Chereads / The jury of hidepeckers / Chapter 2 - THE MAN IN RAGS

Chapter 2 - THE MAN IN RAGS

It was still dark when Abby woke up and saw his friends asleep in the train compartment. Some cards were loosely locked between Ron's fingers. Lia's cards were over her thigh. Abby rubbed his eyes before he collected all the cards lying here and there, formed a pile and kept it safely in its box.

He then got up and went to the washroom. He had a habit of excreting some salt every night. He yawned after returning back, and climbed up to the upper tier before falling back to sleep. He didn't bother to notice two of his friends missing.

"I think there is no point in crying," Alan said politely to Wincy. "We shall look to get out of this situation as early as possible."

Wincy took a deep breath, wiped her nose and said, "We need to check for the next train to Blue Valley."

"Yes, and we can inform our friends about it in the morning."

"No, I think we shall give them a call now," Wincy suggested.

Alan nodded in agreement and took out his phone to make a call. "No signal."

"Same with my phone."

"Let's check if there is any counter for enquiry." Actually Alan didn't believe his own words. In a place as this he least expected any counter with living men.

"Yes, we can give it a try," Wincy agreed.

They did actually find a small window. It seemed probably like a ticket counter. But as expected it was closed.

As if something struck Alan's mind, he quickly rushed towards the place where he had expected the shop to be. After a thought, Wincy followed him. This time she walked straight ahead without looking at the man sleeping by the side.

It actually was a shop, but the shopkeeper was missing. They looked here and there, but there was noone. The shop was open and unattended. Water bottles could be seen chilling in the refrigerator. But they were no longer thirsty. And they had more important things to focus on at the moment.

The Sierena Woods was a small town with few people. It lay beside a jungle which was known by the same name. Families living in the town mostly knew each other, and even the least common of men was popular enough to be summoned in most ceremonies: joyous or mournful. Whether it was the birth of a baby or a death ceremony, the entire town was expected to be present: most of the people, if not all. If asked from a local guy standing by, he would say there was nothing unusual in the platform being vacant. Probably they had gone in some late night funeral.

"We can talk to that man sleeping over there," Alan pointed straight towards the place from where they had come.

Wincy had forgotten about him. "Oh yes!" she said. "There was a man over there."

As they approached the man in rags, a sense of discomfort troubled Wincy. She held Alan by his arm unknowingly. She had been excited, only a little while ago, at the thought of talking to the mysterious man sleeping all alone in a horrendous place as this. But the snores grew louder with every step they took in his direction.

Alan stooped down to reach for the man's arm so that he can give him a gentle shake and wake him up from sleep. But before he could do so, the eyes opened in a flash and the snores were lost in the air as if they never were there.

The man raised his hand in the wink of an eye and held Alan strongly by the arm. Alan was terror-struck. Behind him, Wincy was all befuddled. At one time she wanted to stick to Alan as if with a gum, and at the other she wanted to run away from the scene or if possible from the world.

"We didn't wa-ant to dist-turb you," Alan fumbled as he said. "Actually we need some help."

"You missed your train, right?" The man had a powerful voice and his accent showed class. By manner of speech he seemed to be of good background. But his sticky body emitted an unbearable odour and gave an impression that he had been lying like this for days, or probably weeks or even months.

"Yes, can you please tell us when is the next train to Blue Valley?"

Alan waited for a reply before repeating. "Is there any train tonight?"

Before Alan or Wincy could realize, the snores had started again. The man had dozed off again, this time with his two big round eyeballs completely visible. Alan tried to set his hand free of the man's grip which was still as strong as when the man was awake.

Alan looked back at Wincy in a manner of horror and surprise.

"Excuse me," Wincy said in a voice raised over the sound of the snores.

Alan had just managed to release his hand when the man woke up again. "Trains don't stop here very often my child," he said in a dark note. "Trains don't stop here."

"But our train had stopped," Wincy persisted. She still couldn't believe the fact that they had missed the train, and were left stranded in a place as this.

"Your hard luck!" Saying this the man slept back.

"I think we shall go out and look for a hotel for the night," Alan suggested. "We can look for a way after dawn."

Wincy nodded as a reply. She too didn't want to stay any longer here in this platform. She was the kind of girl who would get excited and jump into anything. On the contrary Alan was usually less enthusiastic but had an ability to handle situations in a mature manner.

The platform seemed not the safest of places for the night, so the two of them hurried out through the exit. They had little idea they were leaving behind a dark deserted platform and heading towards something even darker and more fearsome.