Cheesman Chronicles

A small bump in the train tracks woke Jessica up from her dream. What was supposed to be a pleasant ride through the country had ended up being–
Wait, no that wasn’t right. Why was she on a train? She went to sleep in her bed as she usually did every night. With her stuffed animals, medals from her time in the war, book by her side, and an outfit set up for the next day ahead.
She rubbed her eyes and looked down at herself. She wasn’t even in her pyjamas. They were some kind of single colour, polyester outfit. It fit her well, as if it had been specially made. But that didn’t help ease her tension of this strange train.
Jessica rolled herself out of the bed and looked around at her cabin. She’d never been in one of them, but it looked like one of those cabins you’d see on the oriental express or something. Small and cramped, with a bunk bed, small closet, a mini desk, and covers over the window to prevent the sun coming in. She glanced outside to see if she recognised this place at all, but all she could see was black night. There was a bit of light from the train on the ground, which looked like some kind of desert, though if it were sand or dirt she couldn’t make out.
The moon wasn’t in the sky, the stars didn’t shine, no lights in the distance to make out what could possibly be going on.
She took a deep breath, put on a pair of slippers that fit her exactly, and headed out to the hallway of the train. Hopefully she wasn’t the only one on-board this strange ride. Maybe someone else would know what was going on.
She closed her door and walked down, peering into the other cabins in the hope to find someone… anyone who could explain what was happening. Yet though the spare door had an opened blind, there was no-one there. Though there were some positive signs.
The rooms she could see were messy. They weren’t ready for new guests or tidied up for the night. They had been used. The slight turn of the bed sheets, the open shelves as if looking for something, uneven clothing. All things that said someone was here.
Jessica bit her lip and walked down the corridor to the front of the train, continuing to look through the windows. The signs became more and more apparent that she wasn’t the only one, but still no-one appeared.
Finally, she made it to the end of the last cabin and opened the door to the next cart. Inside was the bar cart, where around five people were standing, confused as she was, all wearing the same clothes as her. Down to the same slippers.
A short man looked up to her as she entered and gestured wildly.
“Well,” he said. “Looks like another one.”
“Another what?” Jessica asked.
“It was bound to happen,” A tall woman at the far end said. “Who knows? Maybe someone else will appear.”
“I guess,” the man said. “Still, you think she’ll be the last one?”
“I don’t see why not,” another person said. “Maybe there’s another nine at the end of this god forsaken train track.”
“Sorry, hang on,” Jessica said, cutting them all off. “Who are all of you? And where they hell am I?”
“That’s the question of the night, sweetie,” an old woman spoke, sitting by the bar as another man served her. “No-one quite knows what’s going on. As for who we are, I’m Doris.”
“I’m Catherine,” the tall woman said. “This short man next to me is Flynn, the man behind the counter is Jamie, and they –” she pointed to the last person “– are Xander.”
Jessica nodded and introduced herself in reply. They all gave a bored wave to her and went back to whatever they were talking about before. Mostly to do with the train and why they were here.
“Like I was saying,” the short man who Jessica now knew to be Flynn, “It’s a social experiment. The government is trying to study us by finding how we’ll react when put in a strange situation.”
“Oh, don’t be absurd,” Catherine said. “I work for the government, and I see a lot of what goes on there. There isn’t anything like this there.”
“So, you’re a spy for them, then?” Flynn accused her. “Or hell, maybe it’s not OUR government. Maybe it’s some foreign one. Maybe they kidnapped us good Americans for their creepy commie experiment.”
“American?” Doris asked. “I thought you were Australian. Isn’t that where we’re all from?”
“You’re Australian?” Jessica asked. “I’m from England. Then… how are we all here at the same time?”
“Maybe this is some kind of dream?” Catherine suggested. “Maybe we’re in this place together while we’re all asleep?”
“Seriously?” Flynn said. “That’s pretty stupid. For one, if we are all in different time zones, shouldn’t we be asleep at different times? And secondly and most obviously, WHY ARE WE SHARING THE DREAM!”
“Calm down, Flynn,” Jamie softly said. “There’s no need to get so anxious about this. We’re all in this together, one way or another. Maybe we should stick together on this.”
“Stick together on what?” Xander spoke up. “I mean, what exactly do we plan on doing here? I don’t see much of a way out of here. And as Flynn kindly demonstrated earlier, none of the windows or doors seem to be able to open.”
The group looked back to Flynn. Jessica noticed him rubbing a bruised and slightly bloodied hand.
“What do we plan on doing then?” Flynn said. “Just waiting? I don’t like waiting. I should be doing something.”
“You can serve the bar if you’d like,” Jamie said. “I’m sure all of us would want a drink.”
Flynn grumbled and reluctantly accepted the offer. Jamie gave a smile and handed him a towel rag. He slowly began to clean the bench and prepared himself a drink. The rest of the group looked at him with disappointment.
“What?” Flynn said. “Not like I’m driving anywhere soon.”
He took a quick drink of his own glass before beginning to serve up some more for the rest of the people. The now six of them took a hearty drink and began to relax slightly. Xander was right. There wasn’t much they could realistically do.
Jessica took a water from him graciously and sat down by herself. She looked around for a clock but there was none on the wall. Her watch was, of course, no longer with her either.
She began to think about how she would have ended up here. Was it some government kidnapping? A strange science experiment to see how they would react under pressure? Or maybe it was a weird dreamscape. That would ‘explain’ how they could be here all at the same time.
