2.

My alarm clock woke me up at 3:55 AM and by 4:35 AM I managed to leave give back the keys and leave the apartment building for good.

Outside, a chilly wind breeze caressed my face.

When I was on my way to the train station, the sidewalks and streets were deserted. I reached the train station at 4:50 AM, and from there, I followed the directional signs to platform 5. Soon enough, I was standing on the platform feeling a little uneasy since, given the strange information on the ticket, I was not sure if the train would even arrive.

Everything appeared normal when I had a look around, but unlike the first floor where there were numerous people waiting for their trains, there was only one individual who appeared to be doing the same thing. The lamps hanging from the ceiling did not provide enough light for me to see the stranger clearly.

I heard a train as soon as the clock struck 04:55 AM. The train was approaching from the right and stopped at platform 5 shortly after. The number 5000 was written on the side of the dark gray train, and when I glanced at the board hanging from the ceiling, I was perplexed to see that it had no information on this train.

A middle-aged man wearing a dark gray uniform appeared as the doors opened. I watched as the stranger approached him and handed him something; I assumed it was the train ticket. The uniformed man nodded, and the stranger boarded the train.

“To Rain Falls City.” I spoke as I took the train ticket out of my coat pocket and held it out.

He nodded and made a hand motion, telling me to board the train. I did, and after only a few seconds, the uniformed man disappeared in the dimly illuminated hallway of the train as I heard the door close behind me. The train had started to move.

Both hallways were poorly illuminated when I turned to look to the left and right. Since I was not assigned to a specific seat, I chose to stroll down the hallway on my left side. All the seats in the first three passenger compartments were taken, and in the fourth passenger compartment sat a woman who was feeding her two black cats.

Fortunately, only one seat was occupied in the fifth passenger compartment, leaving the other seats empty.

“Hello, are the seats taken?” I asked the woman who was seated next to the window. When she turned away from the window to look at me, our eyebrows raised simultaneously, and we gasped at the same time.

“Serena?!” She greeted me with a big, surprised smile.

“Kristen!” I greeted her with the same enthusiasm and sat down across from her. There was a table between us, under which I put my travel bag.