Chapter 48: Cabin 4

After dinner, they returned to their cabin. The sun was barely visible over the sandy horizon.

"What have we found?" Double D asked.

"I wasn't able to discover much." Koops said. "I only found out that the Bomb-omb family in room eight has no responsibility for the threat note."

"You managed to dismiss three possible suspects." Double D said, rubbing his chin. "That's a good start. What did Pennington say after that?"

"He said it's getting late. And that one's mind is too hindered by exhaustion. He said to get a decent night sleep, then kick it in high gear tomorrow." Koops said.

"We still need to search." Double D said.

"Yeah. How can we sleep knowing very well that there is a madman aboard this train?" Kevin asked.

"We should send out another group member on a shift." Double D said.

For the first time in hours, Jimmy got up from the couch. "I will go."

"Jimmy?" Nazz asked. "Are you sure you want to-"

But the sound of their door shutting finished her sentence.

Jimmy looked down as he walked. "I suppose a walk will help clear my mind. …hopefully, I'll meet Sarah."

The hallways were quiet now. Most of the passengers had gone back to their cabins for the night.

Sarah was the only one in the dining cart. The waitress had retired to her room for the night. The store nearby had its lights off with a closed sign. No doubt, the shopkeeper also went to bed. The lights in the kitchen, however, remained on. The determined chef spent all of his time creating and testing new dishes.

'Hm… It's already been over a week, hasn't it?' She thought. 'It feels like just yesterday when I arrived…'

Flashback

"Oh dear…" Some voice said out.

Sarah couldn't see anything. But she could tell that her eyes where wide open.

"Dear, can you hear me?" The same voice asked.

"Yes, I can! But I can't see!"

"Oh my. You're blind!" The voice said.

"Where am I? Who are you…" Sarah asked.

"We are on the Excess Express, the train that connects Rougeport to Poshley Heights. I'm it's conductor." The voice said. "Who are you?"

Sarah came to a startling realization. "I… don't know."

"Amnesia too… oh dear, this is worse than I thought." The conductor said.

"How did I get here?" Sarah asked.

"I found you in Cabin 4. I can't explain it but… you where soaking wet, in a puddle of salt water. More bizarre yet, I found out that the puddle of water had come from your lungs."

"I was drowning in a train?" Sarah was baffled.

"Here's something I don't get at all. You were drowning. But we found out after testing that the water was forced from your lungs. Someone saved you…"

"Saved me? Who-"

"Nobody knows. No one was rooming in Cabin 4, and no one was inside when we found you." The conductor said. "No one has ever been in there since one of the passengers died in there once."

"Chilling." Sarah said. "I could have been the second one to die in there?"

"Yes… but something saved you." The conductor said.

End Flashback

Sarah recalled after a few hours; she gained her eyesight. The conductor offered her a home on the train, and she showed her gratitude to it by working there. At least until she could get enough money to live on her own to go find her memory.

But now that she had gotten to know everyone in it, and how they all offered a comfortable home, she wanted to stay. It was the only home she could remember.

But those new residents, the ones in cabin 5, started to seriously get on her nerves.

'That looser named 'Jimbo' or whatever is the worst of them all.' She thought. 'I wish I could get rid of that pest once and for all!'

Jimmy found himself in the blue hallway (with cabins 6,7,8, and the door to the storage room guarded by the conductor).

"Excuse me, sir?" The conductor asked.

"Yes?" Jimmy asked.

"Are you with the group that got the threat?" The conductor asked.

"Yes, sir." Jimmy said.

"Then I might just have a clue for you. Earlier, when I was handing out blankets for the passengers, I noticed there wasn't enough."

"Oh?" Jimmy asked.

"Yes. Before we left, we made a full count of the blankets. And without anyone else going inside the storage room, we delivered them all to all of the passengers. I ended up giving out the last one before I got one. And since there was a blanket for each passenger, that means that there is an un-ticketed person here." The conductor said.

"And you believe this one is…" Jimmy said.

"The perpetrator." The conductor said.

"Oh, and before I go, I just wanted to know…" It was Jimmy's chance to gain more info about Sarah.

"How long has Sarah been in your staff?"

"Oh, a little over a week now." The conductor said. "She has a strange story about her arrival."

"Really?" Jimmy was intrigued. "Can you tell me?"

"I suppose so." The conductor said.

He explained how Sarah was found, and that someone saved her, but ran before anyone found out their identity.

"My…" Jimmy covered his mouth. "I can't believe it."

"It was a bad scene. But hopefully, she can recover her memory soon." The conductor said.

"Thank you, sir." Jimmy said.

As for the missing blanket, Jimmy decided to try checking out the room Sarah was found in: Cabin 4.

Jimmy reached to knock on the door.

Knock-Knock

There was no response.

"Hello?"

There didn't appear to be any light on inside.

'Of course. No one has roomed in here for 10 years.' Jimmy thought. He decided there was no point in waiting, so he opened the door himself.

