[Author's note: Prompted from a train ride and a comment by DD.]
As he watched the train pass by, he thought of the days when the workers were still laying out the foundations for the pillars and cables. He had often been fascinated with trains and would pester his father to bring him to the train stations just to watch the trains. If he had a choice, he would have all the world’s model trains in his home.
However, his parents wouldn’t allow him as they lived in a 3-room flat where there just wasn’t space for his hobby. All he was allowed were the photos of trains from various countries. While he hadn’t had the chance to visit them, he had sourced for the photos from the Internet and friends.
He had left work late and caught the last train home. It wasn’t his first time as he preferred to ride the train late at night as it was quiet and allowed him to think. As the train proceeded, he was lost in his thoughts. He dreamed of having his own place to setup a train world.
He had been saving up all these years including some money from his sideline ventures. As it was against the company’s rules, he took pains to cover his tracks as long as they were legitimate. His hard work had paid off. His plan was to build the world of trains and let others see his collections. His train collection was stored in his friend’s warehouse.
Arthur was pleased. He would be able to lease the building he had his eye on. Suddenly, the train jerked to a stop. Startled, he looked around. An old man at the end of the cabin woke up from his nap. There wasn’t much people in the cabin or the next.
The train moved again. It jerked to a complete stop again. Arthur was curious. This rarely happened during his late rides home. He had taken the last train home a few times and this was the first time it had happened. Finally with a few more stop and move motions, the train arrived at the station. The rest of the ride was smooth. Thinking nothing of it, it was soon forgotten.
3 weeks later, the same thing happened. It was also the same train station. “It can’t be the same track fault, can it?” Arthur thought. He saw the old man stirring from his sleep. He seemed to be dressed in the same clothes.
Deciding that the track had faults, Arthur composed a letter to the Land Transport Authority (LTA) explaining the situation. A few days later, he received a letter. The routine check had found nothing wrong with the particular track. The LTA assured that the tracks were in tip-top condition and he had nothing to worry about.
A follow up would be useless as he had encountered with other agencies. Shrugging, he threw the letter away. That night, he took the last train home. The same routine happened. This time, Arthur stood up to see if there were other passengers. The old man was in his same spot, rousing himself out of his nap. He wore the same clothes.
This time, Arthur felt a slight chill down his spine. He walked through the other cabins. No other passengers were in sight. The train moved again and jerked to a stop soon after. As he pass through each cabin, he felt cold. Ignoring it, he went on. As the train jerked to a stop, he glanced at the window and saw a pale face.
Shocked, he stumbled and grasped a pole to break his fall. Trembling slightly, he looked at the same window but saw darkness. Thinking that he was imagining, he pressed on. He was alone with the old man. The train didn’t have any other passengers.
The next morning, he read the newspapers that a woman had passed away in the tracks last afternoon. The station affected was the station that the train often had problem moving to. Arthur felt a chill in the hot kitchen.
Unable to forget the incident and the pale face at the train’s window, Arthur searched for the information online and sieved through news archives for information about the particular train station.
There were a few news about the station being opened for use. Other snippets included accidents and deaths at the station. A few were news of people dying at the tracks. Apparently, it was a favourite place as it was deserted most of the time. It was nicknamed “Death Station”.
Shuddering, Arthur took a break from his screen. After drinking the hot tea, he continued reading the rest of the information that Google had displayed. One particular news caught his eye. A woman had jumped into the tracks 3 years ago. Seeing her photo, Arthur dropped his cup. The hot drink spilled onto his barefoot but he didn’t feel it. It was the pale face he had seen from the train window.
He had never believed in spirits or ghost for any matter. His parents were ardent Buddhists who believed in reincarnation while he scorned the idea of Heaven and Hell. However, with the photo of a dead woman and his encounter with her ghost, he started to wonder if they did exist.
He still had one unanswered question, why did they choose to die? What problems did they have before their deaths? Copying the names took little effort. It was the information about them that would take some time.
Any grieving family wouldn’t want to wash their dirty linen outside if questioned by strangers. Arthur had to think of a way. Most deaths by suicides weren’t without a reason. He found one by luck. The 35-year-old man had committed suicide because of retrenchment. Another newspaper had his sob story out in print.
“One down, 4 to go,” Arthur whistled. He nearly missed a story about a 24-year-old lady. She was an executive who was gang-raped and suffered severe depression. She was going to be promoted to a manager the week she was violated. The rapists were sentenced to jail for 5 years each.
The next two information weren’t that difficult to find. Arthur was amazed at the amount of information that the web could contain and preserve. Anything posted online was there forever. “Remind me not to cross anyone,” he thought to himself.
Try as he might, there wasn’t any more information regarding the woman he had seen. Deciding that he had stared at the computer screen for too long, he took a walk outside. The garden near his block was a good place to calm his nerves. It was eerie to even see the ghost. Initially, he took it as tiredness and hallucination but the news proved him wrong.
He needed some air to clear his head. While his parents may be devout Buddhists, Arthur wasn’t but he felt that this time, he may need the help of a medium to sort things out. However, he didn’t want to alarm his parents. He needed a medium who didn’t just dance and shake when he wasn’t actually communicating with the ghost.
