THE 6.59 TO... A short story by Anthony Hedger

THE 6.59 TO…

BY ANTHONY HEDGER

John stuffed the ticket into his briefcase and ran the length of the platform to get to his carriage. Out of breath and sweating hard he placed his briefcase onto the seat next to him as he had done for the last 26 years. Still breathing heavily from his run and with a tightening in his chest he loosened his tie, undid the top button of his shirt, closed his eyes and thought about his life. In fact up until now life hadn’t been too bad for him but at 45, he was totally unfit. He had short silvery grey hair that seemed to make his chubby face larger than it was but he was always well dressed in a black suit. He was a respected banker in the city, had a nice house in the countryside which he shared with his wife Mary, two sons, Josh and Billy and daughter, Amy and since Amy’s unplanned arrival five years ago any romance he and Mary once shared had now dried up. He used to think that even though things could improve at home, they weren’t all that bad, until one day when he had interviewed a client. Her name was Jennifer; she worked in the city as a florist. She was very attractive for her 41 years, had a great figure and kept her black hair cut short to show off her green eyes. John had interviewed her for a loan and although not part of the procedure, took her out to dinner later. He phoned Mary to say he was going to be working late that evening and for the first time in his life, he had cheated on her.

Over time, he became completely obsessed with Jennifer and met up with her at every opportunity and each time he phoned Mary to say he was working late. And so it had gone on and Mary never doubted him for a moment. She knew he was always tired but put it down to his demanding meetings and work load. John knew this so called work load had taken its toll on him. All the lies and excuses he had made to Mary, all the late nights in clubs and restaurants, all the love making with Jennifer and worse of all he had been embezzling money from work and it was this combination cocktail of deceit and stress that finally did it for him. His heart simply couldn’t take the strain, and one day, in June of last year while he and Jennifer were celebrating 3 years of being together, he had a massive heart attack. He was in the private hospital for many months, the doctors were very concerned about his weight but he listened to their advice and by the time he left the hospital he had lost 70 pounds in weight.

John’s obsession for Jennifer grew more and he went back into his extra work load of love making with a new energy but the more he gave the more she demanded. She fed him rich foods from the money he was stealing and he put back on all the weight he had lost but they didn’t care, they loved each other and he decided to ask Mary for a divorce. At first she was devastated and blamed herself, she said to him if she had been more loving towards him this wouldn’t have happened and asked him to forgive her but as if trying to clear his conscience John told her everything.

“You’re a bastard, John; I hope you rot in hell for what you’ve done to this family get out of my house and never come back.”

This happened yesterday evening and here he was again waiting for the 6.59 to take him to the city, to his job and to his ever loving Jennifer. A strange sensation suddenly shot through his body and he blacked out. When he came around he thought he had just had another heart attack and waited for more pain to follow, when it didn’t come, he relaxed a little. He looked out of the window to watch the commuters board the train and was shocked when he didn’t recognise anyone and immediately thought he had got on the wrong train.

“It has to be the right one.” He said out loud noticing the same platform number and he settled back into his seat and tried to relax and continued to watch people board the train. He noticed today the commuters were pale looking and oddly dressed, the majority of them were wearing black suits, the normal attire for working in the city but quite a few of them were wearing white suits that looked as though they were off to a wedding. He suddenly didn’t feel comfortable sharing his compartment with these strange people so he locked the door and pulled down the blind. He knew this was selfish but he didn’t care. He heard a whistle blow then the train slowly pulled out of the station. The colour suddenly drained from his face: the station was also different as if it had been altered. There was no paper shop, no snack bar; no ticket office, no toilets and no parcel room. There weren’t even any posters up on the walls about the latest film to rent or latest book to buy. Everything had gone. John didn’t know what to make of it, he slid the window down to look out into the bright countryside; the strange station was a mile or so behind the train now and it was at this point that he began to panic; the countryside had also changed. His hands were shaking badly but he managed to unlocked the door and slip into the corridor. He hurried towards the front of the train looking in every compartment. The passengers were just sitting there four to a seat staring at each other. John turned and headed towards the rear of the train finding the same in every compartment he looked into, they were full of white or black suited passengers. In a daze he found his way back to his compartment, he was hot, his chest still felt tight and the sweat was pouring from him. He thought he must be asleep having one of those bad dreams you can’t seem to awake from. He sat down and listening to the clackaty clacking sound of the wheels he dropped off to sleep. Now he was really confused, he didn’t know whether he was asleep in his dream or asleep in reality. He awoke from one of them with a start ten minutes later as the train screeched to a halt. He rubbed his eyes and looked out of the window. Across from him sat another train, the station was called ‘MIDWAY’. He heard several of the carriage doors slam on his train and the passengers dressed in the white suits were walking over a bridge to board the other train. When they were seated inside someone called out. “Last chance to make amends in Midway. Last chance to make amends.”

