Tales From the Train: an Anthology

Part 1: Chapters 1-10

Part 2: Chapters 11-?

Part 1: Primeless/

Chapter 1: The Funhouse Mirror Car

"Kid...Hey, kid, look at me." His voice was rough and gravelly, even when he was trying to be gentle.

"Hmm?" I looked up from the officer's desk. It had one of those Newton's cradle thingies-I always loved those. Even though it wasn't moving, I was still transfixed. But, to be honest, I had another reason for not making eye contact with him: he had no eyes. I could understand wanting to distance yourself from your prime, but why did these officers have to get rid of their entire face?

He sighed, shaking his head. "Look, I know losing your prime can be a traumatic event. Everything you were just...goes away. Your entire reason for being, just-" He snapped his fingers. "-like that. Trust me, I know how it feels."

He had a point, all things considered. I was trying not to think about it too much. "Excuse me, Mr…?"

"Crucible," the Mirror Cop replied. "Agent Crucible."

"Right. Well, Agent Crucible, I was thinking...with my prime gone and everything, I don't suppose I could just-you know-hang out here for a while?"

Agent Crucible sighed again. He stood up from his chair, looking out the window at the silver town outside. "You know the rules, son," he said. "Either you join the force, or you pick a new prime."

Neither option was particularly pleasant, to be honest. "Are you sure? Because I'm pretty sure I know quite a few gents who didn't do either."

"You mean slivers?" Darn, he called my bluff. "Son, you don't seem to be the type to associate with slivers."

"Er, I don't," I said, trying to salvage the conversation in my favor. "But look: What if I were to become a...er, an informant, or something? I can keep my memories, and inform you on what's happening out in the prime world! It's like a win-win!"

Agent Crucible shook his head. "Not how that works, kiddo. It's either an agent, or a new prime. Or dust."

"Well, that seems like a silly rule," I said. "Who came up with that, anyhow?"

"That's beside the point," he said. "It's been three days now. Really, you should have made your choice already."

"Crucie, I don't mean to be rude, but-"

Crucible interrupted me, slamming his fist down on his desk. I jumped. "Enough of your games! Alrick is dead! No Alrick, no reflection." He sat back down in his chair. "I know it's hard to hear, but he doesn't need you anymore."

"B-but I'm his reflection!" I stammered, desperately trying to buy myself more time. "What if he-he comes back as a zombie, or something? If that zombie stands in front of a mirror, who'll reflect him then if I'm gone?"

Crucible placed his head in his hand, massaging where his eyebrows would have been. "Why do I always get the difficult ones?" he mumbled, probably thinking I couldn't hear him. Or not caring. "How about this: I'll give you one week. You have seven days, starting right...now." The clock hanging on the wall chirped to signify that it was now three o'clock. "In that time, you'll have to make your decision. After that, I'll have no choice but to label you as a sliver. Understand?"

Reluctantly, I nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Good," he said. "You're dismissed. I hope to hear from you before then."

As I stepped out of the Mirror Police department, thoughts raced through my head like a thousand motorbikes-er, not the best metaphor, all things considered. Nevertheless, Agent Crucible was right. But how was I supposed to decide?

Option A: have my memory erased, and become someone else's reflection. To be honest, this would be the easiest, but I still had my doubts. New body, new memories-how was this any different from being sanded?

Option B: become an officer, maintaining peace and order in the Mirror World. True, I would get to keep my memories, but it just seemed way too dangerous for my liking. Alrick may have been an adrenaline junkie, but I certainly wasn't. Hunting down slivers, both in and out of the Mirror World? I could never do something like that. Plus, the idea of sanding someone-yeesh!

Option C: go on the run from the police, and become a sliver. This one was definitely out.

I paced back and forth, weighing my options. What was more valuable to me? My freedom, or my identity? After what seemed like far too long to be pacing in front of the station, it hit me. And by 'it,' I mean the front door, which was swung open quite hard, colliding with my noggin. I fell to the floor, dazed.

In my confused state, I wondered if reflections could get brain damage. After I decided that they couldn't I heard two voices speaking to each other. No doubt these two were the ones who had flung open the door. I looked up to see what was going on.

