The last train home

Every night at exactly 11:45, Arjun waited at Platform 4 for the last train home.He had been doing it for almost a month.
The station was small, surrounded by thick trees and usually deserted after midnight. Arjun didn’t mind. He preferred the quiet.
One rainy Thursday night, his friend Kabir decided to wait with him.“You seriously take this train every night?” Kabir asked.
“Yeah.”“And you’ve never noticed anything weird?”Arjun laughed. “Like what?”Kabir pointed toward the tracks.
“There are supposed to be four coaches, right?”Arjun looked.The train approaching them had five.Before he could answer, the train stopped.
The doors opened.An old woman stepped onto the platform.She looked directly at Kabir.Then she whispered, “You shouldn’t have come tonight.”
Kabir frowned.“What?”The woman didn’t respond. She simply walked away into the rain.Arjun stared after her.
“Okay,” Kabir said nervously. “That was creepy.”They boarded the train.The first four coaches were almost empty.But when they reached the fifth coach, Arjun stopped.
The lights inside were flickering.Every seat was occupied.Dozens of passengers sat perfectly still, staring straight ahead.Nobody spoke.Nobody moved.Kabir grabbed Arjun’s arm.
“Let’s go back.”They turned around.The door behind them slammed shut.Arjun pressed the button.Nothing happened.
Then the train began moving.Kabir started banging on the door.“Open it!”Suddenly, every passenger in the fifth coach turned their heads toward them.
At the exact same time.Arjun’s heart pounded.One of the passengers slowly raised a finger and pointed toward the window.Outside was not the railway track.
There was only darkness.Then Arjun noticed something.The train wasn’t moving anymore.It was standing completely still.Yet the passengers were beginning to disappear.One by one.
First the woman near the window.Then the man beside her.Then an entire row.Within seconds, only Arjun and Kabir remained.A voice came from the speaker above them.
“Next stop: Platform 4.”Kabir whispered, “We’re already at Platform 4.”The doors opened.Arjun stepped out.He immediately froze.They were standing on Platform 4.
But the station looked different.The signs were covered in dust.The clocks had stopped.And hanging above the platform was a large black-and-white photograph.
Arjun walked closer.His blood ran cold.It showed the station from decades ago.A group of passengers stood beside the same train.Among them were the old woman…and Kabir.
Arjun slowly turned around.Kabir wasn’t beside him anymore.“​​Kabir?”No answer.Then he heard footsteps behind him.
Slow.Dragging.He turned.The old woman stood there.She smiled sadly.“I told him not to come.”Arjun couldn’t speak.“Who?” he whispered.
The woman pointed toward the train.Kabir was sitting inside the fifth coach.But he was no longer looking at Arjun.He was staring straight ahead.Just like the other passengers.The doors closed.
The train disappeared into the darkness.The next morning, Arjun woke up on Platform 4.Alone.The station manager found him sitting beside the tracks.When Arjun asked about Kabir, the manager looked confused.
“Kabir?”“Yes. My friend.”The manager shook his head.“There hasn’t been a passenger named Kabir here in twenty years.”Then he pointed toward an old photograph hanging on the wall.
Arjun looked.His friend was standing in the picture.Beside the fifth coach.The date underneath read:October 14, 2006.And that was the night Kabir had supposedly disappeared.