Day six began with an encounter with a familiar face. It was the old man I’d met on day two. Today, he wasted no time and sat down in front of me right away.
“Guess you’re still on here,” he said.
“Same as you. Guess we both enjoy riding the tram.”
“It’s not all fun and games, young man, but I’m sure you know that by now, given how long you’ve been on.”
“Sure do,” I said, chuckling.
The old man didn’t join in, and instead gave me an expectant look. And so, I told him about my experiences over the past days. When I mentioned the strange, undescriptive people, and the state they left at, his expression changed. It became one of sadness, of longing, but he said nothing.
Eventually, I told him what had happened the day before, about my encounter with the waving man, and what the scruffy homeless guy had told me.
“That man’s right. You’ve stayed on for too long. As he told you, certain things might notice you, and now they have.”
Once more, I felt a shiver running down my spine. I was in for it now, was I?
“I’ll tell you again, it’s not worth it.”
With that, he got up from his seat, walked off, and settled down in the tram car ahead of me. For a few more minutes, he sat there, but the moment I looked away, he was gone.
The next couple of hours were rather quiet. It was Saturday afternoon, and only a few people entered the tram, obviously on their way to the inner city area. The moment we left it behind, I soon found myself alone again.
We’d just made it to the outskirts of town when the tram stopped and I was greeted by loud yelling and booming laughter. Kids, I thought. I began rubbing my temples, and was about to yell at them to knock it off, when one of them tapped me on the shoulder.
“You’re it!” he called out before a group of six kids rushed past me.
They were nothing but colorful blurs as they hurried to the tram car ahead of me. For a few seconds, they were causing a ruckus before they tried their best to hide themselves. I thought nothing of it, and couldn’t help but sigh when one of them crawled under a seat, and another tried to hide himself behind the ticket machine.
Others, however, were doing… stranger things, impossible things, and I felt myself shivering in my seat. I watched as one kid folded into himself, becoming smaller and smaller while another seemed to melt between two seats, vanishing. As I sat there, I closed my eyes, and then opened them again. By then, all six kids were gone.
At first, I thought it had been nothing but another hallucination, but then I heard muffled giggling. I tried to ignore it. This was just happening because I was alone on the tram. All those things only ever happened when I was completely alone. Just wait till other people get on, and it will be over.
My thoughts were interrupted when I felt a hand on my shoulder. My heart skipped a beat and my breath caught in my throat.
“The kids are waiting,” the hand’s owner cackled from behind me.
I froze. Then I carefully took a glance at the hand resting on my shoulder. It was old and wrinkly, but the fingers were too long, much too long, unnaturally so.
Why was this thing here? Why now? Nothing like that had ever happened! Not during the day!
When the sun pushed itself out from behind the clouds, I saw the shadow of what was standing behind me. It was a giant, monstrous shadow that seemed to spread through the entire tram car, stretching further and further.
“Well, why aren’t you going?”
“N-no. I’m-“
I didn’t get to finish the excuse. The creature’s hand closed around my shoulder, caressing it teasingly. I told myself to stay calm. Breath in, breath out, quietly. Don’t move. Just ignore it.
I felt the creature’s eyes resting on me. It cackled again, this time louder, and its sour breath permeated the tram. With each passing second, I felt it getting closer, could feel its breath against my neck. All the while, it was still caressing and squeezing my shoulder. I closed my eyes, and told myself once more to do nothing, absolutely nothing.
How close was it by now? What if I’d open my eyes, only to find its face right next to mine, staring at me?
I squirmed under its hand, praying, hoping for something to happen, for someone else to get on. Finally, I heard the announcement of the next station via the intercom, and a few seconds later, the tram slowed down. At that moment, the hand let go of my shoulder, and I felt the creature retreating. When I opened my eyes, I saw a group of people waiting at the station ahead.
“Playtime’s over, little ones,” the thing behind me screeched.
Right away, all six kids reappeared, jumping out from behind seats, and from places they couldn’t possibly have fit in. For the first time, I could clearly make out their faces. I wish I hadn’t. They were all grinning, wearing the same ghastly, face-splitting grin. What made it even worse, I somehow recognized them. In the deepest corner of my mind, I knew I’d seen them before. Six kids, laughing and playing on the tram.
A moment later, they and the creature were gone. I sighed with relief, but then, driven by curiosity, I turned around. What I saw outside was the group of kids, standing around a tiny old lady, who seemed to smile down at them. A second later, she turned toward me, and her eyes found mine.
In an instant, her face changed. What had been a kind, smiling expression changed to one of anger. In an instant, I jerked back around more than happy when the tram drove off, leaving these ghastly beings behind.
For the next half hour, my mind was in an uproar. I told myself multiple times I was an idiot for keeping this up. I had to give up and get off. This wasn’t worth it, not anymore. Things had changed. The rules, whatever they were, had changed. And yet, I stayed on, almost as if it wasn’t my choice to make.
As the afternoon continued, I noticed the same recurring passengers. By now, they’d long become a normal part of the Long Ride. Just another strange incident amongst a plethora of others.
