“When the train comes, will you help me?” Judd asked.
“Don’t do it, kid,” Reggie said suddenly.
“Do what?” He became aware of his heart beating hard in his chest for the first time in his life.
The old man shook his head, and the long gray whiskers of his beard fluttered about. “Don’t get on the train.”
Shadows moved in the dark spaces between the old planks that made up the floor. Or at least, Judd thought they had. If Reggie would have said a monster lived down there, Judd would have believed him.
He looked away to veil his eyes. “Why would I get on the train?”
“Because they all do.”
That was the craziest thing Judd had ever heard, and panic ripped through him.
Judd wilted back down on the bench; the wooden floor creaked and the monster stirred below. “I’m not the only one who hears this thing. I can’t be. There’s a hundred houses between here and mine. How can I be the only one?”
“You’re not, boy. There have been others, and there will be others after you, like I said.”
“My mom just doesn’t pay attention to things, you know. I’m sure she’s hears it, too.”
“Don’t kid yourself, kid. I just ask you not to step foot on that train.”
Judd turned on him. “Why? Why in God’s name would I get on this train?”
“I can’t tell you, boy. I wish I could. All I know is that the folks who come here claim to have been hearing a train just like yourself.
“And then just as I’m talking to them, as sure as I’m talking to you now, they tell me they hear it, and of course, I never do. From what I gather, it’s an old locomotive they see. They ask if I can see it, too, and I always says no, no I can’t. I wait by their side as this train supposedly comes to a stop. Then they just sort of reach out as if someone is holding a hand out to them...and then...”
“And then what?” Judd asked desperately.
Reggie shook his head. “Nothing. I’m just a crazy old man, remember?”
“You’re a crazy old something but you aren’t a man,” Judd said. “At least, I don’t think you are.”
“What do you think I am, boy?”
“I think you’re a vampire. Or, at least, you think you are.”
The old man chuckled and then, as if to prove the point, suddenly reached down through a gap in the floorboards, grabbed hold of something that squeaked in surprise, and hauled his hand out. Only his hand wasn’t empty. A little field mouse squirmed in it. Without missing a beat, he bit down on the creature’s back and promptly sucked it dry. He cast the lifeless body aside. Judd shuddered.
“Sorry. I was really hungry.” Reggie shrugged, wiping his mouth on his sleeve.
Judd felt sick. He knew he should run. This whole night was turning into all sorts of crazy fast. He had decided it was time to go home, when he heard something in the far distance. Something that made his heart flutter.
A train’s whistle.
“You hear something, boy?” asked Reggie, looking at him sharply.
“The train, I think. Actually, I’m sure of it. It’s coming.”
Reggie nodded and sat forward. “Leave, boy. Leave and never look back.”
The whistle came again. Judd jumped. He looked down the train tracks, which glowed faintly in the moonlight.
“No one’s ever been as young as you before. This ain’t right. You’re only a kid.”
Judd looked at the old man curiously, then got up and moved across the creaking platform. The monster beneath shifted, and Judd thought he could just make out its shadowy shape.
He stepped off the wooden platform and gravel crunched beneath his sneakers again as he made his way over to the tracks. Cold wind flapped his tee shirt.
He heard the crunching of gravel behind him. “They tell me it’s an incredible sight to see, this train,” said Reggie. “One man said it looked like a building coming at you. Another said it looked like a great shadow.”
In the far distance, seemingly suspended in mid-air, a bright light appeared in the center of tracks.
“I’m not afraid,” Judd said.
“You should be, kid.”
The whistle came again and with it the hair on Judd’s arms stood on end. He was shivering nearly uncontrollably.
“I should have brought my ma,” he said. “I could’ve proved to her that I’m not hearing things. See, here it comes now, as plain as day. And you’re right, Reggie. It’s huge. It’s loud. It’s real.”
A heavy hand fell on his shoulder, and suddenly he felt himself being spun around as if he were playing a game of pin the tail on the donkey. Reggie’s wrinkled and filthy face was just inches from his own. His breath smelled putrid, of mouse blood and bits of mouse fur. “Listen to me, kid. You have to leave. Leave and never look back. Look at me, dammit!”
Indeed, Judd was straining to see the coming train, which now looked like a slow-moving, hulking megalith. “It’s here, Reggie.” Judd pushed the old man’s hands away. “It’s okay, Reggie. It’s meant to be.”
But Reggie didn’t let go; instead, the old man raised his voice, shouting, “Who the hell are you people? What the hell do you want with him? Leave him be, goddammit!”
“It’s okay, Reggie. He’s waiting for me. I know he is.”
“No, Judd. Please go home. Go far away from here. Please.”
Judd smiled serenely. He had never felt so at peace in his life. Why had he been so worried before? “It’s okay, Reggie. I promise.”
And with that, the boy slipped completely out of the old man’s grasp. Reggie dropped to his knees in defeat.
“No, Judd. This ain’t right. Don’t go on the train.”
Judd, however, never looked back. Instead, he reached out for the shadowy hand that was reaching down for his, and took it. Judd ran alongside the slowing train, faster than he had ever run in his whole short life, the silver dog tags jingling inside his shirt like so much heart music. He looked up into the eyes that looked so much like his own, the cheek that looked like his, the chin that looked like his, even the crooked cleft. He held on for dear life to the desert camouflage-jacketed arm.
“Dad!” Judd screamed. “Dad!”
“Don’t get on the train with him!” Reggie screamed and was suddenly at Judd’s side, trying to pull Judd’s arm away from his father’s. “You get on that train and you ain’t never coming back, kid.”