"I don't care how your prime died, that doesn't give you the right to ransack our records room to try and 'change the files!' What's the matter with you!?" The first speaker was female, but that was her only noteworthy trait. Er, that came out wrong. Please don't take that out of context. By that, I meant that she was an agent, and thus had no distinguishing marks.

"Aw, come on, you guys are no fun!" said the other. He was quite a large man, with jeans, a thick, bushy beard, and a tight-fitting shirt. The bloke looked like a lumberjack on his day off. "Why do you always gotta take these things so seriously?"

"Because taking prime-reflection relationships seriously is our job!" said the officer. "Now you march yourself straight down to the recycling plant, and think about what you've done, bub! Either that, or sign up for wiping. But still think about what you've done!" She turned around and went back inside the building, slamming the door behind her. Before it closed, I could see that she had a large crack running down the side of her face.

"Hmmph. Buzzkill," the man said, dusting himself off. "Eh? What's this? What're you doing down there?" He had finally noticed me. He reached down a hand to help me to my feet, almost sending me to the moon in the process. "What's good, man?"

"Not much, I'm afraid," I said. "It seems like we're in the same boat."

"Really?" he said. "So, your prime died on the toilet and you snuck into the records room to change it to something more dignified, too?"

Well, that was a new one. "Er, no," I said. "I just meant that both our primes are dead."

"Ah, yeah, that makes a bit more sense," he said. "But man, what a crazy coincidence that would have been, huh?" he laughed. "Oh, I'm Charlie, by the way, but everyone calls me Chaz. At least, my prime was called Chaz before he-well, you know." He held out his hand. Who was I to refuse such an offer?

The two of us shook hands. "I'm Alrick," I said. "Likewise."

"So, what's your next big plan in life?" he said, putting his hands in his pockets. "You gettin' recycled, or becomin' a flec? No offense, but you seem a bit more like the 'get recycled' type to me."

"None taken," I told him, even if I did take a little bit. "Honestly, I'm still on the fence."

"Yeah, same here," he said. "I was thinkin' 'bout gettin' recycled, to be honest. Not too appealing, but at least I won't have to work for the man."

"Yeah, yeah," I said. My mind had just picked up another troubling factor about my predicament: where was she in all of this? How had Alrick's death affected her? I hadn't seen her in days.

'Chaz' was apparently more insightful than I had pegged him for. "Hey, you alright, man?" he said. "You don't look so hot."

"Oh, it's nothing," I lied. Just trying to make sense of all this."

"Ah, yeah, I get ya," he said. He went on a sort of rambling monologue, which I didn't pay attention to. Because right then, I saw her. Off in the distance, she rounded a corner, looking around almost as if she was afraid of someone. She had always been shy type, but Alrick's death had really hit her hard. I had to be there for her.

"Yes, thank you, Chaz, but I have to go now," I said. I ran off as he shouted something after me, which I didn't hear. I didn't want to appear rude, but this was more important right now.

"Amelia! Wait, Amelia!" She turned around, looking as though she had just seen a ghost. In a way, I suppose she had.

"A-Alrick," she said, her voice quiet as usual. "You're still here? I thought you had been recycled by this point."

"No, no, not yet," I said, panting from the run. "The Reflection Police...they're giving me one more week to decide."

"I see," she said. "...Alrick, I've been worried about you."

"Y-you were?" I said. Stupid. Of course she was.

"Of course I was," she said. "No offense, but you were never one to take crises well."

"Er...how do you mean?"

She wrung her hands nervously. "It's just that...well, what with your prime dying, I had assumed you'd want to get away from that as soon as possible. So you wouldn't have to deal with it, I mean."

"Okay, but what do you mean by that?"

"Hey guys, what'd I miss?" I felt Chaz walk up and place his hand on my shoulder. He nearly threw me aside with his grip! "And who might you be?"

"...A-Amelia," she said, averting her eyes. "I-I have to to go now…"

"Amelia, wait!" I shouted, pushing Chaz's arm off me.

"No, really, I should be going," she said. And she walked off. Obviously, I gave chase.

As bad as losing my prime had been for me, I knew it must have been a hundred times worse for her. She had just lost her fiance, and now her reflection was about to lose hers. Before I made the choice of what I was going to do next, I needed to make sure she was okay with it. After all, it was likely she would never see me again, no matter what I chose.

