Think:You don't board the train. The train boards you
The train swayed.
Left.
Right.
The lights above Ahaan flickered like candle flames in a storm, casting long shadows that danced across the seats.
He wasn't supposed to be here.
But he was.
Inside the train.
The one that never stopped.
The one that took people.
He took a deep breath, but the air smelled like burning metal and old smoke. His throat burned. The carriage was quiet now, but not peaceful. It was the kind of silence that hides behind the door right before something horrible happens.
He moved slowly down the aisle.
Each seat held a person. But none of them moved.
No one blinked.
No one breathed.
Some looked like statues. Others were slumped, heads down, faces hidden behind hair or shadows. A few had their eyes open — wide, glassy, and empty.
Like they were alive once.
And now... just trapped.
Ahaan's heart thudded so hard it hurt. He clutched the black book tight to his chest like a shield. He didn't even remember how it got back into his hands, but it was there — always there when he needed it.
He flipped it open.
New words appeared, written in shaking red ink:
TRAIN CASE – CRITICAL WARNING
You blinked. You're inside.
Rule to Escape: Solve the Riddle of the Passenger.
Only One Will Speak. Find Them Before the Next Stop.
The Riddle of the Passenger?
Ahaan looked up, scanning the rows.
One person.
Only one could talk.
The rest? Ghosts? Shadows? Memories?
He didn't want to know.
The floor beneath him vibrated. The train was speeding up. Whatever this "next stop" was — it was coming fast.
He took a step forward, past a man with no eyes, past a woman holding a picture frame with no photo inside, past a boy around his own age holding a balloon that floated even though there was no air…
Then he saw her.
A girl, maybe 16, sitting alone by the window.
Her eyes weren't empty like the others.
They were watching him.
Alive.
She blinked.
Ahaan gasped. "You… you're not frozen."
The girl tilted her head slightly. Her lips moved, just a whisper: "Are you real?"
"Yes," he breathed. "I think so. Are you the passenger? The one who can speak?"
She nodded slowly. "I've been here for a long time. Too long."
He crouched down beside her. "I need to get out. The book said you have a riddle."
Her eyes darkened. She looked toward the window. All Ahaan could see outside was fog. Endless fog, rolling like ocean waves.
"I'll tell you the riddle," she said, voice trembling. "But only once."
Ahaan nodded. "Okay."
She leaned closer and whispered:
"It comes once in a minute,
Twice in a moment,
But never in a thousand years.
What is it?"
Ahaan blinked, stunned. "Wait, what?"
She leaned back, closing her eyes.
"That's it," she said. "You have until the next stop."
The train groaned beneath them, as if it didn't like the idea of escape. The lights flickered again. The voices returned — whispers crawling through the walls.
"Don't stop the train… stay with us… stay forever…"
He stood up, pacing. "Okay, okay, think! What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?"
It wasn't a ghost riddle. It was wordplay.
"Minute… moment… thousand years…"
He said them over and over again.
Then something clicked.
The letter "M."
It appears once in the word "minute," twice in "moment," and zero times in "a thousand years."
"That's it!" he shouted. "The answer is 'M'!"
The train shook violently, like it was angry.
The girl opened her eyes. "Say it again."
Ahaan took a deep breath and shouted, "THE LETTER M!"
The lights exploded — not flickered, not dimmed — exploded with a blinding flash.
And then—
Silence.
Everything froze.
The train stopped.
Not with a screech or a crash.
Just… stopped.
Ahaan looked around. The shadows were gone. The seats were empty.
Even the fog outside the window had disappeared.
He turned to the girl.
She was standing now, beside him.
But her face had changed. She looked older. Calmer.
"Thank you," she said quietly. "You answered it."
"Who are you?"
"I was the last one before you," she replied. "I blinked too. But no one ever came to solve the riddle. I've been waiting…"
"And now?"
She smiled. "Now I'm free."
She touched his hand — and vanished into dust.
The train's doors hissed open.
Ahaan stepped out.
He found himself back in the Whisper Realm.
The forest of fog. The path. The silence.
And the man in the coat — waiting, like always.
"You blinked," the man said. "You made a mistake. But you survived."
Ahaan looked down at the book. Another page now glowed with soft blue light. That made two.
"How many more are there?" he asked.
The man didn't answer.
Instead, the book flipped on its own again.
A new title appeared.
CASE THREE: Echoes of the Librarian
Location: Whisper Realm Archive
Status: Incomplete
Note: You are being watched.
Ahaan looked up at the man. "Who's watching me?"
The man gave a small, strange smile. "The one who wrote the book."
Ahaan's eyes widened. "I thought the book writes itself."
"No," the man whispered. "Someone… or something… is writing it. From the other side."
Ahaan stepped back, suddenly cold all over.
He looked down at the book.
At the corner of the page, someone had written in jagged ink:
"We'll meet soon, Ahaan."
And below it...
"Don't trust the man in the coat."
Story will be come back