I'm waiting at the train station for my ride to arrive. At least I don't have to pay for it since a ticket was included in the letter.

I tap my foot impatiently, it should arrive in two hours, which isn't that much time. But the silence is still getting on my nerve. I look around the train station in order to alleviate my boredom.

It's pretty unremarkable, it's a reflection of the city it's in, rundown and barely functional. There isn't anything to buy either, it's not like earth where there's a bunch of vending machines with overpriced snacks. It's a train stop, where the train stops, nothing more, nothing less.

There are still ads plastered on the walls. I'm pretty sure those ads have more money behind them than this entire train station, which isn't saying much.

One of those ads is a big poster of Perseverance, she's doing a peace sign as she drinks a can of branded soda. The poster makes her look a lot cuter than she actually is in person, sure she had a cute--and to some extent, sexy--outfit, but it's hard to appreciate her curves when she's trying to kill your kid.

Was two hours always that long? I know my sanity system skipped stuff sometimes but, wow, I'm bored beyond belief. I look at the clock, one hour and thirty minutes left, this sucks.

Maybe I should check on the UM? For some reason it refuses to communicate without error logs, but if it's the UM then surely it could talk to me directly, right? Or maybe there are some limitations I'm not aware of--I don't really want to read the error logs though, they make me feel weird.

The messed up, crackling voice of the station's loudspeakers announces that my train just arrived. I look at the clock, it's one hour early, but I'm not complaining. When I get inside the train, the first thing I notice is that there's no one here, other than that it looks pretty normal.

I take a seat near the window, and the train starts.

Wait, already? It was supposed to go after an hour, is this the wrong train? I'm pretty sure it's the right one--ha, it doesn't matter, I'll teleport if I need to, I'm only taking the train because it's more fun.

Although I can't say I'm having fun right now.

A young man takes a seat opposite of mine, the only thing separating us being a plastic table.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Can I sit here?" he asks, as if he didn't already claim the seat for himself.

I nod, there are plenty of empty seats, so if he wants to sit there of all places, then who am I to stop him.

"What's your job like?" I ask bluntly, gazing at the moving shades of green and blue outside the train windows.

"It has ups and downs, it can be boring at times," he replies calmly. He pushes a cup towards me, I don't know when the cup got on the table, "Tea?"

I shrug and take a sip of the tea, it tastes okay.

"Are you enjoying the ride?" He asks, holding his chin with his hands.

"It's alright, I'm not in the best mood, so I can't fully appreciate it. I'm going to botch the interview, I think."

"Mhh, that would be bad, you fit the role so well, after all~" His eyes interlock with mine, and he throws an envelope at me. "Maybe this will help?"

The envelope lands straight on my forehead, I could've caught it, but I didn't feel like it. Eventually, the envelope falls off from my face and lands on my knees.

The man stands up from his seat. "That's my stop! Ho, word of advice, read the envelope when no one's looking."

I look at the colorful blur behind the train window. "The train hasn't stopped, though."

"Details," he says before leaving our train compartment.

After he's gone--at least physically--I open the envelope, and find a letter inside. The words on the letter are not being translated automatically by my skill, I can just understand them naturally, because it's a language that belongs to me and me alone.

I look around to make sure no one else is here. Yup, I'm alone.

My heart's beating fast, it's like I'm a kid who is going to look at naughty things on their computer for the first time, and they aren't sure when their parents are coming back from work.

I read the words on the letter out loud.

"To flee is to live another day, to take our eyes away from what we fear, to run until nothing else can find us."

My clothes melt away, I can feel something slimy wrap itself around my legs and arms.

"We live and die without ever looking back."

The slime hardens, and it presses itself around me, it's painful, and yet it feels right, comforting even.

"And when it finally catches up to us, we will not see, we will not hear, we will not speak."

There's something behind me, eyes grow out of my newly formed black dress, gray hands sprout out of my shoulders.

"We will wait until it leaves again."

The hands poke me here and there, waiting for a reaction, the eyes stare at me, but I do not stare back.

"That is cowardice."

The eyes look familiar, but I do not look at them. Mouths whisper things I need to hear, but I do not listen to them. Hands hug and touch me where I once touched them, but I do not feel them.

Eventually, they all retract under my clothing, wriggling, licking, touching, scratching, gazing, crying.

I look at my reflection in the window.

A woman in a short dress is staring back, I first look down at my exposed thighs, and then up to my black dress, it has multiple white lines that wrap around my waist, but one is going up my neck, and past that, I can see my emotionless face.

I make a peace sign.

Yeah, that should be good enough to pass the interview.