After running for quite some time, I realized that she had gone far too...well, far than she should have. We were running at roughly the same speed, but she was nowhere in sight. On top of that, I was in a part of the city I had never even seen before. Was I...moving? No, surely that was just an illusion or something.

Speaking of illusions, this area, wherever it was, was filled up with mirrors of all shapes and sizes. I had never seen so many windows into the prime dimension in one place before, except at a...house of mirrors, aha! That must be where we are! But why had Amelia gone to a carnival at a time like this? Trying to take her mind off things, perhaps?

Alrick had only been to a house of mirrors like this once or twice, but it was memorable enough to know that this was different. Back then, I got all distorted when he stepped in front of them. But this time, nothing happened. I think it was because I didn't have a prime standing in front of the mirrors.

Then, I saw her again. She, like we had been before, was stretched out by the trick mirrors. "Amelia, there you are!" I said, heading over to her.

"What?" Her head snapped in my direction like she hadn't expected to see me. It wasn't like I just startled her, either; she just kept staring. Not at me, either. More like slightly to my left.

"I'm glad I caught up to you," I said. "Listen, I know this has been just as hard for you as it has been for me. I just had a few things I needed to discuss."

Still maintaining her shocked expression, her eyes darted to her left, before focusing back on me. "Alrick, now really isn't the best time!" she hissed out of the corner of her mouth.

"Why?" I asked. And then it hit me: when I looked in the direction she had, I noticed her prime through one of the mirrors, staring directly at me.

Oops.

"Alrick, is...is that you?" asked Prime-Amelia, walking closer to me. She placed her hand on the mirror over me, reflection-Amelia nudging me slightly to the side.

"Uh...I think so," I stammered lamely. I wasn't sure how to handle this situation. Reflections were under no circumstances to speak with primes unless it was an emergency, and I was in enough trouble already.

"Are you...a ghost?"

"No, nononono," I quickly assured her. "I'm not even really Alrick, just his reflection."

Prime-Amelia didn't seem to like that answer. Her expression fell as she backed away. "You...you're just another one of this awful train's tricks, then?"

"What? No, of course I-wait, train? We're on a train?" I truly had no idea what she meant.

She seemed to like this answer even less than the last one. Without another word, she just shook her head, and turned away.

Once again, I ran after her. "Wait, don't go! Please, I just want to talk!"

"There's nothing to talk about," she said. She was out of range of the mirrors, and her reflection continued on. She opened a curious door and walked through. In the brief glimpse I caught of the outside, I saw that we were definitely on a train: I saw the next car and the wilderness passing by, but that was all I could make out. And she was gone.

I sighed, propping myself up against one of the mirrors. Why did I feel the need to do this? Not to be selfish, but I was the one I had to be worried about right now, not her. My prime was the one who died, after all. Prime-Amelia was alive and kicking, nevermind why she was on this strange train.

"Wow. What was all that about?" Chaz.

"It's nothing," I said, shaking my head. "Just a girl I knew."

Once again, he placed an arm around me. "Okay, Al, I know we've only known each other for twenty minutes, if that, but let me offer you some advice, starting with a question: do you love her?"

"I-yes, I do," I answered. "Our primes were engaged."

"Ah, but that's just your primes. Do you love her?"

"Yes," I said. "I do." And I truly did.

"Then let's go see her!" he said. "You did say you had something to tell her, after all."

I thought about this. He may be a bit annoying, but he's right. "Okay," I said, "I'll go."

"That's what I like to hear!" he said, patting me on the back. It felt more like a forceful slap that a friendly pat, but I tried not to let him notice. "It'll be an adventure!"

"You're coming too?" I said.

"Well, we're friends, right?" he said.

"Uh, no," I said. "I hardly know you."

He took me by the shoulder again, leading me after the Amelias. "I always said that strangers are just friends you haven't met yet. Besides, we're kindred spirits! My prime's dead, your prime's dead-we might as well be brothers!"

"That's one way to look at it," I said. Yeah, he was forceful, but he meant well. Besides, if he was going to be going with me, I might as well get used to him. "So, why don't you tell me a little about yourself?"

"Naw," he said, "you first."

"Well, alright," I said. "But that's a bit of a long story…"