The room was pitch black. He walked in. Jimmy was a little nervous about going in, so he reached for the light switch. He nudged the switch with his shoulder because he found it grotesque to touch the cobwebs with his own hands.

Nothing.

"There's no power in here?" Jimmy asked.

He took a chair and used it to hold the door open. There was no way he would inspect in the dark.

He checked the beds first. If he was going to find blankets, it would be a good place to start.

It was bizarre. Unlike any other room in the entire train, this was the only room that gave him any discomfort. There had been a death, and another near death to the last visitors inside, so who knew how this would turn out.

"Uh…" Jimmy decided enough was enough. "Okay, that's enough of a search, I guess I should check cabin 3 instead-"

He watched in terror as the chair moved out of the doorway and back into the room. The door slammed shut, closing off the lights.

Jimmy squeaked in terror and ran for the door. He grabbed hold of the handle and wildly shook it.

"Locked! But these doors only lock if you use a key? What the heck's going on!"

Jimmy stopped his futile effort and fell down on the bed.

Only the light from the full moon shone. That is, when it wasn't blocked by a distant mountain.

He watched his terrorized face reflected in a mirror on a desk whenever the moon did shine.

Then darkness, then is frightened face, then darkness. Only the sound of the train running down the tracks could be heard.

The moon came into visibility yet again, but this time, he saw a different face staring at him from the mirror.

"AAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Jimmy shouted.

He shot up from the bed, forgetting it was a bunk bed, slammed his head, and knocked himself out…

Double D couldn't sleep, as usual. He looked at the clock on the laptop be left recharging: 11:55 pm.

He wondered why he couldn't sleep.

Everything seemed fine. To his left was Kevin snoring on the top bunk, Koops in a deep sleep on the bottom. Vivian slept peacefully beside him. Nazz was also sleeping with Eduardo Jr. beside her, on the couch, lying on his back with a stomach 3 times it original size.

And…

'Wait a moment? Shouldn't Jimmy have returned by now? He was only supposed to stay out for an hour. That was 3 hours ago.'

Double D got up.

'I suppose I best not awaken anyone else.' he thought.

He sighed, then walked out of the cabin unannounced.

"Hey kid, wake up, you're hogging the bed!" A voice awoke Jimmy.

Jimmy's eyes flashed open. He was staring into the darkness of the cabin.

"Oh my head." Jimmy said. "What the heck…"

The moon flashed in the cabin, showing a transparent face looking down on him.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" Jimmy attempted to shoot out of the bed (and inevitably slam himself into unconsciousness, but the transparent person grabbed Jimmy by the retainer.

He fell back into bed.

"Not again, kid." The person said.

Jimmy realized that it was a toad.

One with no feet.

Instead, a wispy tail took their place.

"Are-you-a-ghost!" Jimmy asked.

"Yep." The ghost said proudly. "My mortal name's irrelevant now, so you can call me Ghost T. Now, why are you in my cabin?"

"Uh…." Jimmy didn't respond, his face even paler than usual.

The ghost chuckled. "What, you never seen a ghost before?"

Jimmy slowly shook his head.

"Figures." The ghost said. "So, what are you doing in my cabin?"

"I'm… looking for a criminal?" Jimmy asked.

"And you figure the room where a passenger died 10 years ago was a good place to start?" Ghost T asked.

"Well, I have a friend." Jimmy said.

"I guess we better sit down." The ghost said.

Jimmy sat on the bed, with Ghost T beside him. Jimmy whimpered and inched from the ghost.

"Now, would your friend be a red head girl who was found nearly a week ago drowning in here?"

"Yes! Did you-"

"She was freaking me out." The ghost said. "There she was, having the nerve to try and become a ghost right in my room. Sorry, but I'm the only ghost in here, and I don't need another roommate. So, I decided to save this girl."

"Then a ghost saved her?" Jimmy asked.

"If you put it that way." Ghost T said. "When I heard someone coming to the room, I figured the medics could deal with it, so I vanished."

"Thanks for saving her." Jimmy said gratefully.

"Eh, whatever." The ghost said.

"But she lost her memory." Jimmy then said in a sad tone.

"Well, I can't help her out there. Amnesia's out of my jurisdiction." Ghost T said.

Jimmy sighed. "Do you know anything about any criminal on this train?"

"Nope." The ghost said.

"Or maybe just a missing Blanket?" Jimmy asked.

"I suppose so." The ghost said. "The conductor anciently left one here, forgetting about the fact that no one's here, aside from me."

"Thanks." Jimmy said. Jimmy suddenly realized how late it was. He looked at his watch. "I better get back to my cabin, it's a minute to midnight!"

"Wait, can you do me a favor?" Ghost T asked.

'Uh oh… I don't like where this is going…' Jimmy thought. 'But I better not anger a ghost!'

"Sure." Jimmy said, faking a smile.