Then moments later it eased out of the station and started to slowly ascend up a mountain with its peaks hidden high within the clouds. John couldn’t help wondering what was going on as his train pulled away from ‘Midway’. The sky was changing now as though a storm was on the way John was still very hot so he took off his jacket and wondered when this dream would end. He took another walk up and down the train thinking it would help to cool him down, it didn’t, and it just made him more frustrated and hotter and he noticed there were no white suited passengers left on the train.

“Blast this heat.” He said aloud, wiping the back of his neck with his handkerchief, it seemed to be getting hotter every mile he travelled, his forehead was dripping with sweat and his shirt was sticking to his back. He slipped off his tie and unfastened more of the buttons on his shirt. He had the window down as far as it would go but no breeze came in. He decided to give Jennifer a call on his mobile phone and grabbed it from his briefcase and dialled her number, a moment later he was connected but the line was full of static.

“What a nice surprise.” She shouted. “Is there anything wrong?”
“No, I wanted to ask if you could meet my train before you start work today.”
“Of course, John, where shall I meet you?”
“Under the clock I’ll be wearing a brown overcoat with a red rose on it.”
“It sounds like a blind date to me you old romantic, what time?”
“The train pulls in at 8 o’clock, I’ll see you just after.”
“Okay love, I’ll be there.”
John put the phone back into the briefcase and stared out of the window once more. He wondered why he had said he’d be wearing a brown overcoat with a rose on it; he didn’t have an overcoat with him and certainly didn’t own a brown one. He noticed that the countryside had changed again; it now had a sinister look to it. The sky had changed to an orangey red colour as though the sun was setting and now the fields were no longer there; in their place were mountains and volcano’s bursting alive with fire, black smoke and raining ash. John slapped his face; he wanted to wake up from this nightmare, his skin felt tight and hot as though he was burning with a fever. The floor to the carriage had begun to blister, the seats were smouldering and the door handle was starting to glow. The train seemed to be gathering even more speed, the clackaty clack of the wheels had changed their hypnotic rhythm and John was scared to death.

“Why can’t I wake up?” He shouted. “I don’t want to be here anymore.” He slapped his face again, it didn’t help. The speed of the train was now phenomenal; Everything outside seemed to be flying by, the mountains and volcano’s merged into one rolling scene of red. The seats in his compartment burst into flames, John screamed, jumped up and rushed for the door burning his hand on the handle. He fell into the corridor and ran down the length of the train looking for an emergency stop cord so he could get off. There wasn’t one. He tried to warn everyone that the train was on fire but they were as before, just sitting, staring at the person in front of him now engulfed in flames.

“Oh my God.” John cried. “Let me wake up, please let me be free from this horrible nightmare, what the Hell have I done to deserve this?” It was then John realised but it was too late for him. His own clothes started to smoulder then burst into flames, he screamed and ripped these off his body which now had a blackened crust over it. The floor of the train turned into a rubbery goo, burning his feet where he stood. He rushed back into his carriage and jumped up onto the flaming seat knowing all was now lost and immediately turned into a ball of fire. His screams turned into a roar as his body changed, mutated and turned into one of the many devil helpers aboard the 6.59 train to Hell. His briefcase, now in flames lay open on the floor, his ticket that he’d stuffed inside it earlier and one he should have read said; ‘Single to Hell, stopping at Midway for anyone with a change of conscience.’

Jennifer reached the station as the train pulled in. She waited under the clock as the commuters passed, but no John. Puzzled, she looked into every compartment but giving up when she didn’t find him and went back to stand under the clock. She noticed a brown wooden coffin about to be loaded into a hearse with a red rose on the top of it. She had a sickening thought and remembered John’s message on the phone;

‘Meet me under the clock I’ll be wearing a brown overcoat and a red rose.’

Jennifer screamed as the rose fell to the ground, she saw the temporary paper plaque taped to the lid of the coffin. It said; ‘John Bedworth, heart attack, time of death 6.59.’

THE END

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59, 6, anthony, cheated, hedger, hell, john, station, the, to, tony and train