Arrival
The train arrived without a sound. Elias didn’t notice it because of noise—but because everything else had gone silent: the faint buzz of the lights, the distant murmur of people, even the steady tapping of his foot against the floor. All of it stopped at once, as if the world had been muted. He looked up, expecting to see the usual late-night commuters, but the station was empty. Completely empty.
The digital clock above the platform read 02:17. It hadn’t changed for several seconds.
“That’s... not right,” Elias muttered.
He stood slowly, looking around. This was the central station—there should have been security, staff, someone passing through. But there was nothing. Just a long, dim platform... and the train in front of him. Its doors slid open. No announcement. No warning. Just an invitation.
Elias hesitated. Every instinct told him to leave, to go back up the stairs and return to the city—but something held him in place. A quiet pull, subtle but hard to ignore, like the feeling right before you remember something important.
He stepped inside.
The doors closed behind him instantly.
