"When does the train come?"I ask in a rather calm voice,but there is no longer the female ticket master.In her place is a kokeshi doll and a slip of paper.
I stand and wander over to the dull glass,noticing that the doll's face is cracked and as I pick up the paper in my fingers.Looking down I see nothing on the white surface,and as a sharp pain goes through my figner,like a p***k,I drop it back onto the table-watching in amazement as a train maps itself out in my blood.I cautiously pick it back up and turn it over,the time 2:30 on the back.Looking up from my new ticket I see the doll has vanished.
I search for a clock and find that there are non,though there seemed to be no need,for the train whistle sounded in the distance.I watch it pull up along the boarding area and grab my pink box before getting onto the smoking mass of metal.
~ * ~ * ~* ~
A man comes to me,dressed in a uniform that I knew belonged to the ticket collector."Ticket please."
I nodded,handing over my blood written ticket,watching him punch a small hole into one corner before handing it back to me with a smile and a tip of his hat.
Out of the corner of my eye I see a little girl,no older than 12 it seemed and all alone."Where are you going Child?"
She dont anser my inquary so I tap her shoulder,my hand quickly retreating when she lop-sidedly looks over at me.Her eyes are missing,dark holes pouring blood down her cheeks are taking thier place and her cheeks are sliced ear to ear to make her grin,but the grin is sewn together across her cheeks and onto her cherry-cola lips.
Her pale skin beging to flake off,turning to grey dust in the sun as it floats away,coming back to circle around me until I too feel my skin seering with the sun's rays.I want to be afraid,but i'm not as I float out one of the windows.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
I open my eyes in a whisre room,the walls,the floor,the curtains on the window.Even the four poster bed is white.But my eyes notice only two things.
The florecent blue butterfly on the windowpane.
And the blood on the bed curtains.
And the blood on the bed curtains.
The butterfly draws me in;weather because it scares me less or because it was simply closer.I'm not sure the reason,but as it took flight I held out my palm in reaction,watching it pearch on my hand untill its wings stop moving.
It dies.
Across the room the curtains' movement began to mimick the movement of fingers on cloth,sending chills up my spine and bumps across my skin.
My legs wont obey my protests as I walk over to the bed,my hand gripping the butterfly without harming it.Behind the curtain lay the cracked kokeshi doll from the train station and the girl from the train.I hear a voice and nod,laying the butterfly in the doll,watching a cherry-cola colored orb float from the doll and butterfly into the little girl.
Her eyes open,emeral in colour,and she smiled as her innocently bubbly voice asked."Do you want to play a game?"
I nod a yes and she sits up,her red dress coming to her knees."Lets play hide-n-seek.I'll count first!"
I stood and ran as she called out "Three!",and when she got to ten I had hidden in a room that held only a wardrobe,hunkering into it.I could hear her mary-janes on the tiled floor as somethign soft and fuzzy brushed my skin,causing me to look down past my own blue dress at a calico kitten that was staring up at me.
"You dont belong here."He warned."You should leave as soon as you can."
Light shines in my eyes as she grins at me from the doorway,giggling."Your turn to count! I'll hide now!"
Before I can tell her I'm leaving she runs off and back to her room.I know where she is and I slowly go to her bed,pulling up the white sheet to see a woman staring at me,grinning in that same childish way with her emeral eyes and cherry-cola lips.She grabs my wrist and pulls me under the bed.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
I hit the ground with a deep pain all over my body and when I opened my eyes terror filled my very being. I was staring up into a cloacked man's eyes as he stood on a mencing black tree."We've been waiting for you."
I scream as hands shoot from the tree,pulling me into the firey core.
I wake....
