Don't mind me, just doing the walk of shame past all my other WIPs to post this...

Chapter 1

The cool pane of the train window hammered an unsteady rhythm into her temple. Lori grimaced and rotated her head so it was leaning back against the headrest of the seat. As awareness trickled back into her mind, the first thing she noticed was the silence.

There wasn't a lack of noise, not with the rattle of the train and the hum of something that might have been an air conditioner. But it was all white noise, and it pressed against her eardrums and made her anxious. She needed music. She never went anywhere without her skull cradled between two earbuds.

Lori opened her eyes, one hand grasping instinctively for her phone, and realized two things at once. Her lap was empty, and there was no bag on the seat next to her or tucked between her legs.

And this train...wasn't right.

It looked like it had been built a hundred years ago, the wood paneling worn and chipped in places and round glass light fixtures on the ceiling illuminating the car with a flickering glow. The seats were upholstered with a stiff green velvet that had probably once been soft and pleasant to touch.

And except for her, the car was empty.

Swallowing despite her suddenly dry throat, Lori looked out the window. She couldn't see anything besides a pearly white fog weaving in between shadows. Even the train tracks were invisible. In the reflection of the window, she saw something move behind her. Stifling a scream, she whirled around.

The man standing beside her seat gave her a reassuring smile. He was tall, but he looked fairly average, his short black hair combed out of his face and the collar of a button-up visible above his sweater.

At the same time, there was something off about him that Lori couldn't quite put a finger on. Weird as it sounded, he looked like he'd been...designed instead of born.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you, there." His voice was friendly, like a college campus tour guide, but it didn't put her at ease. "Just relax and enjoy the trip, okay?"

"W-What—" Lori's voice came out in a squeak. "What do you mean? Where are we going?"

Sympathy bled into his gaze. The expression seemed well-rehearsed. "This is the train to the afterlife. Well, it's not technically a train, but it's easier if it looks like one. It helps with the transition for most people."

Everything after the word afterlife sounded like garbled television static. Lori struggled to take in a breath, but her lungs felt vacuum-sealed and empty. This had to be some fucked up prank. She would have remembered dying.

But as she searched her memories, she realized she couldn't remember what had happened before she'd woken up here. There was a vague recollection of buying groceries, helping her mom weed the backyard, but there were only snatches of images after that. It was like trying to remember a dream after waking up.

"I don't remember dying," she said, her voice still shaking.

The man's sympathetic smile remained. It was starting to grate on her, a little. "That's perfectly normal. Usually, in cases of traumatic deaths, your memory is erased to grant you peace of mind."

Lori crossed her arms over her stomach. Her heart was beating uncomfortably fast.

The man hesitated for a moment before adding, "In your case, a little less than a year of your memory was erased."

What the fuck? A year. They'd taken the last year of her life. Did she get cancer or something? Had she been in a coma?

"W-Well, how did I die?" she asked. She wasn't sure why she was playing along with this insane premise, but it was the only thing she could think to do. "Just tell me. I can handle it."

"I'm afraid I'm not allowed to do that." Now he sounded like a customer service worker. "But you don't need those memories anymore. It will be better for your wellbeing if you don't dwell on them."

This is insane. This is fucking insane. Tears pricked her eyes, and Lori clenched her jaw until it ached. She needed to get out of here. She wanted music, booze, something, and she wanted this asshole to stop looking at her. She turned her head back towards the window and tightened the muscles in her chest to try and stop herself from crying.

The man seemed to take the hint. "Let me know if you need anything," he said kindly, and the floorboards of the train creaked as he began walking away.

Blood was roaring in her ears. Lori peered through the glass again, desperately searching the fog for something that would ground her, something that would indicate she wasn't trapped in a nightmare. If she couldn't even remember how she'd died, how did she know someone hadn't just drugged and kidnapped her?

With skittish movements, she scooted to the edge of the seat next to the aisle and looked around. The man was standing by the door at the end of the car, seemingly lost in thought.

An idea sparked in her head, and she swiveled her head to the door on the other end. It looked old-timey like the rest of the train, but that also meant it probably wasn't locked.

Lori took a deep breath and steeled herself. She would probably only have one shot at this, but it wasn't like she had anything to lose. If the man was somehow telling the truth, she technically didn't even have her life anymore. She stood up on shaky legs and made her way to the back of the car. The brass doorknob was smooth and slightly warm to the touch, and with a small click, the door opened.

She expected a rush of air from the speed of the train, but if not for the rumbling beneath her feet, she would have thought they weren't moving at all. The white fog drifted placidly outside, the air still and comfortable against her skin. Across from her was another train car, but from what she could see through the clouded glass window, it appeared to be empty. All that connected them was an iron coupling just wide enough for one of her feet.

"Hey!" The man seemed to have noticed that the door was open. Lori spun around and saw him hurrying towards her.

"Stay away from me!" Gripping the doorframe to keep her balance, she stepped down onto the coupling.

The man halted, halfway down the aisle, and held his hands out as if to placate her. "What you're doing is dangerous. No one can guarantee your safety if you leave this train."

Lori glanced down at the curling white vapors beneath her feet. She didn't know how fast the train was going, or how far she had to fall, but she couldn't stay here. She'd take the unknown over being trapped here for another second.

"Don't make this mistake," the man said, inching closer.

"I'm not staying," Lori said, and jumped.

