I lost touch with their conversation when I noticed my beer tasted funny. Then, a wave of nausea struck me, and I leaned back on the bench seat.

“Lane, it’s happening again!” Adele’s voice grabbed me. I look up at her pale face.

Immediately I understood. Feeling around in my jacket front pocket, I pulled out a handkerchief that Adele slid in earlier that day. I pushed the cloth against my eyes as a blinding headache hit me.

I know I have no choice. They have to go on their own.

“I’m sorry, babe. That bitch isn’t letting me leave,” I told Adele, as my sight goes a fuzzy red.

“Adele, get Sally to Sacramento and both of you use your maiden names...call me at the office...leave a message...with Alice.”

I catch a glimpse of Sally, who’s staring openmouthed at the appalling sight across the table.

“I promise that... I’ll get ahold of you,” my voice sounds frantic because I’m giving out everything that I can think of through the growing agony inside my head. 

“Don’t call anyone... promise me that... ahh... damn it, I won’t make it if I go on with you.”

Stumbling to stand up after sliding out of the booth, I can feel the blood tears now dripping down from my face in full force. The raging torture inside my head doesn’t allow me to think ahead. My only thought is to get out of there.

“We’ll stop the train. You need to get to the hospital.” Adele’s voice grew shrill. I heard a cackling laugh inside my throbbing mind.

That fucking bitch who’s doing this to me needs to die!

Nearly tripping over a nearby chair, I stumbled and weaved a path towards the back of the car. Sally kept watching in disbelief and shock until Adele frantically pushed her from the booth. They hurried to catch me when I reached the backdoor. An older man in a bartender’s uniform stepped out from behind the bar to warn me not to open the door. He backed away in fear when I turned my head to the sound of his voice warning me.

As I step out onto the small platform hanging off the end of the train, my brain can barely decide anything. Waves of crushing pain hit me and for a second, I feel close to blacking out. My hands find the guardrail which I open, not even thinking about how fast the train is moving. Then, two pairs of hands grab me as Adele frantically yells for me to stop.

“I don’t have a choice! I’m dying,”

Her grip loosens when she sees my desperation. In that instant, I know she’s frightened for me. Sally lets go of her grip; her expression was nearly as upset as Adele.

“I’ll make it...I swear. Take care of yourself, beautiful.”

Immediately, I pushed them back, then took two steps to jump as far away from the train as I could. As I feel the blast of air from the moving train hit me after I jump, a thought comes to me.

Damn, I hope my death is quick.

After that, I really don’t remember much beyond seeing the red sky go by several times as I tumbled down the embankment. Somehow, I got to my feet, waves of pain filling my body along with my brain. My knee feels like it’s broken and I’m screaming out in rage at the bitch who did this to me. I lift myself to one knee, turning my body to the sound of the train’s fading noise and wave both arms. I can’t see more than a few feet, so I hope they see me.

Steeling myself to stand, I left up to while my knee wanted to buckle. After getting to my feet, I can’t stop swaying back and forth. Looking at the ground, for a moment, I thought I should just lie down and die.

Fuck no! I’m still killing that bitch!

