19-year-old Anamika immediately felt a sense of relief as she got into the train and away from the claustrophobic Chennai station.
She sighed, breathing a sigh of relief.
Finally⌠it was the usualâshe and her family were going on a trip to the hometown.
Perhaps that was the problem. Growing up as a hyper child, small spaces always made her feel queasyâeven now.
Her younger sister Glory, 10, cherry-faced, adorable, round, with chubby cheeks, bright eyes, a Dora bag, and well⌠to put it in the best way:
Glory snorted, âShould I call Amma âcause youâre having asthma?â she exclaimed. âUh⌠Burn!â
Anamika rolled her eyes and immediately pulled her into a friendly headlock and nuzzled her cheeks and neck playfully and furiously.
Anamika playfully muttered, âSmall monkeys should speak only when spoken to.â
Anamika snickered. She shrugged as her motherâas usualâchastised her. Her father just rolled his eyes playfully.
âLeave them,â he teased. âSister things.â
Glory gave her a rosy-cheeked scowlâŚ
As the family sat down in their compartment and settled, exchanging jokes, banter, and so on, their mother huffed, getting lunchboxes from the big cotton bag, serving fish gravy and rice, which they all lapped up like hungry lions.
Their mother stared, flabbergasted, as it looked like she was feeding animals from the Discovery Channel instead of her own family.
âThis is why I bring tissuesâŚâ she muttered.
Anamika and Glory shrieked in delight as mangoes were handed over for dessert.
They gobbled it up like animals.
Their father looked bemused.
Their mother looked exasperated.
âI raised monkeys⌠not daughters,â their mother quipped dryly.
Anamika snorted through a mouthful of mango.
âMom, mango is a delicacy, okay?â she teased with a grin, rubbing the stickiness with her knuckles.
âYou canât go for manners when eating a mangoâŚâ
And their mother merely looked exasperated.
Minutes later, they were discussing their cousinâs wedding, which they would soon be attending.
Glory huffed, âIâm wearing my pink dress!â she exclaimed. âIâll look like Aurora!â
Anamika snorted, âMore like parottaâŚâ
Glory squealed indignantly.
Their mother exclaimed, exasperated.
And after a whole nature of good-natured bickeringâŚ
Anamika got the upper berth, of courseâafter playfully negging her sister.
âElder sister privileges,â she added playfully, climbing up the bed.
And it was all normal. The train was normal.
Until everyone went to sleepâŚ
But then, Anamikaâs eyes crinkled open when she heard a strange soundâ
A bit like paper crackling.
Her eyes slowly opened, and when they didâ
A little girl, about five years old, from the family in the next berthâthe one who had been playing down the corridor kicking the ball, earning her motherâs tsk-tsk and the muttered words âPeople donât know how to manage their children these daysââ
Well, she wasnât running per seâŚ
Staring right up at Anamikaâs berth.
Anamika froze, eyes wide, horrified.
She rubbed her eyes to see if she was dreaming. She wasnât.
The little girl continued to stare at herâexpression blank, with milky eyes.
Anamika immediately pulled the covers over her head, horrified.
She breathed shallowly, trying to process what was happening.
THIS MUST DEFINITELY BE A EFFING DREAM.
She pulled the covers apart.
Anamika breathed a sigh of relief.
There. It must be because of the Haunting of Hill House series she fell asleep watching on her phone.
She took a look. Her family was fast asleepâGlory cuddled to her mother, eyes peaceful, nose scrunching like a rabbit adorably in her sleep; her mother, hair untied, sleeping peacefully; her father, cuddled in the blanket.
Anamika sighed. Thatâs it. Her family was asleepâthis was definitely a dream.
Anamika heard the familiar crinkling sound again.
The conductor, who had checked their tickets, was standing down by her berth.
THE SAME BLANK LOOK IN HIS EYES.
SKIN WAS TURNING SLIGHTLY BLUEâŚ
HANDS SLOWLY REACHING OUTâ
DEFINITELY NOT TO ASK FOR HER TICKET YEAHâŚ
Anamika gasped, crawling back, sitting up desperatelyâ
And then, in the blink of an eyeâ
Anamika breathed shallowly.
Her gasps must have made some noise because Glory blearily woke up, grumpily staring at Anamika, still cuddled in her motherâs arms.
She muttered a curse, then went back to sleep.
She tried to give one last logical explanation in her brain before going back to sleepâŚ
Until⌠she felt somethingâ
Right next to her on the bedâŚ
Anamikaâs brows furrowed.
Who the hell turned up the ACâ?
Until she opened her eyes.
And her body went deathly still.
The little girl was lying next to her.
Same dress. Curly hair. Pink dress.
Except her skin was tinting blue.
Violet nerves creeping all over her face and neck.
Anamikaâs eyes widened in pure terror, her blood growing cold.
And then the girl smiled.
Not an adorable, cute, whittle girl smileâ
A smile that split her teeth.
Anamika stayed stiff as a board, as if her body was tied with tightly coiled ropes.
And then, slowly, she relaxed.
But as soon as she turned overâ
Violet nerves all over his face.
She froze, eyes wide, her body becoming paralyzed again.
Her mouth felt like it was trying to open to scream.
He stared at her and thenâ
Anamika wasnât able to blink this time. She tried to, but she couldnât.
Anamika was now feeling hot and molten and completely covered in sweat.
And then froze when she saw Glory.
Staring straight into her eyes.
And Anamika froze when she realized why.
