Embedded Files
Drowned
“I have to stop leaving these bars at last call.”
Edward takes the stairs down to the subway platform, one shaky uncertain step at a time. Steadying himself on the handrail as he fights the Earth’s tilt with each step.
“I don’t even think there’s a shot that a train’s running this late.”
As the platform comes into view he stumbles on the last step, breaking his slow stride, spilling onto the platform floor, and settling in facedown among the trash left behind from a day’s travel.
“I told Rhody the last round was a mistake. At least no one saw that shit show,” he inhales and coughs. “Ah, dammit, there really is no train. I think they stop running in this dump before two.”
Edward stands, dusts off his jacket, and turns to walk back to the stairs when a low rumbling shakes the platform. A reverberation he feels in his teeth as the station’s PA system crackles to life and blares a message above his head.
“The next train at platform 9 is the 2:23 service to-” The announcement is distorted by a discordant hiss, “This train is formed of six cars.”
As the train slows to a stop, the doors open, revealing cracked seats and fluorescent lights that flicker and dim out of sync with one another.
“Son of a bitch, I got lucky tonight. God, that smell! When did they last clean this thing?”
“Riders are reminded to mind the gap between this w-” Another piercing hiss interrupts the announcer. “...and the next when boarding.”
Edward steps onto the train, takes a seat near the door, and looks to the back of the car where a man stands, his back turned, eyes transfixed on the floor, tucked into the corner.
“Excuse me! Hey, sir! Do you know if this stops off at Fulmont Avenue? I missed the announcement when the train rolled in.”
The man bears no response, turns, head down, and begins to walk towards Edward.
“Sir, excuse me. Did you hear anything before I got on?”
Edward reaches to stop him. Hand resting on his shoulder, the old man refuses to lift his gaze. A sour, decaying smell rolls off of him.
“Are you alright? Can you hear me, or are you as loaded as I am?”
The man turns and grips Edward’s wrist with unexpected strength and opens his mouth to release a strained gargle before turning to slump into the next car, brushing against Edward’s sleeve as his hand releases, and he departs.
“What the hell was that about? I think the old bastard cut me with his nails or something. Only other guy riding this trash heap, and he can’t even grace me with a real answer, just whatever weird shit that was.”
He wipes at his sleeve as a black stain sets in.
“He reeked like a fish market. My jacket smells like it, too.”
Edward retches and sets his head against the back of his seat. As the train rocks back and forth, rolling through the tunnels below the city, Edward’s eyes begin to close.
“Service to-” The hiss pierces Edwards ears. “...and will arrive in due time. Riders are encouraged to unburden themselves. Please feel free to rest your eyes and dream of your destination.”
Edward stirs back awake, picking at the mark on his wrist. A crisscrossed slash, almost in the shape of a wave. As he rubs his thumb against the mark, his eyes begin to sag again.
“I’ve never heard that one before. A nap might set me right. Settle me through that last shot at least.”
As he slips into a fitful sleep and begins to dream, Edward thinks of what life should be like for him. No more roommates. No more morning shifts at the Gas and Go filling coffee urns for truckers and addicts.
In between snores as the train shakes, Edward mumbles, “I want. More. More for myself.”
Water begins to seep from the cracks in the floor beneath the seat, pooling at Edward’s shoes in a thick, inky pool that clings as it ripples and rises first from underfoot, then gathers at his heels. The PA crackles on with a disturbing groan.
“During the duration of your journey, all Riders must be aware of their possessions, both physical and fleeting.”
As Edward stirs, rubbing the fitful dream from his eyes, the overbearing stench of cave-damp fabric and oil becomes too obvious to ignore. He stands, the water rippling away from him in thin, shallow strands, leaving inky black clouds in their wake.
“Who takes care of this thing? There’s water coming in from somewhere, bad.”
He pauses midstride, dragging his foot and leaving a murky trail behind as he continues to the front of the car.
“Ah shit, that old guy was a freak, but maybe he knows something I don’t. I should look around for him. Maybe the other cars are in better shape anyway.”
He grunts, as his hand catches the stubborn door in its track, unmoving.
“Thing won’t budge,” he leans into the door, applying more pressure, “is it an electrical problem? No. No, it’s rusted shut. Let me jus-”.
Finally, as he presses harder on the door, it gives slightly before flying open and allowing Edward to enter the accordion tunnel between cars.
“This one’s empty too? We really were the only two on board tonight.”
“Travel between cars during transit is extremely dangerous and unadvised by the Transportation Council. All riders should remain in their seats despite what they may experience.”
“Are you talking to me? Look, nothing on this train really seems all that safe. So, I’m going to keep moving from car to car if it’s all the same to you.”
In the crackling aftermath of the PA system’s announcement, the adverts above each seat begin to leak thick opaque strands of water. The lights lining the ceiling flicker and pulse in an irregular rhythm, leaving flashing starburst patterns on the walls and floors as water seeps in from every crack in the train car. Rising slowly, obscuring the floor with its dim tinge.