Yet when my eyes followed one of them, an older woman, I noticed the change right away. She wasn’t minding her own business like she usually did. No, she was frowning while measuring me up.
I remembered what that homeless guy had said:
‘That thing, it’s marked you, and now others know you’re here, too!’
I took a deep breath and averted my eyes, trying my best to ignore her, but I could feel her eyes resting on me until she got off the tram. Only a few stations later, she got on once again, and once more, she stared at me. I didn’t look at her, and only took a single, side-way glance, but I could’ve sworn her frown was getting deeper.
This behavior was the same for every single one of them, and they too seemed to become angrier with each of their iterations. Whenever one of them entered, their eyes instantly fell on me, and never left me until they got off again. It made me feel nervous, restless even. I tried to read, to distract myself, but I could feel them. It was an almost physical sensation.
When it became evening, the bustle of the partygoers started again, and for the first time in hours, I felt myself calming down. Under the constant bustle of people entering and leaving the tram, I felt safe, hidden from view. And yet, I knew they were still there. I could still feel their eyes penetrating the general chaos that ruled over the tram.
As evening bled into the early hours of the morning, the tram grew emptier again, and I found myself assaulted by at least a dozen of them. Even worse, under the cover of the partygoers, they’d all gotten closer. By now, they were all in the same tram car as me.
At that point, I couldn’t take it anymore.
“The hell do you want from me!?” I called out.
I got no answer.
After a while, however, I noticed something. Their behavior had changed. By now, they were all acting just like the guy in the dark clothes I’d encountered on day three. They didn’t just sit in their seats anymore, but were leaning forward, their faces distorted by nothing but rage. Their hands were on their seats, their feet shuffled over the floor in anticipation.
With each station, more of them entered, more of them joined this unmoving crowd of watchers, of predators ready to pounce on me. With everything I’d heard, with all the warnings I’d received, I knew something was going to happen. I knew it, and yet… they weren’t doing anything, almost as if they were waiting for… something.
In that instant, fear washed over me, raw and hot, fear that soon turned to panic. Their eyes were suffocating me. Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe. My heart was pounding so hard it felt like it would explode.
No, this was it! I wouldn’t stay until god knows what happened! Fuck the Long Ride, fuck the tram, it’s over!
I pushed my arm through the backpack’s strap and was about to get up, but when I did, their angry glances changed. They all turned to grins, hungry grins. The same feeling I’d had when I tried to flee from the guy in black clothes came back to me. If I’d get up now, they’d come for me, wouldn’t they? That’s what they were waiting for. For me to get up, so they could tear me apart!
I just stood there, in my seat, backpack over my shoulder, unable to move. Then the tram turned a corner, a bend that shouldn’t exist, and we encountered another un-location.
In that moment, futility took the place of desperation. Defeated, I slumped down in my seat, knowing I was trapped. My eyes wandered to the tram’s window, and I stared outside in miserable wonder. Not like it mattered, I thought.
The entire area was covered in nothing but small buildings, shanties comprising nothing but rubble and trash. They seemed to have been put up without rhyme or reason, and were growing from the ground like mushrooms. Between them, I saw things move. Twisted shades I could tell weren’t human.
Yet it wasn’t merely this shantytown we’d arrived at. No, they were all part of another un-location, had been built around it, as if they were part of an ever-spreading infection. The glaring red light that flooded the tram, and the blasting done music told me were once again approaching Club Red.
No, I thought, not this place again, not tonight, not when things had changed.
I hoped the tram would pass by it, and we’d return to reality, that other people would enter, and I’d be able to get away. Instead, we approached a wide, arching opening and drove straight into Club Red itself.
What I saw in there was utterly surreal. All I’d seen so far had been the building’s exterior, and it should only have been a taste of the insanity the place truly contained. It was nothing but a cesspool, an amalgamation of sin. The same strange psychedelic music was blaring and stabbing at my ears. It was so loud, I grew dizzy, and my vision blurred. Yet, I found myself entranced by it, and soon couldn’t tear my eyes from what I saw outside.
Stalls were placed everywhere. They were offering drinks, food, but also other… things. In some of them, I thought I saw bound humans, or things that made once have been humans. Here and there, people were copulating with inhuman creatures, ghastly orgies, comprising nothing but slithering bodies. In other places, I saw strange rituals, and people praying to disgusting, twisted idols. Even here, inside, the place defied the laws of physics. The walls were covered in doorways, all connected to a mad network of stairs, but stairs that shouldn’t work. And yet, they did. It was as if the works of M. C. Escher had become a reality.
Then the strange fascinated trance I’d been under broke, and I remembered where I was, and what was happening to me. While I’d been staring outside, I’d not given the tram’s interior any attention. The strange recurring passengers had inched even closer to me, were now surrounding me. I opened my mouth to scream at them, to tell them to stay back, and to get the fuck away from me, but right at that moment, the tram came to a halt and its doors opened.
