“Is it possible to disembark from the train at any point during the journey?”
Frequently Asked Questions
The Elsewhere Express
Passenger Handbook
You may choose to end your journey at any time, but due to the nature of the train’s route, we cannot guarantee that you will arrive at your intended destination on time, intact, or at all. But not to worry. Time’s rules are not passengers. You are more than welcome to try your luck at jumping off again, should the train happen to pass through that day twice.
The Station
Q landed on his feet, his eyes shut, wondering if he was alive or in hell. He kept his eyes closed, refusing to shed a tear for something he did not regret. A strong wind whipped his coat and hair, carrying the roar of an approaching train. The broken walking stick in his hands told him where and when he was.
This was the night he had boarded the Elsewhere Express, the night he would get his sight back and meet a woman with lavender hair. All he had to do was step away from the platform and board his train when it came to a stop.
“Hello, Q.”
“Raya?” he said, recognizing her voice. “What are you doing here?”
Raya led him away from the platform. Q tried to figure out where he was, but Raya kept him from sensing anything beyond her. Her footsteps filled his ears; her scent, his nose and lungs.
“Are you real?” she said.
“Are you?” Q dropped his walking stick and ran his hands over her face.
Raya pressed his hand to her cheek. “Do I feel real?”
“How is this possible?” Q said. “I jumped off the train.”
“So did I.”
“When?”
“When you told me to. I got your invitation.”
“My invitation?” Time, Q thought, had broken some rules when he jumped from the train. He heard Raya rummaging through her bag and pulling out something that sounded like paper.
“To your exhibit.” Raya pressed a piece of paper into his hand.
Q ran his fingertips over the raised dots on the ticket-shaped paper and found an invitation in Braille. It was to an exhibit that his hands did not remember making, but that he had sketched a million times in his soul. He saw it as clearly as if he were taking Raya on a tour of the exhibit himself. Eyes were not required to see hope and possibility. Or love in any shape it took. What tethered people was felt in their hearts, a place deeper than eyes could see. The threads of thought, time, and tenderness that bound him to Raya were too numerous to count. They gently tugged inside him and glowed bright, providing all the light he would ever need.
“I see you.” He brought his forehead to hers, eyes closed, and cupped her cheeks with his hands.
“Hello,” she whispered back, her words flitting over his mouth. “Again.” She drew his hands from her face and laced her fingers through his. “Come with me.”
“Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise,” she said, the smile in her voice ringing like a bell.
Raya led him by the hand to explore a space his senses painted in his head like the most incredible dream. A train terminal, palatial in both elegance and size, surrounded them. Its high, arched glass roof framed the bluest sky. Sunlight poured through the glass and glinted off marble platforms and rows of golden tracks.
Q clutched Raya’s hand in case this was a dream and morning tried to rip him away. “Where are we?” he said, feeling her gaze like the sun on his face.
She took his palm and laid it over her heart, the brightest path in the station. “I think it’s our stop.”
