The Late Night Train Chapter 0 - Prologue

Prologue: The Train Car

It was quiet. I opened my eyes, discovering I was inside a train car. The window was enveloped in the darkness of the night, and I had no way of distinguishing where the train was headed.

"Where is this?" My heart skipped a beat when I heard someone else's voice. I now realized there was someone sitting across from me. He looked more than twenty years old. As he drowsily opened his eyes, there was a bewildered expression on his face.

I had no way of answering his question because I seemed to have lost my memories. I couldn’t recall anything that happened before I awoke. I looked around. There were more than ten people in the train car, and they all appeared to have woken up from a deep sleep, their expressions vacant.

Soon, many started asking the same question.

"Where am I?"

No one had an answer to this question. The train continued to rumble as before, and with it, the silence grew ever louder.

I couldn't endure this kind of atmosphere, so I decided to take a walk in the train car. I quickly walked to the end of the car. There, I saw a strange machine. It seemed to be a ticket vending machine. On it, gray and white lines interweaved into a pattern. It surrounded a black screen, drawing people’s gazes toward it.

I stopped walking and carefully sized up this strange machine. A faint light shone through the screen. Then, a white light lit in the center of the screen, and it eventually turned into an image. In it, the silhouette of a person appeared, his appearance hidden by the darkness. In the background were countless screens. Some of which were incessantly flashing, while others were flooded with white light. That person moved slightly, and my heart palpitated. I felt like he was staring at me.

"Welcome to the Late Night Train."

Everyone in the train car heard him speaking. One by one, they gathered around and inquired him in a rapid-fire manner.

"Who are you?"

"Why'd you kidnap us?"

"Is this part of a show? There must be cameras hidden somewhere!"

About five minutes later, the person in the screen coughed, and everyone immediately quieted down.

That person spoke, "I know you all have many questions, but I have no interest in answering them right now. What I can tell you is that I am here to give you all the tickets for your departure. You can call me the Ticket Seller."

"Tickets?" The Ticket Seller's words confused me.

He continued, "My request is very simple. One story for one ticket. In simpler words, every one of you will tell me a story I have never heard before. If I am satisfied, I will give you a ticket that will allow you to leave."

The train car burst into an uproar. No one had heard such a strange request before.

A fat man loudly asked, "Why should we believe you?"

"You can doubt me, but do you have any other choice?" The Ticket Seller's question silenced the fat man. The speeding train was like a desolate island–there was no escape.

"In short, find me once you have a story." The Ticket Seller had grown tired of talking to everyone. The screen returned to darkness.

I saw everyone return to their seats. I wasn't sure if they were thinking about how to escape or if they really complied with the Ticket Seller's proposal to come up with a story.

I don't know how much time had passed, but the Ticket Seller's voice once again rang out. "How is your thinking?"

A youth sitting opposite me suddenly stood up. He walked over to the Ticket Seller, asking, "You'll let me leave if I tell a story?"

The Ticket Seller replied, "Of course, but you have to remember, it needs to be a story I've never heard before."

The youth stared at the screen containing the Ticket Seller and slowly said, "This story is called the Death Confession."