By a stroke of luck, his neighbour needed a medium for her relative and his mother recommended one at the temple. He smiled to himself. It certainly saved him the trouble of explaining to his mother. He silently thanked his neighbour who may be nosy at times but this time, she was a big help to him this time.
He managed to arrange with the medium and prayed that there won’t be anyone who knew him would see him there. He would have a lot of explaining to do. The session with the medium took about 2 hours with Arthur no closer to why the woman was haunting the station. The medium said that she was a vengeful ghost and he was to be wary of traveling at night.
After paying him, Arthur made his way home. It was a few days later when he took the last train again. This time, he grasped the talisman the medium had given him and whispered tentatively, “Julie?” The train jerked a 3rd time.
“Julie!” he called out. The old man stirred but didn’t look at him. Emboldened, Arthur tried a 3rd time. This time, the train stopped and she appeared in front of him.
“Why did you call me?” she asked.
“I… I don’t know,” Arthur shrugged helplessly. “Why are you still here?”
“Someone killed me. He looked just like you.”
“So, you are here to kill me?” The sound of laughter lightened the mood.
“No. I’m here because I can’t find him. I believe he could be your relative since the two of you look so much alike.”
“How do I start looking? I can’t go up to him declaring him as a murderer. Didn’t the CCTVs work?”
“No. Don’t you know that whenever you want something to work at a critical time, it doesn’t?”
Arthur took down the particulars as she described. With the details, he promised her to look for her murderer. “I have one question, how would you differentiate me from him?”
She smiled, “He doesn’t dress like you do. You look too nerdy, if I must say.”
“Oh. Why did he kill you?”
“I don’t know. I don’t even know him.”
“Ok. Can I have a request from you?”
“Sure. As long as it’s within my means.”
“Please don’t let the train jerk and stop every time. I get motion sickness.”
“What jerk and stop? I’m not that powerful to do that. But I can help you find out why.” With that, the conversation was over and the train arrived at the station without any more mishaps. The idea of talking to a ghost was absurd. However, he did find out why she was there.
Thus, he began his search. He went to the medium to describe his experience. “She is a vengeful ghost. She could be saying part of her story. Beware of her,” was the advice he got. The idea of a man pushing a woman to her death was murderous. However, a man who didn’t know the woman and pushed her to her death was certainly doubtful.
Arthur made use of the time between work and rest to research on the man who looked like him. He even flipped through the photo albums to see if there is anyone in his family whom he remotely resembled. Looking at 5 albums resulted in no new discoveries. it was time for a break. Perhaps he could ask his mother about it. However, she was most likely to question him.
“There must be a way about it.” He paced his bedroom. Just then, the door bell rang. His mother answered it. It was an old friend whom they haven’t met for a long time. “Uncle John?” Arthur stared at him.
“Phil… Arthur? My, my, you are now all grown up!” they hugged tightly. He stayed for about an hour and Arthur caught him saying, “You look so much like your father!” That was when Arthur froze. Could his father have pushed Julie to her death? It was impossible. Excusing himself, Arthur went back to his room and turned on his computer.
He checked on the date about Julie’s death again. It was about 20 years ago. His father had passed away about 15 years ago. The timeline was just right. However, something about Julie’s death nagged at him. It was indeed unbelievable that an two strangers meet at the same train station and the man simply pushed her to her death. He couldn’t figure out why her story didn’t really feel right.
Uncle John had indeed called him “Phil”, his father’s name when he first saw Arthur. Maybe Julie and his father had known each other. Without much information, Arthur knew he had to ask his mother this time. There was no way he could handle a vengeful ghost if the medium was right.
“Mom?”
“Yes?” she continued chopping the vegetables.
“What was Dad like?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, do I really look like him?”
The chopping stopped. She turned to look at him and said, “Yes, very much.”
“Did you love him?” he heard her sigh.
“Arthur, why are you asking me these questions?”
“Please answer me, Mom.”
“Yes, I did. Now tell me why are you asking me about your father after all these years.”
“Well, Uncle John did call me by his name, so I want to know if I do resemble him since I can’t find any of his photos in our albums.”
“You have been looking through them suddenly, why? And Arthur, what is going on?” It was time to let her know. By the time he had related his side of the story, his mother was sobbing. “Arthur, your father did love me. Until he met her.”
“He lavished jewellery on her and he never did that for me. I was angry and pregnant at the time with you. I stayed in the marriage because of you. When I found out that he was in love with her, I told him about you and whether he wanted to keep the marriage or divorce.
That was when he woke up. He told me that he would do something about it. Throughout the pregnancy, he was attentive to me, probably he wanted you more than me.” she sounded bitter at this part. Taking a drink, she continued, “He made sure that I was cared for and told me one day that he had settled the matter. What I didn’t know was that he had pushed her to her death, at the Death Station.
She had refused to leave him and thus, without a choice, he had to do something. In his desperation, he pushed her out into the railway tracks just as the train was pulling into the station. No one saw anything because it was usually empty. I only knew of it when I read the papers and questioned him.”
