The Long Way Home

  Chapter 14

  The sound of a door opening had Simon sitting bolt upright in his seat. Outside it was now dark. The only light in the carriage came from those in the corridor filtering into the dim compartment where Simon now sat. Somewhere down the other end of the carriage a door slammed shut. Simon’s feet hit the floor fast. There was someone else on the train!

  The sound of a squeaky cart being wheeled into the carriage could be heard followed by slow, heavy footsteps that scuffed their way along the linoleum floor. They lasted only a short time and then stopped. A door slid open, followed by the sound of something being plunged into water before being slapped to the floor. Simon peered out of the compartment he was hiding in and could see the back of a man dressed in green coveralls mopping the floor at the far end of the carriage. He had his back to Simon as he disappeared into the first compartment. A moment later he reappeared, still with his back to Simon and wheeled his small cleaning cart that held his mop bucket to the next compartment.

  As he disappeared inside again, Simon knew that he had to get off the train. It would only be a matter of time before he reached the compartment where Simon was hiding. Simon grabbed his schoolbag that was lying on the floor and peered around the corner again. He waited for the cleaner to emerge and watched as he moved the cart down the corridor once more. The moment he disappeared into the third compartment Simon quietly tiptoed out into the corridor and made his way to the rear of the carriage.

  Disappearing from view around a corner of timber paneling in the corridor he reached the door that led to the next carriage and went to open it. The door was so stiff that when he finally managed to wrench it open it swung back with a loud thud as it hit a metal doorstop that was bolted to the floor. Immediately the cleaner stopped what he was doing and the carriage fell eerily silent.

  “Is anyone back there?” The cleaner called out from the front of the carriage.

  Simon could hear his footsteps slowly scuffing down the corridor as he hurriedly crossed the enclosed span between the carriages and opened the door that led into the next one. He stepped inside a small compartment that was exactly like the first carriage he had been in. Looking through the timber and glass sliding door up the long walkway between the endless rows of green vinyl seats he realized there was no way he could make it to the other end of the carriage without being seen. The carriage was well lit making it impossible for him to hide. He had to get off the train, and fast!

  He reached for the exit door and was relieved to find it opened easily. Swinging his bag over his shoulder he turned around, and grabbing the handrails began to back carefully down the steps. He leapt clear of the carriage, feet crunching firmly on the ballast beneath him and found himself in a fairly narrow gap between the string of passenger carriages and a freight train that had pulled up alongside it. He looked up at the door he had just exited and realised he had forgotten to close it behind him. Any second now the cleaner would appear.

  He was too frightened to try and scurry away underneath the train in case it suddenly decided to move. Only a short distance away he noticed a wheat hopper of some sort with a ladder on the side that led all the way to the top. ‘Of course,’ he thought. ‘I can climb up there and then climb down the other side.’

  He raced the short distance between the trains and grabbed the ladder with both hands. Pulling himself up as fast as his little arms and legs could manage, he neared the top of the ladder just as he looked over his shoulder in time to see the silhouette of the cleaner standing in the open doorway. He got to his feet and still looking over his shoulder at the shadowy figure in the doorway, walked straight into the 1500 volt electric overhead wires above the train!

  Any onlooker in the vicinity of the railway yard would have noticed a huge, pale green arc of light momentarily illuminate the top of the freight wagon. The sound of electricity briefly crackled in the still night air like lightning, except there was no deafening boom of thunder that followed, only the sound of a small schoolbag falling onto the stones between the railway tracks.

  Between the stationary set of passenger carriages and a freight train waiting to depart stood a man dressed in green coveralls holding a small boy. Simon’s motionless body hung limply in his arms, he had stopped breathing and so had his heartbeat. His burnt and tattered schoolbag laid smoking on the ground, Simon however apart from his wildly singed hair was unmarked.

  As the man in the green coveralls stood quietly clutching Simon he slowly raised his head towards heaven. The stars were dancing overhead but instead of looking at them he closed his eyes and held Simon up in his outstretched arms. As amazingly as Simon had fallen from the top of the train directly into the man’s arms, something far more miraculous began to occur. Simon’s body began to glow as a warm luminous light surrounded the pair of them. The figure holding Simon radiated a soft green light that made him appear as though he was wearing a long flowing robe rather than the coveralls he had on. The light continued to intensify as it bathed the two of them standing between the carriages in brilliant incandescent light seemingly shining down from heaven itself. Simon’s heart began beating again.