The little girl in the pink dressâ
Was standing next to Glory.
Glory was far cleverer than she was.
She didnât look at the ghost.
She stayed perfectly still.
But that didnât stop her from looking absolutely terrified.
Anamika shushed her sister, muttering for her to sleep it out.
She didnât know what else to do.
But moments later, she felt something crawling up her bed.
Her reflexes immediately acted.
She screamed and kicked furiouslyâ
Until she heard the familiar squeal ofâ
Anamika froze to see Glory on her bed, looking terrified.
Anamika rubbed her eyes. âGlory!â she exclaimed. âWhat theââ
Glory wriggled. âI want to use the toilet!â
Anamika stared, eyes twitching. âOh, Iâm sorry! What part of you missed the Annabelle dupe that was standing beside your bed?!â
Glory whined, âBut itâs urgentâŚâ
Anamika drew a breath. âAnd there are ghosts waiting for our bloodââ but she steadied herself, drawing a breath.
âAlright, Glory. Listen to me carefully. Something here is extremely screwed upâŚâ
Glory wriggled in bladder distress as she got down, both of them slowly walking on the cold tile floor.
She rolled her eyes, muttering dryly, âYeah⌠I think I figured by that Annabelle dupe that was standing by my bed.â
Anamika rolled her eyes again.
As they walked along, Glory clinging to her arm on the cold floor of the train, Glory drew a breath before questioning hesitantly,
âDid you see them tooâ?â
Anamika sighed. âYep. Me and the conductor are buddiesâsince he hangs off my wall like Spider-Man.â
Glory choked, eyes wide, horrified. âHe WHAT?!â
Anamika shrugged with an exhausted smile. âOh, youâll see him soon⌠blue face, blue nervesâŚâ
Glory looked terrified. She squealed, grabbing onto Anamika, who wearily patted her head, scouting for any more unexpected ghostsâŚ
They saw a compartment open.
A family of fourâa mother, a father, a college-going boy about Anamikaâs age, and a girl of 12.
Except for the fact that their skins were rotting, brown liquid creeping from the skin, making a squelching sound.
The irisesâmerely black dots.
Smiles wide enough to split the skin.
Chattering furiously like wind-up toys from hell.
Anamika and Glory staredâŚ
And then promptly walked on their way.
Glory swore under her breath, eyes wide and terrified.
Anamika wasnât much betterâalthough being nineteen gave her experience to hide her emotions.
Glory muttered under her breath, âIf anyone makes me get on a train again, Iâm committing arson and going to juvieâŚâ
Anamika, despite being utterly terrified, gave her a wry smile.
Glory used the restroom. Anamika waited outside, hummingâŚ
When she saw a girl hanging by the window.
A 12-year-old girl wearing really cool grunge T-shirts and bell-bottom pants.
She would have been normalâif not for the fact that she was staring at Anamika with hollowed-out eyes and a face-splitting smile, jaw chattering.
Anamika immediately turned away.
She turned away and loudly sang Chaleya off-key.
The girl tilted her head.
Anamika was trying hard to steady her breathing when she noticed somethingâ
The calendar that was flutteringâŚ
Anamika froze, eyes wide.
THIS WAS NOVEMBER 12, 2025.
She stared, flabbergasted.
And then her mind slowly started to piece things together.
She immediately took out her phone and typed:
â2013 January train.â
And the results popped up:
On January 1, 2013, the Speed Express unexpectedly crashed due to a track mishap.
All on boardâkilled brutally.
Some bodiesânot even found.
âŚ..BIGGEST TRAIN MASSACRE.
Anamika closed the tab, breathing shallowly.
THEY WERE STUCK IN A GHOST TRAIN.
Anamika leaned back, trying hard to breathe.
She saw the grunge T-shirt girlâ
Her body on lockdown again.
A CHATTERING, HORRIBLE LAUGHâ
When Glory came, Anamika didnât even give her time to breathe before grabbing her and attempting to run back to the berth.
Glory yelled furiously, âHey hey! Iâm about to trip!â
Anamikaâs eye twitched.
And promptly threw Glory over her shoulder.
Glory squealed in surprise but didnât protest.
They saw all of them againâ
But Anamika didnât care.
BUT THE CORRIDOR KEPT GETTING LONGERâŚ
And then Glory screamed, frightenedâ
âAkka! Theyâre coming after us! Theyâre trying to grab me!â
Anamikaâs blood ran cold.
But she ran and climbed into her upper berth, grabbed Glory, and they hugged each other tightâtrembling and breathing.
Glory was sobbing softly in fright.
Anamika whispered, âHey hey hey⌠we are safeâŚâ
Despite the fact she was trembling too.
They practically ran off the train the next morning when it reached their hometown.
Their parents were flabbergasted and confused.
Their mom raised an eyebrow. âDidnât realize they missed the hometown so much?â
Dad beamed, utterly gleeful. âSee! Our children adore this place!â
Anamika and Glory didnât tell their parents.
So they went on with their livesâattended the wedding, had fun, ate kulfi, giggled with their cousinsâŚ
Glory would simply climb into Anamikaâs bed.
Anamika would take her in her arms.
And they would stare silently at the wallâŚ
Terrified of what their dreams might hold.
And they firmly refused to go back on a train when it was time to go home.
Much to their dadâs flabbergastmentâ
And their momâs frustration.
But Anamika and Glory were firm.
They went back to their hometown again.
The nightmares went down.
But they never got near a train station again.
And they were happy with that.