She shook her head. No. There had to be some logical explanation for the whole thing. Something that would let them know that everything here would be alright.
After what felt like an hour had passed – though she really had no idea how to tell – the train began to slow down. The passengers looked up in confusion as they felt like they were coming into a station.
“Where are we?” Jessica said.
“I don’t know, dear,” Doris said. “Must be some kind of stop?”
“Yes,” Flynn said calmly. “This is my stop.”
He dropped himself off from the bar and headed toward the front of the train. He easily opened the door and stepped out onto whatever was outside. The door quickly closed behind him, and the train was off again.
The cabin exploded in questions.
“WHAT THE HELL?” Xander yelled. “What was that about?”
“How did he know it was his stop?” Doris asked. “Who told him it was his?”
“Why did he just leave?” Catherine asked.
“What let him off?” Jamie said quietly.
“Where did we stop off?” Jessica asked.
They continued to spew questions forth as they tried to think this whole thing through. No explanation they gave was satisfactory. Not that they were really looking for one. They just had to let out the pent-up energy they had from watching someone they knew just leave into the abyss.
They all went to the window to peer out, trying to see if they can see where he got off at. But the light didn’t travel that far, and it was desert again.
They stood back and took deep breaths. Jessica herself was taking it strangely hard. There had been something secure about the group of them. All six of them, against the strange odds of wherever the hell they were. Someone just leaving put a insecure knot in all their plans, she realized. If they could call it plans.
She kept going back to how he left. It wasn’t like he was forced off. No, he just calmly left, as if he were getting off at any other train on a normal commute. He didn’t resist, he just went along with it.
The five huddled together much closer now. They didn’t agree to any plan, nor did they decide to come closer. They just naturally gravitated to the bar as a kind of secure point. Maybe if they were close together, whatever would compel them to leave would not happen again.
They continued to discuss what could have happened to Flynn. Jessica wasn’t paying attention. She heard things like ‘mind control’ and ‘drugs’, along with more reasonable things like ‘acceptance’ or ‘faith’. She didn’t care. Why should she? Whatever had happened was now over.
After another hour as they went over things, the train began to slow down and stop at a station once more. This time, it was Catherine who left the train, just as calmly as Flynn had before. Doris and Jamie tried to follow her out but weren’t able to leave in time. They couldn’t see out the door as it shut tightly behind her and the train took off once more.
This time, there was not a lot of discussion to be had. They had no more information to think about, just more guesses and theories to how they had gotten there.
The only real question on everyone’s mind – though they didn’t want to say it – was who would be next?
They got their answers about every hour or so. After a few chats here and there, as they tried to figure out a bit of each other’s life, the train would come to a stop and one of them would leave as calmly as ever.
Next was Xander. They were in the middle of their drink when the train slowed down. They looked outside, shrugged, and told them all that they were leaving now. They wished them all fair well and departed calmly.
By now, the three left simply waved Xander off, as if there was nothing they could do about it. And to be fair, they didn’t think there was.
Next was Jamie. His was a bit more dramatic one. Jessica had begun to like him a lot more. He told fun stories of when he was in a war (he never specified which), about meeting his friends he would spend the rest of his life with and what that meant to him. Jessica, herself a veteran, related with the man in a way she didn’t realise she would have.
A small tear went down her face as she watched him leave, knowing they would likely never see each other again.
Now only Jessica and Doris were left. They looked at each other and sighed.
“I guess the next stop is one of us,” Jessica said.
“I guess it is, sweetie,” Doris nodded.
“Can’t we leave together?” Jessica asked. “You know, hand in hand or something like that? Maybe that can stop whatever it is that’s keeping us here.”
Doris paused as she thought it over. The idea sounded plausible. Now that there were only two of them, there wasn’t much more they could do. She looked back and nodded.
Jessica gave a weak smile and looked out the window again. It was still the same damn sky, same damn empty black void that led them through who knows where any more.
Another hour rolled around, and the train slowed again. Jessica held onto Doris’s arm tightly, though she didn’t seem to react to that. Jessica sighed. It must have been Doris’s turn now.
She was right. Doris calmly got up and began to depart for the station. Jessica followed along, holding onto the arm as tight as she dared. They walked out to the door and Doris opened it calmly.
There wasn’t anything outside. All Jessica could see was a brief light of brick ground that stretched off forever. She tried to hold onto Doris, but something pushed her back before she could cross the precipice. She yelled after her, begging her to come back so they could leave together, like they planned.
Doris didn’t even look back as the doors shut tight again, leaving Jessica alone once more.
This was too much. Jessica marched slowly back to a chair and sat down. She began to cry. She was alone. In all her time in the army, she had never been alone. Her troop was with her through all of it. She fought with them, laughed with them, shared great times with them. All in all, she only lost one of them during her time served. Her reaction to it was so strong she had to be honourably discharged. Her troop understood and let her go with a firm hug and bid her farewell.
This wasn’t like that. But it felt that way. Loosing Doris especially. She was just a sweet old woman. She didn’t deserve to be alone now. She deserved company with the rest of them. Wherever she was, she deserved to be with someone.
Jessica cried for close to an hour. By the end, she knew it was getting time for her to leave. Now, she began to wonder what it would be like. Maybe she would suddenly become calm? Would her mind be taken over? Would she even know? Would she even care?
The train slowly came to a stop once more, a loud whistling signalling the end of the line.

Thumbnail image taken from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGgbnmfaMe0