I can't believe it. Am I dead? Am I really dead?

Now that there is no reason to escape this place, I decided to rest a bit and calm myself up.

Did I die? While I was running away from that scary thing, did I die? Did that scary thing caught me. I tried.. tried to recall... recall anything, but it only gave me terrible headache. And.. Just when I decided to give up, I suddenly shouted "Sis!!"

Ah, I remembered, the one in my arm was my sister. Coming to this realization, a dark thought passed my mind, 'if I am dead, is she too?' Nah, she better be alive, but if she is not, is she here too. I decided to look around the house, but I couldn't find her. I am not sure whether I was happy thinking that she is still alive or sad knowing that she is not here.

While I was pondering over it, suddenly, I here a shout,

“How does it move? How? Tell me. How does train move?”

I quickly picked up my pace and went to the source of a sound and I saw a 5-6 years old kid asking a question to the guy I saw earlier. Oh, it doesn't seems like they are kidnappers. More like, are they family?

And thus I came to a realization, that they were family.

Ah Shit, I want to die. I feel so embarrassed. Since I got here, I was convinced that I was kidnapped, but turns out I am just a ghost and the people I thought as kidnappers were just normal people. Well, I had nothing better to do, thus I decided to listen the talk between this father and son pair. I am not able to remember my father but I am certainly feeling a little emotional.

"So, how does a train move?", the boy reiterated, it doesn't seems like he is going to back off.

The father makes a troubled face and murmurs 'What will happen to this kid?'.

But did his lips actually move? It doesn't seems like the boy heard him, so am I reading his thoughts??

I was astonished that I had such an amazing ability to hear thoughts. The fact that I have not heard them until now means I have some control over what I hear, right? I certainly hope so, because it would be a mess otherwise.

Suddenly, it occurs to me - [What is this boy actually talking about? What is a train?]

I have realized that this world is very different from my own, so it must be something I do not know about. Thus I was curious. I was hoping that they explain what a train is.

As if the father could here me telepathically, he asked the boy,

“Ravi, understand what a train is, right? So, what is different about a train? Can you tell?”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

[Ah great, now I will know]

“Different huh. There are tracks, wheels and, and… Ah yes, some black smoke comes out from the front where nobody sits.”

[My hopes... my dreams.... Everything crashed. Rather than understanding what a train is, the mystery deepened]

'Ah, yes, this can work'. I again hear the father's thought telepathically.

“That’s exactly right. You see, the reason why it moves is one of the 3, can you guess which one it is?”

“Ah! Does it move due to the black smoke?”, the boy said with a sense of delight, and dare I say accomplishment? This boy certainly believes he found something great.

“Yes, That’s exactly right.”, says the father. He had an expression of victory on his face.

'He-he, now he is convinced'. I got shivers hearing what his father was thinking. A demon, he was a demon. Should I cut off this mind-reading skill from him. But alas, I was still a novice, I didn't knew why I could hear him, so of-course I can't cut him off either. The thing I was most worried about was I might develop trust-issues in the future!!

“Ah, I see. But still, how does that black smoke appear and why does the train move?”

The father seems to have a troubled expression on his face. He celebrated too soon.

[That's what you get trying to trick your son] I said. Though, its not like anyone can hear me.

But, I was genuinely happy, I didn't like the fact that he was trying to con his own child.

But it seems as if it was me who celebrated quickly.

Suddenly, the father's expressions brightened. Seems like that he has got the answer.

'Ghost, yes with ghost I can explain it.' I can't understand, how is he going to explain this. I got curious

“Boy, you see. When do ghosts appear?”

“At night, I guess?”

“YES!!”, the father says excitedly. “Do you know why they appear at night?”

“So they can’t be seen?”, asks the boy.

[Okay fair enough], even though, he was wrong, I guess it makes sense.

“Exactly!! Why cant we see them in dark?” asks the father.

“Are they black? That’s why we cant see them in dark?”

“Yes, exactly. We capture the evil ghosts. And when those ghosts work, they release there black aura in the surroundings. That’s the black smoke we see when a train moves.”

Then for a moment, just for a moment I actually believed him. But soon-enough, realization dawned upon me.

[What is this crap? Capturing ghosts! Using them to run a train! And god-dammit, ghosts aren't even black in the 1st place!!] I shouted, but no one heard me.

Even though, I didn't believe a word he spoke, thought just in case, just in case. It's not like I believe him, but let's give him benefit of doubt.

With that in my mind, I went to look in the mirror just in case, and yup I wasn't black. And I was fuming.

The boy hasn't said a word for the last few minutes, he is just thinking. I thought, can I.. can I listen to his thoughts too? Just when I was about to try, the boy spoke,

“Ah, I see. So it’s those ghosts which work to pull the train. And they lose there black aura due to work”

The boy seems very happy with this discovery. He runs to his mom to explain his new discovery about how train moves.

With this, the expression of the father relaxes a bit. “AH, this boy is surely big trouble.”

Suddenly, he remembered that the mom is sleeping and the he had to take care of the kids today. The man's face lost it's shine and he seemed to be in despair.

'I am going to die today.'

Hearing the father's thoughts, I had a faint smile.