“Something is seriously wrong here. I need to stop the train and get off. How long have we even been traveling for? We should have stopped at another station by now.”
Edward approaches the emergency stop handle and pulls. Nothing. He strains harder this time only for the lever to stay rusted in its place, immovable and stubborn. He lays his head against the wall and breaths out a shuddering, nervous breath.
“I’m not getting out of here, am I?”
He sinks to his knees, head dragging down the wall as he settles into a growing pool of water.
“I just want to go home. I didn’t ask for any of this,” a pause, “No, come on. Get your shit together, Edward. There’s a way out of here. There has to be.”
Edward begins to stand, lifting his leg above the water, and dragging it out of the pulling dark gathered around him.
“I just have to keep moving. There’s no way every car is as bad as these. I can get out of here. I have to.”
Edward continues wading through the water as it meets his calves and then his knees. He travels from car to car, growing more tired as he moves forward longer than the train appeared as it pulled into the station. The doors to each car opening easier than at first. Their entries somehow ignore the rising walls of water gathering around them. Edward wades forward, pushing through varying depths of dark water, squinting to see in cars as their lights pulse from dim imitations to blinding spotlights.
“Passengers are reminded not to travel between cars. The Transportation Council values your safety above all else. Please remain in your seats for the duration of the journey. Your destination is imminent.”
“I heard you the first time! No moving through the damn cars!” He pants for breath.
“God, this train keeps going! I need a minute. Get my shit together. Figure this out. Maybe I’ll just rest my eyes for a second. There’s no use continuing mindlessly like this.”
He stops, sliding into a dry seat not yet overcome by the rising water, and leans his head back against a window, slipping again into a shallow dream. Flashes of an idealized life. The house, the career, someone to lay next to at night who will still be there in the morning.
“Someone to smile at me early in the morning. Someone who will kiss me as we go our separate ways for the day. No more train ride commutes back and forth. A job that’s worth something. A real home to come back to at night.”
Edward continues to mumble in his sleep and pick at his wrist as a small crack begins to form in the center of the glass, creeping out to meet the edges of the pane.
“-nothing wrong with me anymore. Stability. Hope. Maybe even happiness.”
Finally, a trickle, then a bead of water seeps through the growing seam in the glass. Pushing its way from the impossibly dark tunnel outside, and gathering on Edward’s nose as it drips into his mouth, leaving a bitter taste as his eyes fly open and he pushes off of the window, sending deeper fractures into the glass.
“Water’s coming in from the windows too?! Alright, I’m sorry, Ms. PA System, but I’m not hanging around here any longer.”
Edward steps back, wading through the eddies of water curling and spreading out from his strides, leaving tethers as they spread. The window begins to buckle and push past the frame with every shake of the car.
“That’s not going to hold. Is the tunnel flooded? It barely even rained tonight.”
He drags himself through to the next door. It opens, effortlessly ignoring the rising tide of water at its threshold as all the others did.
“Riders should be prepared to meet their fate. Your destination of-” A twisted gargling churn of water sloshes out of the speakers and interrupts the message. “...is approaching. Prepare for departure. Step into your fate.”
“Step into my fate? The hell? It’s better than staying here. Screw it.”
Edward steps through the door, crossing into a car devoid of water and instead furnished with pristine floors, comfortable seats, and warm fluorescent lights. And then. The old man. His hood raised over his head, gaze still fixated on the floor.
“Hey! Old man! I’ve been looking for you. What is going on back there?! The PA has been saying some strange shit this whole ride. There’s water coming in from everywhere! Filling the cars, dripping from the lights, coming in through the windows too!"
“Why are you fighting the current? Do you think you can keep the tides at bay? Hold back the abyss as it beckons you closer?”
Edward stops, breath caught in his throat before releasing it in a ragged burst.
“Look, I don’t know what’s going on here. I don’t know what you’re talking about. But we have to stop this train. Get help. Get out. Something. Every other car is filled with water. I can’t even see out the windows. I don’t know where we are anymore.”
“Do you think you can let go?”
“I don’t know what you mean. I just want to leave!”
“Your current life. Can you release yourself from it? Stepping instead into that one you’ve dreamed about these past few years? The one you slipped into tonight. However brief those moments may have been.”
“How did you?” He exhales, sharp and quick. “What the hell is happening?!”
The lights in the car flicker as the water returns, seeping in from the floors and dripping from above. Pooling at their feet as the man slowly raises his head to meet Edward’s.
“Edward. Can you let the deep in? Let its weight envelope you and embrace the crushing dark?”
The man’s hood slips, revealing pockmarked, slack, dull skin. Thin ashen sheets peeling from grey and decaying muscle fibers and exposed bone to reveal clusters of pulsating growths. Barnacles.
“Jesus Christ, your fucking face, man! Get away from me!”
Edward steps back frantically, crashing into the growing pool of murk.
“I don’t want to be here anymore!” he whimpers, “I just want to go home! I didn’t even want to go out tonight. Please. Please, let me go back home.”
