Darkness

a new story by me

The night was damp. The fog came rolling off the bay. It seemed to engulf the whole town. I made my way , carefully, down the stairs to the platform. I looked for the man with the large stetson hat., but alas he could not be found. I heard, "All aboard" as someone yelled it in the fog. I followed the voice, found the train, and climbed up the steep train stairs. A hand reached out for me in the darkness and pulled me up. I turned to grab my luggage, pulled it onto the train, turned to thank whomever pulled me on board, but no one was there. Did I imagine it?

The porter found me, grabbed my bags, checked my ticket, and took m to my drawing room. I have always wanted to travel by train. I have wanted to go out west and explore as long as I could remember. I never imagined I would do it alone. With the papers signed just yesterday an adventure was just what I needed. My depression had been setting in for awhile and I needed the change. It was an unwanted guest whom I wanted to remove from my person. I had looked forward to this trip for awhile. The thought of my departure kept me focused on it instead of my divorce.

The train was dimly lit. It was night out already, thought I struggled to look out my window, all I saw was darkness. The fog blocked everything and I felt this was a good way to say goodbye to my past. To leave it here, here in the engulfing darkness.

Morning came and I was pleasantly surprised. Not only had I slept, but I awoke to what looked like a cheery bright day outside. I could only imagine it as warm as my window did not open in my compartment. The porter startled me when he knocked. He announced breakfast and I gladly opened the door for him to enter. Before me was a tray that resembled sunshine. Coffee, fresh bright oranges, melons, eggs, bacon, and of course today's newspaper. I wondered for a moment how it got aboard the train, but soon forgot about it as I sipped my hot and strong coffee.

Today the train stopped at a little town called Smithville. I read about the towns we stop at before I departed and this town seemed charming and I wanted to explore it alone. I was looking forward to making discoveries for the first time of my life, alone.

Ten AM sharp the train pulled into Smithville and I was ready to depart it. The conductor reminds us the train pulls back out in six hours. He also reminded us it leaves "with or without you on it". I leapt off the train in anticipation of the amazing day I would have in this tiny and charming town. It had a lot of history that I wanted to explore.

The town seemed sad when I looked at it. Faded blues and browns. Paint falling off the sides of buildings. Signs hanging by their last screw. It seemed to be in need of some serious repairs. Windows seemed to be missing in apartment windows, store fronts seemed in shambles, nothing seemed to be as I read and I was disappointed. Sidewalks were all cracked up and made navigating this tiny town tough on your knees. As I was observing the town, it felt to me that someone was observing me. I looked around frantically and I thought I saw a man with a stetson hat dodge behind a building. When I turned all the way around to look no one was around me. I blew it off ad went into the general store.The store had pots and pans, bags, hats, and many other numerous items for sale. When I checked out I asked for a recommendation for lunch. They all said "Sally's Place". I asked for directions from a sales person and was soon off to find Sally's.  The sales people all welcomed me and I wandered around the store for a bit. I ended up buying some gum and post cards to add to my collection.



About eight blocks into my ten block walk I heard footsteps behind me. I knew there were plenty of other train travellers in the town with me, but I felt like these footsteps matched mine. When I stopped walking so did the footsteps. I quickly turned around again to find no one. Was I losing my mind?  I walked the rest of the way to Sally's quickly and sat down to eat. I enjoyed myself for hours and read my book I had with me and soon forgot about the man in the stetson hat and the mysterious footsteps.



I am sure this story will be extended to include more chapters. I hope you all liked it. It has been awhile for me with actually writing a story.

May the writing bug bite you all :D

your storyteller/poet
xo
Debbie



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