A Train Ride to Nowhere (Short Story)

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A Train Ride to Nowhere

“I’ll be back in four months from now, fine and dandy!” Kleyton yelled to his family as the train started roaring. At last! The locomotive had started its journey to Houston. Kleyton looked around at his fellow passengers. There were only six of them, not including himself, and five if you don’t count slaves. There were four of them dressed identically to Kleyton. The slave was wearing almost the same blue farm jeans and dusty brown vest with a white shirt underneath, but he was also wearing a black belt, a mark of his slavery. The last man was an immigrant from Finland. The immigrant was wearing a gray sweater, a woolen belt, and thick, dark sweatpants. They all looked distinct, if not very similar. One had a bowl haircut and a brotherly expression, one had long wavy hair and a little smirk on his face, one had short wavy hair that was trimmed on top and a completely antisocial expression, and one had crazy short hair, a black eye, and a friendly but mature expression. The slave had glasses and a tired, worn-out expression. The immigrant looked eager for the train to arrive, but bored at the same time.
Kleyton walked over the the first man, the one with a bowl haircut. The man glanced over at Kley.
“Hello. I’m Joseph, but if you wish you may call me Joey. This here is my slave, Fred. I’m headed to Houston to sell him, as he’s getting rather worn out.”
“Hi Joey! I’m Kleyton, but you could call me Kley if you’d like.” The two talked a bit about this and that, plus a little more. Joey then picked up a Quill and began to write a letter to home. Kley shook hands with Joey and walked on to talk to to man with the long, wavy hair.
“Ay man! I’m Matthew Darken, commonly known as Matt Hue or something like that. Or Matt if you’re that lame.”
Kley laughed at this humorous statement. “I’m Kleyton or Kley, whichever you may prefer,” he responded. They talked a bit, although it was quite hard to tell how serious or how sarcastic Matt may have been being. He apparently had a satirical attitude towards life, but he seemed friendly enough and pretty cool. Kley laid down to rest, as it was around 8:15 PM. At 8:45 he got back up to mingle and socialize a bit more. He talked to the other American men: Hawkeye and Ingo. These two were complete polar opposites, in a way. Hawkeye was quite friendly and talked to Kley until Hawkeye began to talk to Joey. This is when Kley walked over to Ingo. Ingo quickly acknowledged Kley’s presence and then continued doing nothing. It took ten minutes for Ingo to respond to Kley’s plea for conversation, but they eventually started talking about weaponry, specifically guns.
Although Kleyton had not been keen on talking to the immigrant, it seemed only polite to introduce himself.
“Hey, I’m Kley.”
The immigrant looked over at Kley and replied. “Hello. I am Valter. Valter Finn.”
“Walter?” Kley replied.
“Oh, yes. Walter. Not Valter,” Finn responded. As it turned out, Walter’s English wasn’t very bad, so he and Kley ended up in a conversation about trains. “Yes, in Finland I experienced a train once. It was quite interesting. You see, there was a murtereh on the train. The conductor was terrified.”
Walter gave a hearty chuckle when Kley responded, “The correct word is ‘murderer.’”
“My English is perfect. I was just whippin’ yer horse.” The continued the conversation until 10 PM, when Kley excused himself to get some sleep.
Kleyton woke up abruptly when he heard Walter scream, “AAAAAARGH! MURDER! ASSAULT!” It was 8 AM. The sun was already up, so Kley quickly got up and sprinted to the area where there was a dead body found on the floor. Joey had been stabbed to death. All six remaining passengers were poring over the dead body, speculating that either Ingo or Fred had to be the killer; Ingo because his antisocial disposition and fascination with guns made him a likely suspect, and Fred because his plea for freedom could easily be answered with this simple yet evil deed. Both defended themselves by accusing the other, but Fred’s lack of a proper education eventually caused his argument to fail, so everybody agreed that he was the most prominent suspect.
Walter helped Matt and Kley tie the slave to his dead owner’s body, and Matt threw the bundle off the train while Fred screamed, “ONE OF YOU WILL DIE TONIGHT! YOU HAVEN’T KILLED THE KILLER!!!”
The remaining five men discussed this statement, and the conversation lasted the rest of their waking hours. Hawkeye said that Fred was trying to make them feel guilty, Ingo said that Matt was the real killer, Matt and Kley agreed that Ingo was the one to throw off the train if another was found dead in the morning, and Walter was suspicious of all of them. The atmosphere was very tense as they all fell asleep in different compartments, the darkness swelling over the dark train.
The next morning, it was Matt who screamed, “ANOTHER MURDER! I KNEW WE SHOULD HAVE THROWN INGO OFF!!!!” Walter, Ingo and Matt were already in the room, each accusing each other of murdering Hawkeye. The remaining men decided that Ingo HAD to have been the killer, and tied him to Hawkeye. The split second before he hit the ground, Ingo wailed, “YOU WILL REGRET THIS! MATT WAS THE KI-”
Ingo hit the ground and did not move. As the train continued, both Kleyton and Walter decided that if another man was found dead the next morning, Matt would have this same fate. Matt laughed a bit, saying that “Well, I mean it’s not like any of us know who killed Joey and Hawk. I’d say that we see who dies tomorrow morning, and use that to figure out whodunit.” They all agreed that accusations were being thrown around too quickly, and went to sleep earlier than normal. This time, however, Kley slept in the middle compartment, Matt slept in the back, and Walter slept in the front, in the compartment right next to the conductor’s.
At 2:37 AM, Kley woke up abruptly. The conductor must have been sleeping, he thought as the train veered off course. Then it hit him: the conductor had had the same fate as Hawkeye and Joseph. As the train reached a cliff, Kley saw a silhouetted figure leaping gracefully off the top of the train, laughing maniacally, “And that murtereh was ME!”
Kley was enraged. At Walter’s cunning, at his own stupidity, and at everything he could think of for any reason possible. And it was the moment when the train hit the ground. Fire, ashes, and debris flew everywhere. It was a disaster.

Clipping from The Wild West News
Recently, a train set off from Dallas to Houston. As it seems, the seven passengers on board are all to be dead in the coming week. The six that are to be remembered are Kleyton Average, Joseph Bossington, Matthew Darken, Hawkeye Ghastly, Igno Rito, and Frederick Masbro (negro). The conductor, Mr. Knucks, was also killed. As it appears, one of the passengers, a Finnish immigrant named Walter Finn (although this is only an English transcription of the name) killed both Bossington and Ghastly, as well as Knucks. Both Average and Darken were killed by the impact of the train. It appears that Rito and Masbro were thrown off the train for suspecting murdering of Bossington and Darken. Finn has been sentenced to hanging for his crimes, and his country will be notified. Once we gather some more information on the subject of this train catastrophe, the obituaries for the murdered will be presented. Finn has a criminal record both in Finland and America, and the state of Texas has also been planning to increase train security in the coming months. The punishments... (more on page 5A)