Reader Submission | I Rode That Train That Night Too

(This item is an anonymous reader submission. Its contents have not been verified.)

I don't know who I am supposed to tell about this. Report it to the police and it gets written up as attempted drunk driving; tell my family and they just tell me to see a doctor.

It was a Friday last month. I worked late on Shuyuan Street until 23:40. The 23:48 last train runs straight through and does not stop at my station, so what I was waiting for was the 00:20 extra service. I had been looking at that timetable on the lamppost for years:

Last train      23:48
Extra service   00:20 (extended Fridays and public holidays)
First train next day  05:30

I went through into the station and glanced at my wristband. 236 yuan. There were still 4 people on the platform. There was a damp earth smell in the air, like a river embankment, but there should not be a river under Shuyuan Station.

00:20, no train. 00:21, 00:22, 00:23, no train. I checked the transit bureau's live feed. The screen flickered, dropped out, came back. Then a line of red text appeared:

Data anomaly for this service. Please await station announcement.

The platform lights flickered once, not the way a failing tube flickers, more as though someone had slapped the back of the light panel. At 00:30 the announcement said this service was delayed, estimated arrival 00:37. On the display, the cells that should have held the service name were empty. Only three characters were left: Terminal. When those other 4 people left, I did not notice.

The train came in slowly, the lights inside running yellow. I hesitated maybe 3 seconds and got on—taxis do not take fares at that hour and walking home takes 40 minutes.

There were other people in the carriage when I boarded, at least 3. After the train passed Qingcaohe, the announcement did not name the station. I was scrolling my phone and did not think much of it, until I looked up and found I was the only one left in the carriage. The tunnel sensor lights outside the window were all gone, and hanging there were rows and rows of small paper lanterns, each with a slip of paper pasted on it, a character in the middle of the slip. I could not make out the strokes, but every slip carried the same one.

I raised my phone and took a picture. It came out solid black, without even the reflection off the window. I pressed the emergency intercom once. The button lit up. Nobody answered, only a very faint sound, like someone drawing a breath a long way off.

As the train passed the third station a run of sounds went off, nothing like the arrival chime: one small gong, half a second later a wooden fish, half a second after that a bell. 3 sounds, 2 intervals.

The next-station announcement said: “Platform Thirteen. Please mind the gap.”

There is no Platform Thirteen on my line at all. I was too frightened to get off. While the doors were open I saw what was out there: the tile was white with a little cyan in it, like old toothpaste left out too long; a station sign was bolted to the wall, black on white. The doors closed and the train went on.

I got home some time after 4 in the morning. Taking off my shoes, I looked at the wristband again: the ride record for that trip read 11 minutes, 0 yuan deducted.

The next day I told a colleague, and he asked whether I had been sleeping badly lately. I got halfway through telling my wife and she got up and put the health insurance card on the table. I have not told anyone a second time.

Since then I have checked the timetable every day. After 00:20 there is no train at all. I asked a station attendant, and he said no train enters or leaves in that window. But I know I rode one. All I want to ask is this: has anyone else ridden it too?