Bright.
The sun shone brightly overhead, painting the blue skies with a golden hue. I looked around and somehow found myself in the middle of a bustling park. Laughter filled the air, the sound of children playing, families picnicking, and friends chatting away happily.
I watched as a group of teenagers played a game of ball, their faces lit up with joy and competitiveness. Nearby, a family gathered around a picnic table, the parents smiling as they helped their children with their food. An elderly couple strolled hand in hand, their faces reflecting years of shared happiness.
My heart ached as I took it all in. These were all things I had always longed for but never had. The sight of people with friends, families, and a sense of belonging stirred something within me. I wanted to be a part of their world, to experience the joy and connection they shared.
I began to walk along a paved path, taking in the sight of more scenes of happiness. Clusters of bubbles flew past me, carried by the flow of a gentle breeze. A young woman was laughing with her friends, sharing gossip and other mundane exchanges. A man was playing catch with his son, their smiles mirroring each other. Everywhere I looked, there were scenes of a life I wished I had.
Suddenly, the scene began to change. The bright colors dulled, the laughter faded, and the joyous faces blurred. The faint whispers filled my thoughts, growing louder and louder until they drowned out everything else for an instant.
My eyes snapped open and suddenly I remembered where I was. The scene around me was different from what I last remembered. The world outside the windows had gone dark, resulting in the train being veiled under a cloak of darkness. The only light being emitted was by the internal lights of the carriages.
Before I could focus on anything else, a sharp headache pulsed through my temples, making me wince. I pressed my hands against my head, trying to numb the sudden pain. The whispers around me continued, only making me feel worse. The inaudible noises were disorienting. It was an echo of voices that seemed to come from every direction.
Yet, for some reason, I couldn't make out a single word.
I took a deep breath, forcing myself to relax. As the whispers began to fade, another sound reached my ears, a chorus of cries and voices, filled with anguish and despair. In the moment that followed, an ear-piercing scream took me by surprise.
I turned towards the entrance of the carriage and slowly stood up. I took a cautious step forward, my curiosity driving me forward. The lights flickered in a flash as I stepped through the doorway and when I stepped into the carriage hall, I was met by a chaotic scene.
The hollowed individuals, who had been so silent and still before, were now acting hysterically. Some were muttering to themselves, their eyes wide and frantic. Others were shedding tears, their faces contorted in pain and sorrow.
One man clutched at his chest, his breathing labored as he rocked back and forth. A woman nearby was pulling at her hair, her lips moving rapidly as she whispered incoherently. The sight was unnerving, a stark contrast to their previous state of eerie calmness.
I moved cautiously down the aisle, trying to understand what had caused this sudden change. I stopped beside a young girl who was sobbing uncontrollably, her body shaking with each breath.
Despite how I felt toward the rest of the world, I wasn't completely heartless. I couldn't help but feel pity for the girl. "Hey, what's wrong? Can you tell me what's happening?"
The girl looked up at me, her tear-filled eyes wide with fear. Yet the pupils still looked glassy and devoid of life. "The voices," she whispered, her voice trembling. "They won't stop. They're telling me… terrible things."
My heart ached for her but I didn't know what I could do to help. Something about this whole thing felt odd. It might have very well been my paranoia, but I swear I could feel a certain oppressiveness in the air, as if the weight of their collective despair pressed down on me. Whatever had consumed these people was palpable, like a dark force that twisted their minds and hearts.
I continued down the aisle, passing many of similar distress. This train was full of individuals of what seemed to be different eras. Ensembles ranged from more modern clothes to old-style hairstyles and casual suits that went as far as one hundred years ago.
Age didn't seem to matter either, some were old, perhaps even died of old age. While a few others seemed to be as young as elementary kids.
As I moved further, I began to hear those same whispers as before. Whispers that by now became an instinctive bother to my mind. I was beginning to worry that if I continued to pay attention to these hushed voices I would go insane.
I did my best to ignore these whispers and reached the third carriage, looking for the source of the anomaly that unfolded among the passengers of the train. I stopped in my tracks before I entered the fourth carriage due to what I saw when I peered through a small window that was centered in the top half of the door.
The last door at the front of this train, the one I was wary about, was opened, revealing an unfathomable amount of darkness that it was impossible to see what lay beyond. I stared at it for a good minute, and my heart slowly quickened its pace. That's when I encountered it. A being, indistinct and unidentifiable, slowly made its way out of the darkness. Due to it being completely opaque in appearance, it looked as if it just appeared out of nowhere.