Somehow, I turned and limped toward Stull Junction, following the train track. While the tormenting voice cackled occasionally, the pressure decreased enough for me to open my eyes more often to see where I’m walking.

~~~

Adele stood like a porcelain doll with her hand still held in the air, long after Lane’s figure disappeared. In her hand, she felt the blood-stained handkerchief that Lane handed her before he jumped. Her mind remained blank, still trying to grasp what had occurred. Even though she witnessed her husband’s bizarre condition before, this latest occurrence terrified her.

This is unnatural!

At her side stood Sally with a blank expression, staring at the same spot. Over the course of a few hours, she witnessed enough to lose her hold on reality. First, the image of her dead husband came to her. Then, she watched blood streaming from Lane’s eyes while he’s going crazy from pain. Now, she’s standing on a car platform watching the man wave his arms after jumping from a moving train.

I must be going mad!

Behind the two women, the bartender and the porter paid by Lane saw enough to question their own hold on sanity. They immediately tried to coax the women back inside.

“I’ll contact the authorities at our next stop to help him.” The porter’s words suddenly jolted Adele from her stance.

“No, that’ll put him in danger.” Adele listened to her words and shook her head. She suppressed the maddening need to laugh at the absurdity of what she said as she still stared at the rail tracks.

“Believe it or not, this happened before,” she whispered.

Suddenly, the woman turned around to face the men.  

“He’ll be alright!” Her forceful statement left no doubt of her resolve.

She still didn’t want to believe what she witnessed for the second time. Lane’s obvious agony hurt her deeply. She couldn’t do anything for him. Something forced Lane to decide whether to perish on the train or die by jumping from it. The woman recognized the reason behind his desperate behavior now, after she thought about it.

“Is there a quiet spot away that we can go?” Adele asked the men standing in the doorway. Seeing the blank look on Sally’s face, Adele realized Sally needed an explanation of some sort.

Even though I don’t know what’s going on!

“Yes, ma’am, please come with me,” the porter held the door and shooed away a few curious passengers who came into the car during the commotion.

Adele took Sally by the arm, and they silently followed the porter to another car used for overnight passengers. The porter pulled his master key and unlocked the door.

“We reserve this cabin for the big shots of the company. I’ll bring your drinks.” His sympathetic smile went unnoticed as the women entered the cabin.

Sally mechanically sat in one of the bench seats while Adele took a spot across from her. The porter returned with fresh drinks and Adele paid him after he pulled out individual trays from the handles of the seats.

“Do you really believe he’ll be alright?” Sally finally asked after the man left.

“I don’t know,” Adele admitted, dropping her head while fighting the tears she wanted to cry. She took a deep breath and looked up.

“This happened the other day when we were driving...” The memory stirred something in her mind. “We were heading out of town...” her voice trailed off.

We were leaving town like before. Who won’t let Lane leave?

Sally unconsciously took a drink, the warmth of the alcohol almost immediately felt inside her empty stomach. She looked over at Adele, who shook her head.

“When we got to the hospital, Lane was fine,” Adele said. “The doctor didn’t have any idea why it happened. As much as I want to tell the porter to call the authorities, Lane wants me to believe in him. I’ve never seen him so desperate. It hurts me. I don’t know what to do.”

“But your husband said something about she won’t let me leave. Are you sure that there’s not something wrong with him...” Sally went quiet at the implication.

“No,” Adele insisted, then looked away. She took a drink, thinking about the idea. While she tried to dismiss it, she also recognized how much he had changed recently. They went quiet, each woman lost in their thoughts.

“He’s changed a lot recently,” Adele suddenly spoke while she stared out the window at the scenery going by. “We were close to divorce and suddenly he comes home, telling me he would fix everything.”

The woman gave a sour smile when she recalled the night.

“I’m sorry,” Sally said as she turned the glass back and forth in her hands. “Your husband saved me from Antonio. I still don’t really understand the reason. When I asked him to help, I just wanted him to talk to Antonio because I thought your husband was like that gangster. Selfishly, I thought he could get Antonio to back off for a week.”

She looked over at Adele, whose expression remained thoughtful.

“After we spoke, I expected he would turn me down because he was a coward. Obviously, I was wrong about that.
 She paused.

“I just don’t know what I should tell you.”

“It’s alright, what we saw is unbelievable...” Adele hesitated. “I’d almost say it’s religious...if I believed in those things.” The woman took a deep breath.

“When we get to Sacramento, he’ll be alright, I must believe that.”

They went back to their thoughts for a while, quietly drinking.

“Anyway, I should be comforting you,” Adele looked up from her glass. “Although we just met, I’m truly sorry for your loss. This might sound trite but, from what Lane told me earlier, you’ve experience far too much today.”

Tears built in Sally’s eyes when the words brought back the memory of Joe’s death. For the first time in their marriage, her husband tried to protect her, only to die.

“Yeah, I suppose so. I’ve never been so...well, then Joe tried to stop them,” she sniffed and held up her head. “I believe I should be proud of him, but all I can think of about is how did it come to this? But I know it’s a terrible waste to dwell on something I cannot repair. It’s not like I can go back in time to stop Joe from doing those things that helped get me to this point.”

She went quiet, listening to the rhythmic sound of the tracks, while lost to their own thoughts.