Scary Reddit Stories

I caught the wrong train and it will not stop

The date is January 3rd, 2018.

It is 9:45 AM.

I don't have a lot of time. I doubt this will ever get out. I have posted it in a few places, on loop, just to be safe.

There was a sharp, sucking sensation in my stomach this morning. Almost like... I knew something was coming. Almost like the feeling of deja vu, mixed in with a spattering of butterflies, all coagulated in the pit of my gut.

I ignored it all.

The alarm blasted at nine minutes to five, one final time, by my bedside. I slammed the buzzer just to shut it up. I shucked on some khakis in the dark, and grabbed a wrinkled polo from the floor. My wife was still asleep. I kissed her goodbye, one final time, while she rubbed her eyes and mumbled a half-hearted;

"I love you,"

Before she sighed and added,

"Goodnight."

I laughed, loudly, and told her I loved her too. Our big German Shepherd, Lola, started to stir. I had to be quick so as to not wake her up. And so, quickly, quietly... I slipped out the door without another word. I locked every lock.

We had an incident, years before, that did not need repeating.

My ride to the train station takes twenty minutes. I have timed it out over the years. Ten minutes on Apple Farm Road. Ten minutes by the Parkway entrance. A perfect twenty in total.

The aluminum coffin arrived at 5:25.

I was late.

There was no real reason for any apprehension. Late arrivals had happened before. I knew there would be another train in an hour, and I could always sleep it off in my car. The North Jersey Coastline is the only train that stops at our small town station. It is impossible to miss.

On the drive down, it started to snow in my neck of New Jersey. The scenery was breathtaking. Almost every tree, sign, and local road was covered with an untouched white sheet. But the traffic was likely to slow my arrival even more.

Sure enough, as soon as I pulled up to the station... the train was already boarding passengers.

I pulled the keys out of the ignition and hauled my work bag over my shoulder in a hurry. It was still dark. The salt put down to melt the snow was slippery than helpful. Several times, my stupid leather shoes slid across patches of black ice covering the cracks in the black pavement. I hoofed the steps up to the station two at a time, when suddenly...

My foot slipped.

I tried to grab the handrail for balance. But it was of no use. I had too much momentum at the time, and my shoes could not find the right balance. My ankle gave out sometime before my head smacked against the concrete staircase. One moment, I was thinking about the conductor keeping the door open.

The next, well... I don't remember much.

I woke up to an empty platform.

It took a moment, but eventually, I got to my feet and wiped the snow off my face. Everything was exactly the same; minus the waiting train.

I reasoned that I must have knocked myself out. Nobody was there to call an ambulance. My ankle was a bit sore and sure and my head throbbed a bit. But nothing was bruised. Nothing was broken, other than my phone, and a bit of pride.

I sat down on the bench and glanced down the tunnel hopefully. As if on command, a whistle blared somewhere in the distance. I thought it was my lucky day. Eagerly, I waited behind the yellow line as another silver-clad NJ Transit shimmied into view.