"Dawn, please keep your legs off the seat in front of you," Dawn's mother said to her in a stern voice. She stared between her feet and Dawn in disapproval, her head tilted down to see from the top of her reading glasses.
"So what?" Dawn said. "There's nobody sitting in front. It doesn't matter."
"It's raining heavily and we just walked through some mud. Have a thought for the cleaners on the train," her father said. He picked up a thermal flask and uncapped it to take several sips.
"Surely you guys don't think they actually clean the seats, do you?" Dawn said. Both her parents stared at her blankly. Then her mother rolled her eyes. "You guys are sitting on farts, menstrual blood, pee and poop."
"I'm not saying this again," her mother told her. "Sit properly."
Dawn let out a loud groan and took her feet off the seat in front of her. "Whatever," she said. "I can't do a single thing without being scolded. I'm always doing this or that wrong."
"Don't be dramatic," her mother said. "We give you plenty of freedom."
"Yeah? I'm 19 but I still have a fucking curfew. You even limit my screen time. I'm not a kid anymore!"
"Watch your language," her father said right away.
"Fuck off! Why can't I meet my friends at night? It's not my fault I snuck out that time. Stop breathing down my neck," Dawn said. In that moment, every part of her resented being nestled in the seat between her mother and father. She felt like she was being closed in and suffocated.
"What friends?" Dawn's mother said. "You don't have any friends."
"Exactly!" Dawn said. "I don't have friends because of all these rules. I wanna move out and call my own shots."
"You can do that when you're 21 and an adult," her father said. "Then you can forget we ever existed. That's what you always wanted, right?"
"Oh, how I wish. I can't wait to leave you two," Dawn said.
"We don't have rules to make you miserable, we have them to protect you - "
"Shut up, you motherfucker - " Dawn said and in a flash, her father's right hand reached out towards her and struck her in the cheek. She cupped her cheek and glared at him in horror as fear crowded into her mind.
"You're grounded," he told her and returned his attention to his coffee as her mother shook her head and continued reading her newspaper. Dawn sank further down into her seat, her cheek still stinging with the slap. Her mind raced with anger and she gripped the armrests tightly.
Who did they think they were? Just because they gave life to her, they thought they could control everything! It was her life, and it wasn't as if she asked to be born! It wasn't her fault that she wanted to be free, it was their fault that they were so bloody uptight about everything! If only time could pass faster, and she could be free to do whatever she wanted, free to go anywhere she wanted, and just be free of -
A deafening screech tore through the train as the entire cabin shook violently. Screams echoed one after another as the metal groaned and a gaping hole exploded into the side of the train. Everyone swayed hard to the left and Dawn's heart caught in her mouth, dropping to her stomach as she tried to move but found herself unable to budge. Belongings of every kind flew into the air, suspended as the train flipped and flipped on itself, and bodies disappeared out the windows.
Dawn kept her eyes shut, but her ears were ringing and that was all she could hear. She had stopped moving and questions pervaded her mind as she trembled in fear. It slowly sank into her that the train had derailed. Was she dead? What happened to the train?
Her parents!
Dawn's eyes flew open and darted in every direction. She shifted slightly, but her limbs were stuck to the sides of her body. She looked down at herself and discovered why. Covering her tightly were the arms of her mother and father. They were shielding her head, clutching onto her belly, protecting her with their bodies. She shivered as her eyes blinked furiously and she felt wetness collect on top of her head. Looking up, liquid trickled past her open eyes and slid down her cheeks to her lips.
Metal.
She was tasting blood. She wanted to cry but the tears refused to come. Her body froze as if time came to a standstill and she felt her top cling to her skin. Thick liquid seeped through the fabric and spread across her stomach. She shut her eyes to wake up from the nightmare, but when she opened her eyes again, nothing changed.
She was in Hell.