The Missing Body

The hustling of the wind with no interruption acted as a tranquilizer for all my earlier agitations. It is a true cause tiring late nights at work, but the meddling thoughts about Michelle was taking away all the fun. What caught my attention was the location where she asked me to meet her, La Grangeville. How did she end up somewhere like that? If it was never for her, I wouldn't ever be thinking of taking any trip to this place. My thoughts were more poisoned with those horrifying information about the place all over the internet; buried treasures, unsolved crimes, missing persons, haunted villas, spooky witch streets.

Now I am damn convinced what made this place intriguing for Michelle. Michelle was always enchanted with the unsolved mysteries and at a fascination to unveil the hidden stories. Anyone who has earlier experienced even a stint of her would easily identify it with her. And it's not really a hush hush thing to get startled with this choice of hers. The chilling cold was getting into my nerves, and I was feeling so grumpy though it's only been five minutes since the train started.

…To take a pop was overbearing me for some strange reason I felt the darkness was getting too intense and the temperature was going too low. I took my phone and dial Michelle, it was unreachable. Quickly I checked the message I sent to her still it didn't get delivered. I was totally losing it and struggled to keep it cool. How can she just play with me like this? And she's putting my job to the test with her such hasty behavior, but what if she is in trouble and needs my help? There is something to deal with for sure.

The howling of the train was more clear and the engine was slowing down quickly. My watch and it was too early to reach the next stop. Out of curiosity and impatience, I couldn't linger anymore inside my compartment. I took a stroll towards the doorway. I tried to peek out but nothing was visible. Totally strange. The absurd situation was causing panic among the co-passengers and they couldn't calm themselves. I waited for the engine to calm down. The train continued to honk as if it was alerting something. Nothing was clearly visible in the darkness, but from far away a streak of light was coming. Straining for some time. I could figure out that it was not any train depot. To my surprise the train was stopped inside a dark tunnel. It seemed like a stranded place. My imagination was taking a trail on all the possible worst scenarios. The same expression was reflected on every other co passenger. I could hear some whistling noises and some quavering voices. I was completely vacuous on what to do and whom to inquire.

My inquisitive eyes wandered all over and luckily, I found the ticket checker. He was hastily moving around. Quickly, I stopped him.

“Excuse me, is there any emergency?”

From his stare I realized I sounded a bit fuzzy and rude. Immediately I cleared my throat and clarified then I went, “Somehow, I feel there's a sort of tension and it's quite strange for the engine to pull over here.” The ticket checker’s gaze took a raid across the surrounding area. He faked calmness and said,

“Nothing unusual. It's just normal.”

When he was trying to get away I pulled his shoulder and said, “Just say what happened. You were scaring the shit out of me.”

Lowering his voice, he said, “Please lower your voice. People are trying to take some rest. There is nothing to panic about. It's really nothing serious. There is some sort of confusion in the track. The train hit lady, she might be trying to commit suicide or it may be an accident.”

I haven't experienced anything of this sort till date. Though, I heard similar incidents before, but I was startled with what I heard next. Once again, checking around, he continued,

“But what's scary is that we couldn't find any human body or any traces of blood. It's kind of spooky, couldn't figure out whether it's a real person or anything supernatural.”

I couldn't digest the fact that he believed in such superficial things. I asked him bewildered,

“ You seriously believe it's something supernatural?”

The ticket checker could sniff the sarcasm in my tone. He had deeply shifted my focus,

“ So where are you heading to?”

Hastily, I replied “La Grangeville.”

Instantly the ticket checker was taken aback. As with some strange beer in a quivering voice, he said, “La Grangeville?”

My suspicious look made him change his tone. Clearing his throat,

“Okay, see you then, enjoy your journey, have a safe journey.”

He gave a smile and left immediately. Before I could say something, he disappeared. I fell into a well of confusion and now I don't have a clue about anything. I thought of trying again to call Michelle and tried to reach my phone. Suddenly someone gripped on my shoulder and I got sudden chills. I thought to myself, “Oh, not again.”

But this time I heard a masculine voice from behind, “You are heading to La Grangeville and still you don't believe in ghosts and spirits?”

Holding my breath for a moment, slowly I turned around. He was dressed casually I couldn't help myself from noticing his mysterious grin.

“The saying goes, you never know what you are dealing with until you deal with it. When something is not visible to you, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.”

He was slowly agitating me with his nonsense, but it didn't stop him and he continued with his bullshit.

“Do you want to experience anything of that sort? Some real-life paranormal activities?”

I couldn't bear any more of it and I snapped at him, “Could you please keep it with yourself and excuse me?”

Soon he burst into laughter and said, “Chill, man, I understand. It's not everyone's cup of tea. I thought you might be interested in all these as you are also heading to La Grangeville.”

It sounded like a ray of hope for me. Quickly I inquired, “You are also mean, are you to heading to La Grangeville?”

In a very casual way, he replied, “Yes, I have some things to deal with there. I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Klein and I work for MythBusters and you are?”

The name MythBusters busted into my head. Immediately. I remembered that Michelle is also associated with the same association. In short, this guy is now my route map to reach Michelle.