I grew up in the countryside, accustomed to living in harmony with nature, familiar with my neighbors as if they were family, and used to the classrooms and schools that always had only two or three students.
I was a fairly good student, and my grades allowed me to leave the countryside. However, once I started high school, the academic pressure became overwhelming, so I began attending cram school.
Given my family’s financial situation, it was already a struggle to cover the fees for public high school. So, I started working part-time. Initially, I thought I could manage everything and still have my weekends free, but in reality, I encountered many challenges.
The biggest issue was that even though I only took extra classes for the subjects I struggled with—English and math—my meager salary wasn’t enough to cover the costs. So, I chose to sacrifice my weekends and all my after-school time. I only had Wednesdays and Fridays free from work because my cram school sessions ran until midnight, which meant I started relying on buses and trains for commuting.
This was a particularly exhausting Wednesday. Most of the shops at the station were already closed, and there were only a few scattered homeless people and station staff along the way. I slowly walked to the waiting area and glanced around. To my surprise, there wasn’t a single person. Although I had encountered such situations before, I still felt uneasy, as there were usually a few people around.
After spending a few minutes memorizing vocabulary at the station, the train finally arrived. However, when the doors opened, I was shocked. The last train of the night, at eleven o’clock, was unexpectedly packed with people. But since I had no other choice, I forced myself to squeeze in, curling up by the door.
Leaning against the handrail next to the door, I tried to read, knowing I had a test the next day. But perhaps due to my exhaustion, my eyelids felt unusually heavy, and soon enough, I lost consciousness.
I don’t know how long I slept, but I felt a liquid dripping onto my face. I initially thought it was the usual condensation that sometimes formed near the doors, but it had a pungent, metallic stench. Growing up in the countryside, I recognized that smell instantly.
—It was the smell of blood.
I jolted awake, wiping my face with my hand and glancing at my palm. It was stained bright red. Panic surged through me as I feared what might be above me. I knew well that it was best not to mess with the unknown, but curiosity is a primal instinct, so I looked up.
The ceiling was a “wall of flesh,” composed of various human skins, flesh, and unidentified tissues. I was so terrified that I collapsed to the ground. The passengers around me lowered their heads and looked at me, and it was then that I noticed—they had human forms, but no facial features or skin. In fact, they had no flesh at all, just pale, empty shells.
They stared at me with their “hollow” eye sockets. I met their gaze, too afraid to react. I could feel that I had wet myself, and as the liquid soaked my pants, I saw the passengers seemingly smirking at me.
After a long standoff, I noticed the train seemed to be approaching my home station. This reminded me that this train wasn’t supposed to stop at any station, and I found myself at a crossroads—should I stay on the train and leave my fate to chance, or should I try to break the window and jump, taking control of my destiny?
Of course, even though it seemed like a choice, it was really just coercion, since either way I would die. This forced me to choose to jump. Once I had made up my mind, I pushed through the crowd, grabbed the emergency hammer, shattered the window, and jumped out with all my strength.
The tumbling and collisions lasted for a while, and I felt pain all over my body. But at least I was alive. I looked around and saw a bright light in the distance, which must have been the station’s light. So, I began walking along the tracks toward it. As the light drew closer, my pace quickened. But just as I was nearing the light, I saw it clearly…
It was the train, the very one I was supposed to be on.
………
News Report: Last night, a student jumped onto the tracks and was dragged by a train all the way to his intended destination, where his body was finally dislodged. However, the corpse was already mangled beyond recognition…