Ghost Train

• Jennifer Pickett, Grade 7, Scottsdale High
• Short Story
• 2001

2nd in the 'Zapped! 2001' competition

In a blinding storm in 1943 a train came hurtling down the hillside and into the swollen raging river. Screams of terror drowned with the people who uttered them, the howling echoes exploding into silent bubbles rising to the surface of the turgid water. Men, excited about seeing their families again after a long, hard service with the army never made it home to the families eagerly awaiting them at the station.
By morning people were concerned, some wives having hysterics while others putting on a brave face making excuses for their missing husbands. Children cried broken-heartedly before falling into a tragic silence. The alarm was raised.
In the exhausted aftermath of the turbulence, the men of the town set out to scour the riverbed looking for wreckage and survivors. Although the water had already subsided and the river looked more like its innocent self, no train was ever recovered, no survivors nor any corpses. It was as if the river had swallowed up the train by magic. People were distraught, perplexed and apprehensive. The railway began going out of business.
Over time the war ended and people looked forward to better times. They began to forget about the accident.
* * *
Fifty years later a young girl began exploring the old overgrown train track near her home. She squatted to examine the rusted iron tracks and heavy blackened wooden sleepers. She wandered along the track dreamily for a while, thinking about the trains. As dusk fell her mother called and reluctantly she headed back for dinner.
As she slept she dreamt of the old trains screaming along the lines at breakneck pace. The train in her dream became louder and louder until abruptly she woke. Not believing her ears, she still heard the fast chuffing noise of the train.
Quietly she dressed and tiptoed out the back door. Thunder rumbled and crashed, a storm was breaking. Down the track she passed the shadows of the ruined station where once six trains had stopped each day. She paused momentarily before continuing. The next field had nothing but a river and a hill with rusted train tracks on it.
In the blinding storm a train came hurtling down the hillside and into the swollen raging river. Screams of terror drowned with the people who uttered them, the howling echoes exploding into silent bubbles on the surface of the turgid water.
In terror and disbelief she turned and raced for home, her heart pounding in her ears. As she calmed, she heard the river and storm die down behind her and the stillness of the night return.