I am sitting on the upper level of a double-decker train, headed home. As the train chugs along its tracks, there is no wind against my face, despite that the upper level is completely open and has no walls or ceiling. I am sitting with Fernanda and two nondescript girls. We must remain on this train to get home, or else we will forever be stuck in this strange dream world. Our fate rests in the functionality of this one-car train and its tracks being undamaged and clear of obstructions.
That is why I am greatly alarmed when off in the distance, a second train appears, headed towards us. I observe that there is only one set of tracks, so it is on the same track as our train. A head-on collision is imminent. The only way to survive this is by jumping off the train before the collision. I am hesitant to jump off the train, because it is my only hope for getting home. Just before the trains collide, I finally decide to jump off -- much too late.
Had the train been real, I would not have survived the impact (I had waited too long before deciding to jump). However, the train was but a hallucination. I run to catch up with our train again, jump up very high and land back in my original seat on the double-decker train, with Fernanda and the two other girls. I apologize to them and explain that I had suffered from a hallucination.
Over the course of the journey we encounter several close calls that are not hallucinations. Once, a truck was headed for us on the tracks but the driver kindly pushed it aside, off the tracks, allowing us to pass. Another time, there were cars and trucks parked across the train tracks, and we were just barely able to pass under them (they were very enormous cars and trucks, with big wheels and lots of space underneath). Multiple times, an obstruction that appeared unpassable was avoided by a fork in the railroad directing us in the other direction.
We finally reach our destination. This is not home, but simply a transfer station in which we have to wait for another train. The train station resembles one end of a ski lift, enclosed in a large stone building. All of a sudden the train has turned into a ski lift. Employees standing on the ground below us tell me to jump from the lift chair; it is the only way to exit the train. I jump on their command, falling 10 feet before hitting the ground. They help me to my feet and say "you now have all your possessions" (This is a standard protocol statement they are supposed to say when I have retrieved all my carry-on baggage. Since I didn't bring any carry-on baggage, I already had all of my possessions).
Everyone jumps from the ski lift in a similar manner and lands safely on the station. Then we all jump across a 10-foot long chasm, and slide down a couple of ramps before finally reaching the main hall of the station (a large empty hall made of stone). I am the last one to arrive at the main hall because I had to make sure Fernanda and the others could make the jump across the chasm (Fernanda did it in flip-flops but still bridged the gap because she is Fernanda).
On arriving at the main hall I discover that Fernanda and the two girls had either gone too far ahead of me or simply disappeared. Walking alone the stone hall are the Children of Prayer (about 50 of them), making eerie sounds together. It sounds like something played backwards. I remark to myself, "I've heard this somewhere before..." and realize that I once heard these ghostly voices while in a train, going through an empty tunnel.
I begin looking for Fernanda and the two girls, walking around and yelling, "Fernanda, Sarah, ___!" (I forget the third name) to no avail. I reach for my cellphone but discover that I have neither my cellphone nor my wallet; I only have my room keys. Had the employees stolen them, or did I simply forget to bring them? The Children of Prayer are completely devoid of emotion, indifferent to my situation. They continue to sing their eerie, ghostly sounds.
Among the Children of Prayer, I spot Valentina, Fernanda sister. She is about 12 years old (but not in real life). I ask her, "Do you know where your sister is?" Although she is an unemotional Child of Prayer, her eyes light up as she remembers, deep in her repressed memory, that she has a sister named Fernanda. Realizing that Fernanda is lost, she frantically runs up the stairs to look for her.
I too run up the stairs from the main hall (which is kind of like a basement), which lead to the outdoors. When I finally emerge in sunlight, I see the Children of Prayer playing in a large playground. One of the features of the playground is a large watchtower. I climb the watchtower and ask one of the boys if he's seen an older girl. He responds coldly, "I don't care." As he brushes my arm with his, I feel cold shivers. He asks for the name of the girl I'm looking for. I fear the boy's intentions so I give a fake name, "Vyys." I climb back down the watchtower.
The scary boy tosses me a basketball down from the tower. I catch the ball, dribble it, and try to shoot it in a nearby hoop (I miss). I throw the ball back up to him, and he catches it. The boy seems a lot nicer now than before, content with the mild entertainment of playing catch with basketball. We do this a couple more times. The end.
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