He looked into my eyes and said— “You’re not going to Ludhiana for the first time...” With that, he vanished into the fog.
At that very moment, the train blew its whistle. It felt as if electricity surged through my body. Because I had already realized that this journey had not started again. Maybe this journey had never ended at all.
To be continued... Read on:
Part 3: A Strange Riddle.
A strange struggle was raging inside me between my heart and my mind. Both kept wondering the same thing: Who had called out to me? Had someone really called me, or had it all been a figment of my imagination?
I began to panic and forced myself to think. Then I became convinced that yes, someone really had called out to me—
“Don’t get off this time...”
That voice wasn’t a figment of my imagination or some illusion. I had heard it perfectly clearly. But I couldn’t figure out who it belonged to.
Panicking, I looked all around, but there was no one in the coach besides me. Dense fog covered everything outside, and the train continued speeding forward.
I sat frozen in my seat, silently taking God’s name and trying to steady myself. After a while, I had pulled myself together again and was ready to face whatever was coming—something unnatural or something ordinary, I had no idea which.
My eyes kept drifting toward the coach door. I wanted to get up, open it, and see who was outside, but some unfamiliar fear inside me kept stopping me.
After a while, I looked at my watch. It was almost one in the morning. The train continued racing along, and the dense fog outside still spread across everything just as before.
I thought I should close my eyes for a while. Maybe I was completely exhausted, and that was why my mind was hearing voices.
I closed my eyes.
But just a few seconds later, I heard that same voice again— “Don’t get off...”
This time, the voice was even clearer than before.
I immediately opened my eyes.
My heart began pounding.
When I looked ahead, the seat was empty.
There was no one in the coach besides me.
I turned around in panic. There was no one there either.
Just then, the train began to slow down.
I realized that a station must be coming up.
Fear rose inside me.
Could this be that same station?
I tried to look outside through the window, but I couldn’t see anything through the thick fog.
A few moments later, the train stopped at a station.
I got up from my seat and went toward the door, but this time I didn’t open it.
I simply stood inside and kept trying to look outside.
An eerie silence hung over the station.
There wasn’t a single passenger in sight.
No railway employee.
No tea vendor.
No porter.
Only a few blurry lights were glowing.
I strained my eyes and tried to read the station’s name.
Through the fog, I saw a sign.
The moment I read the name, the ground seemed to drop out from under my feet.
It was Jakhal Station.
For several moments, I just stared at the sign.
I couldn’t believe it.
I had boarded the train at Jakhal Station only a short while ago.
So how had the train reached Jakhal again?
I immediately checked my watch.
It showed the same time.
It was around twelve-thirty at night.
My hands began to tremble.
I pulled out my phone and tried to check the time.
When I saw the time on the screen, my breath caught.
My phone showed the exact same time.
But when I looked at the date, I panicked even more.
It was the same date.
The same day.
Everything was the same.
It felt as though time hadn’t moved forward at all, but had returned to that very moment.
Then I heard footsteps outside the train.
Slowly...
Knock... knock... knock...
Someone was coming toward me.
I backed away and stood beside the seat.
The footsteps came to a stop right outside the door.
For a few seconds, there was complete silence.
And when I finally gathered the courage to look toward the sound of the footsteps, a stunning woman in white was approaching me.
To be continued