The Road to Eden's Garden

Chapter 3

5 Years Later

Dear Diary

I kind of hate that phrase. It sounds cliche, like something a protagonist in one of those god awful Disney Channel originals would say. But I can't really think of anything else to use instead, so...

Things have been weird recently. Like... weird. I've only begun my job a few months ago, so I'm not sure if this is normal behavior from Snowpiercer's citizens, and I'm just now experiencing it since I'm a new member of the working class, but still. It doesn't feel right.

It's hard to exactly pinpoint where all of this weirdness began, but I'd say it was around the time that Sean Wise was murdered.

It was no secret that violence was somewhat common on this train. Even as a little kid, I knew about it. No matter how hard the train tried to hide it from our innocent minds, the kids found out. But this murder was different.

It was the first to happen since I began my career, for one. But the real kicker is that it happened in Ag-Sec. Where I work.

I didn't see the body, thank god. Some tunnelman found it. But the guy worked in my department and the murder happened here. That knowledge sent all of Ag-Sec into a panic.

But oddly enough, Mel was probably more freaked out than any of us. She seemed just as frenzied as she did when the first murder happened two years ago. Not even an hour after, she gave an announcement over the speakers claiming that Mr. Wilford had ordered all of us in Ag-Sec to leave work early and stay in our rooms for the day. He was afraid of any more of us getting hurt, I guess.

When I was back at work the next day, I saw her walking in with some guy I've never seen before. He looked like a tailie, and apparently, he was one. His name was Andre Layton; the train detective. Melanie told me that Mr. Wilford called for his release from the Tail since he was the only homicide detective they had.

Speaking of Mel... she's been weird lately too. Even before the murder. I don't really know how to explain what's wrong... she just seems... colder. She doesn't smile as much. There's been a bad vibe around her.

...I hear people talking about her sometimes.

I've heard a lot of things specifically from Julia when we were back at school. She told me that Melanie would do terrible things to the citizens of the Tail. She said that sometimes, Melanie would go in there with a bunch of Jackboots and freeze the arms off of innocent people. I've heard from others that she often resorted to violence and was an "uncaring psychopathic monster" behind the Hospitality facade.

But I never believed them. I just figured they were messing with me. Melanie was just far too kind to do any of those things.

Now, though... I'm not so sure.

It's been a few weeks since we've truly spoken.

There's another big thing I've heard whispers and murmurs about.

It started with the trial for the accused murderer of Sean Wise. Mr. Wilford allowed for a member of the third class to attend the jury, unlike the past. While this was great for us, it sparked conversation about some apparent big revolution that might happen soon. It's only been growing recently as the Tail and third want more rights, while first and second class detest this idea. There's been a lot of protests in third and I worry that something big might happen soon. These guys just can't seem to take it any longer.