She half-hoped her feet would hit the ground soon after, but she kept falling. The train disappeared in the fog above her, and her stomach dropped as she picked up speed. She was beginning to wonder if she had made a mistake, if she was just going to fall into nothingness forever, when the whole world gave a sickening lurch. It felt like she'd been flipped over onto her back, and she instinctively squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them again, she could no longer tell what direction she was falling, or if she was falling at all.

Lori opened her mouth to call out for help, but her voice was drowned out by a roaring noise. Her ears popped. A freezing gust of wind came at her from the side, and gravity seemed to find itself once more.

Before she could blink, the ground was rushing up to meet her. Her right arm slammed against something hard, and snow enveloped the rest of her body. She rolled several times until she came to rest at the bottom of the slope, and lay on her back, gasping for air. White-hot shock had enveloped her right forearm, but it didn't last long as pain bolted through it, and she let out a hoarse cry.

"Ow. Ow." Repeating the syllable in a desperate chant under her breath, she sat up and cradled her arm in her lap. She could barely move her fingers, but keeping them still did nothing to help the agony radiating from the center of her arm. She started to shiver.

Blinking back tears, she looked around. She'd ended up in a pine forest, it looked like, and everything was covered in at least a foot of snow. In the slope where she'd landed was a gouge about as wide as she was tall.

And just like before, there was no one else around.

Gingerly grasping her elbow, Lori managed to push herself up. The snow was already soaking into her jeans and clinging to the hem of her sweater. Her feet sank deep into the snow with every step.

She needed to keep moving. Vaguely, she recognized that she was in shock, but it was the only thing she could think to do. She trudged towards the trees, where the snow wasn't as deep. The cold was beginning to bite at her nose and ears, and had sunk its teeth into her feet. Her arm throbbed in time with her shivering.

The minutes passed almost reluctantly. The pines, coated in snow like glistening sugar, seemed to go on forever. She glanced behind her, and frowned at the trail she'd left, like the world's most pathetic snail. The back of her throat grew hot, and tears welled up again. You fucking idiot. You're going to freeze to death out here.

Lori squeezed her eyes shut, her feet dragging to a halt. She should have stayed on the train. She should have known better. She centered herself on the pain in her arm, submerged herself in the burning sensation. She squeezed her arm against her stomach, making the agony flare up, and bit back a whimper.

Adrenaline rushed up her spine and into her head, and she blinked her tears back. Eventually, she got her legs moving again, even though her feet ached with the cold.

The snow behind her crunched, and Lori froze. She'd seen a few trails left by birds or small animals, but it sounded like something heavier than that was approaching. If there were bears in these woods...well, she was already fucked anyway.

Pushing back her fear, Lori turned around.

It was a man. Her heartbeat stuttered as she took in his strange appearance. Most of his body was obscured by a large, worn-out cloak, but she could see a scruffy beard and strands of dark, shoulder-length hair beneath his hood.

Lori swallowed and found her mouth suddenly dry. Where had that train even dumped her, that she would run into someone dressed like this? If he was going to hurt her, she wouldn't be able to stop him. And if he was going to help her...did he even speak English?

As if he could sense her fear, the man pulled his hood back and held out his other hand in a placating gesture. "Peace. I mean you no harm."

She couldn't quite place his accent, but it was a relief to be able to understand him. He looked to be about forty, but something about his eyes made him seem much older than that. His demeanor made her relax a little, despite the burning pain in her arm and her near-constant shivering.

"Where am I?" she asked, trying not to let her voice quiver.

"The western edge of the Coldfells, a couple miles from the Hoarwell."

What the fuck does that mean? Those names sounded English, even if she didn't recognize them. Maybe she was in England, though that didn't explain the man's strange clothing.

She took a deep breath to compose herself and tried again. "I, um, hurt my arm. I think it's broken. Do you know where I can...where I can get that fixed?"

The man took a moment to scrutinize her, and her clothes in particular. He was probably wondering why she was nowhere near dressed for the weather, and how she'd ended up here in the first place.

"This valley is impassable until the snow has melted," he said. "But there is a small shelter nearby. I will take you there and tend to your arm."

Lori frowned at the implication that they were stuck here. She wanted to press him further about where she actually was, and why he was here. But it was hard to think of anything except the cold and the pain in her arm, and she would take just about anything to get some relief from at least one. After that, she could think about what to do next.

"Okay." She nodded. "How far is the shelter?"

"Not far." He looked her over again. "Are you able to walk?"

"Yeah." She began trudging through the snow towards him, hoping "not far" meant ten minutes and not two hours.

He seemed to take her answer as an assurance and began leading the way through the forest, the edge of his cloak dragging across the snow.

"Um." She winced as her arm throbbed, and shifted the position in which she was holding it. "What's your name, by the way?"

"Strider," the man said, and didn't turn around again as he led her deeper into the woods.

The train part was partly inspired by The Good Place, because I love that show and they way they portray the afterlife. The title of this is also inspired by the song New Ways by Daughter because I love them and the song is pretty fitting for Lori's character.

And just to clarify, this is not an Aragorn/OC, if anything this is dad!Aragorn because I am writing this instead of going to therapy. I'm open to a pairing with another character, but I might let the characters take the lead on that one because they never listen to me anyway.

Also, this story is going to deal pretty heavily with themes of depression and self harm, so if you think you might be triggered or bothered by that content, please exercise caution when reading future chapters. Take care everyone, and stay tuned for the next one!