In my hometown, there was only one way to get in and out. That was by the train which stopped twice a day. Once to pick up passengers, and once to let passengers go. However, every once in a while, that train never returns, and the passengers disappear. Everyone tries to avoid the old train, but here in this dusty little town, there's barely enough to sustain us. Most have to leave for The City.

It was one of those days. I had to go to The City for supplies the small local stores never offered. As I entered the old train, alone, I felt as if the train was waiting for me. Waiting for me to step into its maw to be swallowed whole. As usual, the train was empty of other passengers, other than the staff who was deemed worthy by the train to be enslaved inside of it. I took my seat.

An hour into the ride, the staff set before me a well-cooked steak. That was odd, for I don't remember them ever serving food on the train. The staff left me before I could question them, so I quite stupidly stared at it for a good few seconds. My thoughts were interrupted when a small voice chirped beside me.

"Are you gonna eat that, mister?"

I recoiled in surprise. To my left was a young boy, about seven years of age. Strange. I could have sworn that the train was empty. Even more so, I was positive I would have seen someone next to me. The boy had on a white shirt, plain brown trousers, worn black boots, and oddly new suspenders with shiny bronze buckles. Upon the impossibly black curls on his head was a newsboy cap and his eyes... did not belong to a child's. Worldwide knowledge pooled inside of them, and they burned a particular kind of amber. The color of a fire waiting to ignite and consume.

"Mister, you look as if you saw a ghost," the boy giggled. But in seconds, his face turned hard, and his eyes now an inky blackness that plunged into malice. A wicked grin replaced the innocent smile that had once dawned upon the child's lips. The child started to speak again, but not as a child anymore.

"Upon the orders of the deeds you've done and have not done, you shall be ridden of this world until They have absolved you of all."

Without another word, my world dissolved around me, and I plunged into darkness.