” He said as he poured out a cup.
"Uh... huh, and why's that?"
"No particular reason. Just that no one has ever come around here, while you just showed up uninvited.."
“Right, well I’ll be leaving now. Sorry for the disturbance.”
“Oh, but you can’t leave. I'm afraid this is the last compartment.” The man took a sip of his cup.
“So, I guess this is it then, I’m stuck here," concluded the passenger as they sunk to the floor in a fetal position.
The gentleman, observing their misery, recalled, “hm, say, you want to get off this miserable train too?"
The passenger lifted his head up in agreement.
"Well I’m glad to tell you that we’re floating in the same boat,” he declared, coming closer to the passenger.
“You know a way to get out?”
“Indeed, I do,” the man chuckled away while picking the passenger up from their hand, “but before we get too hasty, I believe we haven’t introduced ourselves.” He said while rubbing his beard, observing them carefully.
At that point the passenger was expecting the same unanswerable questions.
“But I suppose it doesn't matter," he shrugged, completely taking the passenger aback. "Our interests align perfectly, and that's all that matters,” he declared, "we’re the odd ones out from the rest of the dwellers around here. There’s certainly more to this realm than simply lounging around in compartments.”
“I know, right? No one else seems to get this! They’re all completely calm about being stuck here forever!”
“This train is a prison, honestly.” He cringed a bit. “This room may feel all clean and comfortable, but it’s just a fancy prison!”
“At least you were given a room, that wasn’t the same case for me!”
“Wait, you didn't get a room?”
“No?”
At this revelation, the gentleman started to chuckle softly to himself, while the passenger felt like they were being mocked.
“Ohohoho, that’s wonderful! You’re the key I need to get me, us, out of this wretched train!”
He went back to the table, picked up his cup and kettle, leaving behind one intended for the passenger, washed them in the sink and put them in the drawer. He then scrounged around in that same drawer and came back with a briefcase.
“When I arrived here, I had this odd piece of luggage with me,” he explained. “It has a note on it.”
He turned the luggage towards the passenger, showing the briefcase to have engravings saying, "to be room-less, to be free" above a finger shaped keyhole.
"The shoe seems to fit, now let's see if the finger fits. Go on, it won’t hurt!”
The passenger reluctantly put their index finger into it and twisted slightly. The case barely opened, and the gentleman immediately turned it back around to himself.
“Finally, I can be free,” he smirked. While cackling, he pulled out a peculiar gun from the briefcase, shocking the passenger.
“Wait, you’re going to shoot him!?”
“Very clever, aren’t we?”
“I- I don’t think we should do that. What if something goes wrong?”
“What? Have a chat with the driver? Do you think he’ll care? He’s the guy that brought us into this whole mess.”
"I'm not going to let you do this!"
At that moment, the train was going through some sort of tunnel, blocking the outside view. The man shot at the lights, obscuring all view. He then threw the passenger’s cup at their head, leaving them to slowly faint as the tunnel ended to show a glimpse of the man frantically running away.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
