More Fractured Tales stories!
You stand there… shivering slightly… looking at the familiar scene ahead of you… a vision you have seen more times than you care to count.
It is half dark… as it always is… and you wonder how long this old railway bed has been here… certainly much longer than you have.
How many trains have traveled over these tracks… now rusted and broken with the passage of time… and how many people did they transport… before their existence came to an end… with a final screech of metal wheels on metal tracks?
Scores of these old tracks have lain idle for many years… a few have found new life as trails… for all-terrain vehicles or hikers… with or without the old rails.
This one is pretty much intact… except for the rigorous wear-and-tear of its heydey… and the erosion caused by the elements of its silent years.
But… for some strange reason… this particular track… in this particular spot… doesn’t feel at rest… as if something from the past still lingers in this spot.
In fact, you get a sense of restlessness here… as if the old tracks are waiting… anticipating something.
Strangely, you can feel what the track is feeling… but you don’t understand why.
It is always shrouded with fog… sometimes so dense you can feel it… imagine it… slithering over your exposed skin… and that’s when you hug your arms tightly around your body.
You feel a strong need to protect yourself from whatever is out there… beyond the fog.
Like a physical force… you feel it pressing in on you… squeezing like some invisible giant hand.
It is cold… at least, that’s how you think of it… because… it looks cold… and damp… and frightening and the intensity of your shivering increases.
But you are puzzled – and curious – as to why the fog always hangs around this old train track… a long-forgotten track that seems to go nowhere… except into the fog.
Some days aren’t so bad… and you can see a few feet ahead… through the tall menacing trees that loom larger than reality on both sides offer no comfort.
You have no clue about where it goes… or used to go.
Your mind wavers back and forth… should you go forward?… stay where you are?… or turn and flee while your thoughts are still rational?
The one thing holding you where you are is curiosity.
Inside you feel a strong desire to know, but… an equally strong fear is holding you back
Just one more step closer… or maybe two… and you might be able to see a little further into the hazy wall ahead… might be able to see… something… anything.
Now your entire body is shivering violently… as if you are dancing to some strange music inside your head.
You force yourself to take another step… just one more… and suddenly you’re falling… and falling… into the fog… a damp dark infinity that threatens to swallow you whole.
The sound of silence becomes a deafening roar in your ears… but you are frozen to the spot… too terrified to move… or even to scream.
But what is it that causes such deep fear… that paralyzes you… so that you can do nothing but wait for the feeling to pass?
And tomorrow night the same scenario will play out again… just like every other night… with no end in sight.
If only you knew what this was all about… perhaps you could break the cycle.
Suddenly your hands become clammy… your chest feels tight and it’s hard to breathe.
For a fleeting moment, you wonder what’s happening… and then… your eyes pop wide open as you hit the floor and realization dawns…
