AU Sodor Book One: The Tidmouth, Knapford and Elsbridge Files

Story Two: Mysterious Premonition

It was now November of 1885. Tidmouth Harbor was running like clockwork, and plans were forming to build a harbor at Knapford. Stone had acclimated well to the railway, becoming one of the family in the fleet of coffeepots. Although, winter meant one thing. Shipping deadlines. The coffeepots had to work extra hard to push goods out before the fog and chilly weather of Sodor took hold of the island. Charleston was taking a train of cattle down the line, when he suddenly broke down. He was on an isolated stretch of the line, near Tidmouth Harbor. His crew ran off to go find help, when a thick fog rolled in from the sea. He was waiting, his mind wandering, when a voice spoke from somewhere in the fog. "Your days are limited, you know..." It spoke, with a diabolical chuckle at the end of it's sentence. "What?" Asked a bewildered Charleston, his eyes darting around. He always was a worrier, but typically of things like superstition or weather. Now he had something very, very real to worry about. The voice spoke again. "I've seen your future, my friend. Let's just say, the outcome isn't good. You've got another 30 years left, at most." The voice spoke, now coming out of the fog. It was an old, weary fortune teller. "How do you know?! How do I know you aren't lying?!" Charleston replied frantically, raising his voice. "See for yourself, my friend." The old man said, touching his hand to Charleston's forehead. Hundreds of images shot through Charleston's vision, of the coffeepots, abandoned rails, strange steam engines, and old siding, weird boxy engines that let off smoke, and it finally settled on one scene. "Charles? Charles!" A voice shouted to him. It was a blue tender engine, numbered four. "What?" Charleston shot back, in a different engine's body. "You looked like you were having a bad dream. Go back to sleep, I'm sorry to disturb you." The engine replied, as it puffed out of the sheds. Charleston closed his eyes, and returned to his normal body. "GET OUT OF MY MIND!" he shouted, his eyes closed tight. "Charleston? What happened?" Beatrice replied, now in front of him, looking at him with a confused gaze. "I had a weird dream. There were these futuristic engines! They were boxy, and they released smoke instead of steam! And there was this blue engine! He had the number 4! And I was in a strange body!" He quickly spoke, tears in his eyes. "Come on, all this fog is messing with your head. I'll take you to Tidmouth Harbor, and Mr. Hatt can fix you up there." Beatrice said, strangely sympathetic, as she coupled up to him. She pulled him to Tidmouth Harbor, where Topham Hatt and Charleston's crew were waiting. When Mr. Hatt began to fix Charleston, Charleston decided to tell him about the encounter. Topham Hatt replied. "Well, that sounds odd." He paused, impressively. "I'll make sure to look out for those things, Charleston. I'm sure there's an explanation to what you saw." He replied, comfortingly, as Charleston began to drift into a quiet sleep.