Its presence quickly became overwhelming. The more I stared at this weird humanoid being, the more my senses shut off from the world and the louder the whispers around me became.
Dazed by its presence, I, without meaning to, happened to stare at it for a moment too long. Due to this, the entity noticed me as well. The top part of what made up the being, what I assumed was its head, turned my way. Panic surged through me in a cold wave, every nerve within twitched as if hundreds of lightning tendrils scattered across my body. I quickly moved out of its line of sight, hiding on the wall beside the door, but I realized it was too late.
I immediately began to run, my footsteps muted by the many screams of agony that the hollowed expressed. What was that thing? I didn't know but every part of my being protested that I get away, as far as I could, from whatever that thing was. Something told me that that thing was following behind me. Of course, I didn't have a way to confirm these suspicions, it was just an instinctual impulse that led me to flee.
I couldn't tell where the being was, or even if it really was following me. The only thing that became clear to me was that the whispers grew louder, blending with the sound of my own ragged breathing.
A sudden realization came crashing down on me and I came to a stop right where I was, finding myself in front of the door that led to the first carriage. In front of me was that dark, indistinguishable being slowly and unmistakably walking my way. At this point, everything around me became completely silent and I was finally able to make out a single word from all those pressing whispers.
In a shrill, raspy utterance, many voices clouded my mind, all mouthing the same thing from different directions.
"Damien…"
"Damien…"
"Damien…"
As soon as I was able to make out these words, or name rather, it felt as if every inch of my brain was being pierced by a needle. My heart beat with such ferocity that I thought I would have a heart attack. Every part of my body trembled uncontrollably as if being swept by a chilling, merciless breeze.
I brought my hands up to apply firm pressure against my head and shook it furiously, hoping that these voices would go away. In the moment that followed, my head cleared up and I was once again brought back to reality, the many cries around me were a testament to the fact. I looked around, searching for something, anything to hide in. The food bar quickly caught my attention.
Without much thought, I stepped over a stool and made my way over the counter, not bothering to waste time walking around it to go through the entrance. Ignoring the mumbling bartender, I opened the nearest cabinet and shoved myself inside. I was always small and lanky so fitting inside tight spaces wasn't a difficulty for me.
I stayed there, staring blindly at the darkness that surrounded me. The whispers came back, hushed and inaudible like before. I brought my hand up to my mouth and bit on it with enough pressure for my mind to get lost in the pain but not enough for it to draw blood.
I remained as silent as I possibly could, not wishing to alert the mysterious being who wandered the train. I could still feel traces of the fear that enveloped me as I stood in its presence. Every time the whispers threatened to claim my attention I would bite at a different part of my hand, allowing the pain to take me away instead of losing my mind to them.
Time seemed to stretch endlessly as I huddled uncomfortably in the darkness, trying to remain silent. I continued to press my teeth tightly against my hand as well. So much so that after hours upon hours, as my hand throbbed from the pain, I actually tasted the metallic flavor of blood but I didn't care.
Eventually, the cries of the hollowed died out one by one. I remained hidden, however, waiting until I was sure it was safe but there was no way to know unless I left my hiding spot. After a moment of contemplation, I finally emerged from the cabinet and was met by the same bright light that was there when I first entered this train. The oppressive darkness outside had lifted. It was daytime again.
As I stood up from the floor, I glanced at my bite-marked littered hand and accidentally bumped into the figure of the bartender. I stared at his sunken face for a moment before sweeping my gaze around the rest of the train. He, along with the rest of the hollowed, were still, their earlier hysteria replaced by an eerie calmness.
I looked up at the bartender once again and expressed my apologies for bumping into him before looking elsewhere. "Sorry."
For those few seconds that my eyes rested on his face, I noticed the bartender's mouth twitch. Puzzled, my gaze instantly settled on him again and for a moment, I thought he might actually speak. But that gesture lasted only moments, leaving his face as vacant as before.
I sighed, frustrated but not entirely defeated.
As I turned to leave, I heard a faint whisper, barely audible over the clatter of the train. I froze, realizing that this specific whisper wasn't in my head but rather came from someone nearby. I quickly turned around and noticed the bartender straining himself to express a few words.
"Envy…" he rasped, his voice barely more than a breath. "Don't be consumed by envy…"
The words sent a chill down my spine.
Envy.