He struggles to rise to his knees as the water pulls him back in before finally standing and walking backwards as slow, creeping lines draw from each step and the water rises.
“Why do you fight the inevitable? This change will overcome you one day. Fill your lungs. Choke out the old you. Why resist it any longer?”
The man steps closer. Brackish water seeps from the barnacles clinging to his face. Strips of slack, molted skin shedding with each step.
“And end up like you? I’ll pass.”
Edward slams his back into the window on his final step, shaking the pane and pushing into a crack as it forms and spreads.
“Me? I am only an emissary from the deep. They do not want you for this purpose. They will not draw you in like they did me. No. You serve a different purpose. They crave what you have inside. What you’ve tried to cut out but failed.”
As the man approaches Edward and pushes closer, a rubbery tentacle barbed with thin black fangs on its probing body unravels from his sleeve and wraps around Edward’s neck.
“What the hell is that thin-”
The tentacle tightens, lifting Edward from the ground, teeth digging deeper seeking purchase in his flesh, drawing out blood to join the pulsating crimson gleam behind its skin.
“Let go,” he sputters for breath, spitting a strand of saliva down his chin as the thin appendage pushes Edward’s head into the window, harder this time.
“Let go of me, you fish fuck!”
Edward swings his fist at the tentacle and misses as it tightens its grip around his throat, leaving him slack, suspended, and gasping for air.
“When the water is filling your lungs and freezing every piece of who you used to be, will you still fight? Will you resist the new life you’ve been dreaming of? Or will you let the deep overcome you and wash you away?”
The tentacle slithers further to caress the back of Edward’s head. Its grip loosening on his neck enough to permit shallow breaths as fangs saw into the space behind his ear and suck.
“How do you know what kind of life I’ve been picturing?! What I want out of everything I have and everything I still need?!”
He breathes in deep and grunts as the tentacle’s teeth sink deeper into the nape of his neck, draining him.
“All I WANT now is to get the hell off this train!”
“Then, Edward, accept your fate. Accept your new life. Drown.”
As Edward is pushed harder against the window it continues to crack, a low whining hiss escapes. Pressure, building.
“Drown? What are you talking about? I should, what? Open up the doors and die?!”
The lights begin to flicker again on and off rapidly as the water continues to rise, creeping up to reach Edward’s waist and pull him down into its depths.
“Just let go and let the tides in, young man.”
“The way it looks from here, I’m drowning either way. So, why not? What else is there to do? I accept whatever this life, no matter how short it may be, has in store for me. I’ll drown if it means my face won’t be puking water like your scaly ass is.”
The tentacle wraps tighter around Edward’s neck as he is pushed against the window, deepening the cracks, raising the pressured hiss into a boiling scream.
“Is this what I need to do to be free?” He gasps for a short breath. “Free from this place?”
Edward slips a hand between his neck and the tentacle, tucking his chin into his chest, breathing deep as the water crawls up past his sternum and the pressured scream rises with it.
”Free from the shit I’ve accepted for too long?”
He raises his free arm, locking it in place above the water.
“Then fine, I accept my fate. But I’m doing this on my terms, old man.”
Edward drives his elbow into the window behind him.
“I’m not accepting this mediocre self-pitying shit for any longer.”
The cracks deepen as he hits his arm against the glass.
“Whatever happens next, I welcome it.”
Edward drives back into the glass one more time until finally the water meets his arm, breaking through the window, turning everything to black. The blood in his veins begins to cool as he slips deep into a peaceful sleep. The tentacle releases its grip, and the old man is sucked into the depths as the currents take Edward and everything he was away with them.
______________________________________________________________________
Local Man Found After Vanishing During a Night Out
A local man who disappeared early Sunday morning after splitting up from his friend, leaving a nearby bar, Barb and Rossa’s, has been found safe and relatively unharmed days later, city police said, after the man never returned home.
No details have been released on the events leading up to the disappearance of 29-year-old Edward Rance aside from his last known location. Rance was last seen by his friend, heading in the direction of the East Wharf Station. Rance’s friend said he was hoping to get on the last train home to his residence on Fulmont Avenue. He was not seen again until Tuesday morning when commuters discovered a man, unconscious, soaking wet, and muttering nonsense to himself under a bench near the station’s exit.
The strange case of Edward Rance is not the first in a string of disappearances around the area of the East Wharf station that have puzzled authorities for months. Other lone travelers have gone missing with no follow-up after their disappearance due to surveillance footage never showing the individual arriving at the station or even being in the area of the station. There is no video evidence that Rance had ever entered the East Wharf station on Sunday morning, where he was found days later.
Rance is currently being treated at Saint Anthony Hospital, where he received stitches after having a large piece of glass removed from his right elbow; his other minor wounds were treated, and Rance is said to be in stable condition. When asked for details on the events of his disappearance and sudden arrival at the East Wharf Station, all Edward would comment on was that he was looking forward to tomorrow.
Trent Betham
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