“She didn’t want to leave Dad? I don’t understand, he was married, what was the catch?”
“I don’t know. Women who are in love don’t care about marital status as long as the men in their hands lavish the attention on them. From that day, your father never slept in the same room as me. I didn’t know why until I noticed his room door opened one night. He was tossing and moaning, ‘Don’t hurt me!’ He was living in sin. Paying for his debt by having nightmares every night.
I couldn’t do a thing. It was only after you were born, that his nightmares seemed to have stopped. When you were five, he passed away due to Dengue fever. Since then, I have kept all his stuff in the store room. I don’t know what to do with them.”
Hearing this story, Arthur knew he had found the man. What he didn’t expect was that the man was his father and they both did know each other. She was keeping something away from him and Arthur wanted to know why. He made arrangements with the medium as a vengeful ghost could be a lethal ghost too.
With some information in hand, Arthur made his plans. It was going to be tricky considering that she was in love with his father. With the knowledge that he was no longer alive, she was going to be an angry ghost. The next day, he took the last train home and steeled himself for the event.
“You have information?” the train had stopped. He looked at her and nodded. “So, where is he?”
“He’s dead.”
“DEAD? HOW CAN HE BE?” her anger vibrated through his veins. One angry ghost was a mild description.
“He died of Dengue.”
“How could he die of Dengue? He owed me! OWED ME!” she was screaming by this time.
“You can’t exactly tell the mosquitoes to bite someone else.”
“Are you trying to fool me?”
“No.”
“Tell me where he is.”
“He is dead.”
“I want to see his tomb.”
“Can you leave the station?”
“No.”
“Then how to show you his tomb?” she paled. He didn’t know that a ghost could go pale.
“Show me something to prove that he is dead.”
“How about a photo of his tomb? I have it here.”
“Show me.” he took out the photo of the tomb he had taken the day before. It took him some time before his mother would tell him the location.
“Why did he have to die? I want my REVENGE!” The train shook with the last word. Arthur was feeling apprehensive. He wondered if the old man could hear and saw that he was ignoring the whole event. Perhaps he was deaf. He hoped so.
“I want HIM! He KILLED ME and HE SHOULD PAY FOR IT!”
“He did. He had nightmares every night after that.”
“How did you know? TELL ME!” she sounded dangerous.
“Someone told me.”
“WHO?”
“Someone.”
“WHO!”
“His wife.” at that, she smiled. It was an eerie smile.
“So, he did have nightmares. I was cursing him, you see. I cursed that he won’t be able sleep well since he was the guilty one. A murderer. I wanted him to suffer without me by his side. So, I have succeeded.” her cackle was disturbing.
“Are you… Are you at peace now?” Arthur ventured tentatively.
“Peace? What peace? I will have my revenge and then I will have peace.”
“But he is dead.”
“Do you think a murderer would be incarnated after death?”
“No.”
“He is still here in spirit and I will find him!”
“Why are you so intent on having your revenge? Is it because he killed you? Just for that?”
“Yes, and I want to have my revenge on him personally, not by some tiny insect called a mosquito!” if the situation weren’t so serious, Arthur would have laughed.
“What do you intend to do once you find him?”
“Pushed him into the tracks the way he did to me. Over and over again.” she sure was evil.
“Julie, can I ask you something?”
“Yes.”
“Do you still love him?”
Silence.
“Why did you ask?” she sounded hoarse.
“Because I think you still love him. That’s why you failed to understand why he had pushed you down the tracks. Or, did you fall down the tracks to make him feel guilty?” Her eyes glowed. It could be that she was the one who jumped down and made it look like his father had pushed her.
“What do you know anything about me? Do you think I am a fool? I HATE HIM! HE WAS THE ONE WHO PUSHED ME!”
“I went through the papers again. There was some torn clothes found on your body it looked like someone did try to save you, not push you. There were no wounds found on your body either.”
“HE PUSHED ME!”
“No, you loved him and wanted to die in front of him to make him feel guilty.”
“You don’t get it, do you? I HATE HIM!”
“You love him. Despite him being married and a kid on the way. You wanted him to divorce but he refused because of the child. That was when you got angry and plotted your death.”
She seemed to have grown bigger and her hair wilder. Arthur had pushed her buttons and he had hit the nail on her. She was going to do something to him and he hoped the talismans that the medium had given him were strong enough to repel her tricks.
“Son, thank you.” It was the old man. Arthur looked at him and saw himself with wrinkled lines on the face. It was his father. So, he was the one who was in the train all this while.
“YOU!” Julie launched herself at her lover. He grasped her attacking fists and held her imprisoned. She fought him helplessly. “YOU PUSHED ME!”
“Yes, but I pushed you verbally, not physically as you have often thought of. I am now no longer married. Do you still want me?” her vicious flailing stopped in mid air. At this she stared at him.
“You still love me?”
“Of course. I didn’t know why you didn’t even try to find me all this time I was in here. You didn’t even notice me.” They faded. The train started moving again.
Arthur vowed not to take the last train home again.