Instantly, the air was filled with a stench so strong, so oppressive, it made me cough. It was a mixture of exotic spices and bodily fluids, but also… blood. Yet this wasn’t the worst. I noticed something approaching the tram, and before I could even react, a figure had entered it.
Its limbs sprouted from places they shouldn’t and were bent at strange angles, as if they had too many joints in them. I watched as its head pushed forward, the neck stretching further and further, as it scanned the interior of the tram. Taking one step at a time, the monstrosity approached me. Its feet clicked over the floor, and its spidery limbs brushed over the seats, caressing their texture in playful anticipation. As it did, a disgustingly strong odor reached me, something pungent, the sweet smell of decay, of rot.
I just sat there, mouth open, not able to do anything but stare ahead. No, it couldn’t be. Why was that thing here? Why the hell was it back?! Cold sweat drenched me as I clung to the seat in front of me, trembling uncontrollably. Oh god, it’s getting closer. It’s coming for me! This time, it was actually coming for me!
By now, the recurring passengers around me were all grinning madly. I understood now. This is what they’d been waiting for. They weren’t able to do anything themselves, weren’t able to hurt me, but this… this thing could!
As I watched the twisted creature take another step, as it stalked forward, ever closer towards me, I just… lost it. I screamed in terror, jumped off my seat, and dashed for the tram doors. I didn’t want to go out there. Hell, I shouldn’t, but I wasn’t in control of my body. It was nothing but pure, primal fear that drove me on. Yet the doors closed right in front of me. For a mad second, I clawed at them, tried to pry them open, but before I could, the tram started to move, trapping me inside.
Fuck! What the fuck do I do?!
Then, with no other option, I rushed to the back of the tram, praying we’d return to reality, to my city, to another station. Outside, we left Club Red behind, but continued on through the ever-extending shantytown. Fuck! Why aren’t we back yet?! I sat in the back, huddled behind a seat, trying to keep the panic at bay, but it was impossible.
By now, the creature had almost reached the last tram car, and for a moment, its eyes focused on me. Its jaw fell open, unhinged like that of a snake, and a distorted bout of guffawing laughter escaped it.
At that moment, I couldn’t fight the panic anymore. I jumped up, my hand closing around the glass breaker. And then, with all the force I could muster, swung it against the window. It crashed against the glass again and again before it finally shattered. A moment later, I threw myself outside.
When I hid the ground, the skin on my hands scraped away. My knees crunched against the asphalt before pain shot through my entire body. Then I was propelled forward, hit my head on the ground, and half-rolled, half-stumbled out into the street.
I heard a horn, heard brakes screeched, but avoided the oncoming truck by a hair’s breath.
Laying on the ground, I was panting and in terrible pain. When I finally looked up, all was normal. No hint of the un-location remained. Instead, I was on an entirely normal street in my city. By now, the driver of the truck had jumped out, his face a mixture of anger and worry. A moment later, the tram driver followed. He laid into me right away, calling me crazy for destroying the window, and jumping off, calling me drunk, on drugs, or flat out insane.
Instead of reacting to any of his words, I stared back at the tram. It was empty. No one was inside. None of the recurring passengers, and no twisted, spidery monsters.
I could only listen as the tram driver explained to the other man what had happened. Apparently, I’d suddenly jumped off my seat, screaming and freaking out before I’d broken the window, and jumped off. Even though I’d been entirely alone on the tram. I opened my mouth to tell them what had happened, but then closed it again. What could I even tell them?
In the end, all I could do was to drag my battered body to the sidewalk and sit down. By now, the tram driver had called the police and informed them about what I’d done. I thought about trying to get away, but in the state I was in, it was impossible.
As I sat there, I thought back to the old man, to the vision of his torn and mangled body. If that truck had hit me, something similar would’ve most likely happened to me. Was this what all this had been about? Had all of these strange people, these creatures, been nothing but visions, illusions to drive me over the edge? So I’d go crazy and end up being run over? Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t…
When the police arrived, they were quick to take the statement of both drivers before they spoke to me. They took me to the station and questioned me for almost an hour. In the end, I told them I’d had a panic attack, couldn’t breathe, and thought I’d die if I didn’t get off the tram. They were skeptical to say the least, and subjected me to not only an alcohol but also a drug test. When both came back negative, I was essentially let off the hook, but not scot-free. They charged me with vandalism, and I’d have to pay for the tram window I’d destroyed.
And so, I’d finally given up in the early hours of the morning on day six.
What happened is a tale I can’t share with anyone, for no one would believe any of the things I’ve seen. Hell, even I’m unsure about what happened, and what of it was… real after all.
All of this has proven one thing to me, though. There are things out here, waiting for those who linger too long.
And yet, as much as I told myself it was all over, it wasn’t. For even now, in my mundane every-day life, reality is still slightly skewed, slightly warped. Shadows linger too long, and faces in the crowd sometimes grin at me. They beckon me silently to follow them, to come along.
After all, I’ve been marked, and once the Long Ride beings, it never truly ends.
