Cliffhanger Theater!

“How much longer mommy?” Katie asked. She was fidgeting in her seat. Her mom lowered her cell phone for a moment.

“Katie, we’ll be there soon. We just have to wait for the train to go by.” Katie crossed her arms as the blinking arms flashed their hypnotic warning lights. Soon, a mighty orange locomotive rumbled by, pulling a long succession of cars. Katie looked at her mom, who was talking on the phone and going over some paperwork while the train rumbled by. Katie looked behind them. There wasn’t another vehicle in sight for miles, and her brief glimpses between cars didn’t reveal anyone across the tracks. Her mom’s words suddenly melted away. As Katie glanced to the left, she saw what looked like part of the train fly off. As her eyes followed the boxcar, she saw a man pull himself out of an opening. His face was red, and his eyes and teeth were closed tightly. The man pulled himself out of the opening, then collapsed on the roof the car. As the car rolled out of sight, he grabbed his right arm and sat up. Katie turned to her mom, but she had been on the phone and had missed the whole thing. Her mom stopped for a minute and looked at her. “Katie, is everything alright?” Katie nodded. She didn’t think her mom would believe her. In fact, she wasn’t sure she believed what she’d seen either.

***

Phil sat up for a moment on the rail car. He tried to recall a moment in his life that his arm had hurt that much, but he was at a loss. He rubbed his right shoulder for a few seconds, then tried to lift his arm. It lifted, but the pain was so intense he started seeing spots. He lowered it again and started looking around. Farm fields and the occasional grove of trees was all he could see in every direction. The fresh air and the speed of the train had his teeth chattering for a few seconds, so with his left hand he zipped up his jacket.

“Phil? Phil are you there?” Bob’s voice was barely audible over the wind noise and the sounds of the train. Phil bent forward and began yelling back.

“I’m fine. I’ll see what I can do about the door.”

“Be careful.”

Phil began standing up, only to reconsider once he was on one knee. The train was moving at a decent clip, and the cars were moving just enough to make him feel uncomfortable. After turning himself around, he began crawling towards the middle of the car, then to the edge. He poked his head over the edge, and saw the latch on the door. It just needed a quick lift to unlatch, and then they could open the door from the inside. Phil’s optimism started to wane when he noticed the rest of the side. While his childhood memory about a roof access hatch was right, his other memory about boxcars having ladders on the side was, in this case, false. Phil sighed and thought aloud, “now what?”