Patapsco River Horror Story

Chapter 7

Debbie’s eyes started to adjust to the light of the orange sky. It was a slow process but she was starting to notice her surrounding were just not right. Other thing were not right besides the horses and carriage. She was going to ask Amanda but she thought better of it. She knew she would figure it out soon enough.

Amanda was still occupied with the horses and what she thought they would do to her. She most likely did not notice the rest of her surroundings. She did hear the train whistle again and it was getting closer. The girls looked at each other when they heard the “bang” of the door on the station platform open. They heard people whispering.

Debbie tried to concentrate on what they were saying but she could not make it out. She heard footsteps on the other side of the carriage moving towards the tracks. Amanda grabbed Debbie’s hand as they both heard the train’s engine, it sounded like it was only a half a mile away from the station. The girls were between the carriage and the south side wall of the station. Debbie wondered if anyone had seen them and if they should look for a place to hide.

“What if they see us?” Amanda whispered nervously.

“They won’t.” Debbie replied as she looked into Amanda’s frightened eyes.

“How do you know they won’t?” Amanda shot back.

“They are more interested in the train coming into the station.” Debbie said hoping Amanda would believe her.

Debbie motioned to Amanda, keeping the horses and carriage between them and the tracks. They started slowly walking south. Debbie wanted to move to the parking lot just south of the station. She thought they would have a better view of what was going on from there. Her eyes had adjusted better to the orange sky and to her shock the parking lot was no longer there.

All she could see was a patch of trees and a dirt path to the right of the trees. They were standing in front of the horses out of the view of anyone by the tracks.

“Amanda, look!” Debbie said as she pointed to the trees.

Amanda said nothing as her jaw dropped. The girls turned around slowly to face Maryland Ave. To their surprise it was just a dirt road. They turned their attention towards Main Street it was also dirt.

“All of the cars are gone and the stop lights,” Amanda whispered in disbelief.

They stood there for a moment frozen in shock and confusion. Debbie scanned as much of the town as she could see. She could see St Paul’s Church off to the left, up on the hill. It was outlined against the backdrop of the orange sky. Candles flickered in windows and store fronts, the small town were much darker and quieter then Debbie remembered it.

The sound of the train whistle turns their attention back to the activities on the platform. Debbie and Amanda were standing no more then fifteen feet from the horses. The ground started to rumble and shake from the on coming train. This frightened the horses, white foam flow from their mouths as they shock their heads wildly from side to side. One of the horses bucked up in the air while throwing its head back.

Amanda stumbled back a few steps. Debbie grabs her arm to help steady her. She guides Amanda back towards the station. The ground shakes even harder as the train rolls up to the platform. The train billows steam and black smoke through the air.

The bell on the train rings slowly as the train comes to a stop. The girls get their first good look at the train as the steam evaporates from around it. The large black engine and tender are pulling three green passenger cars and four brown box cars. The girls watched as the people from in side the station, walked passed the passenger cars and gathered in front of the box cars. They stood quietly as men dressed in civil war uniform exited the passenger cars and walked slowly back to where the group had gathered.

The women in the group wore long black dresses and the men wore dark suites, some had top hats. Two of the young women in the group looked familiar to Debbie and Amanda.

“Hey, those two look like the girls at the party,” Amanda whispered.

“The one looks like the girl that was dancing on the table with Frank, maybe she’s not in my Biology class,” Debbie replied with a puzzled look on her face.

“The other is the girl we have been following. What would they be doing here?” Amanda said.

The men in uniform opened the door of the box car that the group was standing in front of. The girl’s site was blocked by the people around the box car. They could hear the men pulling out, what sounded like a wooded box and placing it on the platform. The women in the group moved closer to the box and started weeping. The men in the group were trying to console them.

The girls heard foot steps in the gravel. Someone was walking to wards the carriage. The carriage shifted to one side as a man in a long black coat and a top hat, climbed on to the top of the carriage. He grabbed the rains of the carriage and whistled to the horses. The horses as a unit pulled the shaking and clanging carriage towards the tracks.

Debbie and Amanda just lost their camouflage when the carriage moved to wards the train. They slowly moved back to the front of the station. Debbie peered around the corner of the station hoping no one saw them. She felt a tugging on the back of her blouse. She glanced over her shoulder to see Amanda looking towards Main St.

“There’s another carriage coming,” Amanda said fearfully.

The carriage rolled by them. Kicking up a large cloud of dust as it rolled by, the driver did not even look in there direction. The second carriage rolls up behind the other carriage along side the train. The men stepped off their carriages. They opened the double doors on the back of the first carriage.

The two men stepped aside as the men in uniform, three on each side of the box they were carrying, slid it into the back of the carriage.

“It’s a coffin,” Debbie whispered.

While Debbie and Amanda watched the coffin being loaded in to the carriage, the sky lit up and the buzzing sound in their ears started all over again. The girls grab their ears. They could feel the pain of the buzz in their ears every time the sky lit up, every time the white streaks of light shot across the orange sky the pain got worse. The people around the train went about their business as if nothing was happening. They did not seem to be affected by the sound or notice the flashing light in the sky above them.

“Lets get out of here, I can’t take this anymore,” Amanda cried out.

The girls no longer cared if they were seen or not. They just want to get back in the station and away from the buzzing and the light flashing in the sky. They ran from the front of the station around the side and to the platform around back. Amanda stumbled and fell on the side of the station. She just wanted to bury her head in the dirt the buzzing was so loud every time the light flashed in the sky.

Debbie grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. Then she took Amanda’s hand and guides her on to the platform. They ran for the first door they saw. The door the women had come out of earlier. Debbie grabbed the door handle and pulled.

The door would not open. The buzzing was getting louder and stronger. The sky was turning from orange to dark purple to bright white. Debbie could feel the buzzing throbbing in her head. Amanda could barely stand up.

She knew they could not take much more of this. In between the sky lighting up when it was dark for a second, light in the station would flash. Debbie thought she saw some more people in the station but she was not sure it could just be the lights playing tricks on her eyes. Debbie realized they would have to go back in through the door they came out of. That door was on the other side of the platform.

“Amanda, we will have to go back in the way we came,” Debbie yelled over the buzzing.

Amanda had a confused look on her face. Debbie realizing Amanda did not understand what she was being told, took hold of her hand and started running toward the door on the other side of the platform. She fell in front of the door and Amanda landed on top of her then roll off. Debbie, still on her stomach tried to reach for the door handle. She could not get hold of it so she put her hand on the stone wall and pulled herself to her feet. Debbie grabbed the door handle and flung the door open.

Amanda was still on the ground. Debbie hoisted her up by her shoulders throw her into the passageway. She slid about four feet down the passageway. Debbie’s momentum propelled her into the passageway she hit the wall with the full force of her back. The impacted knocked the wind out of her for a moment as she slid down the wall.

The door slammed behind them. They were in complete darkness. Debbie could still hear the buzzing out side the door, it was not as loud and it did not hurt her ears anymore. She was sitting up against the wall trying to catch her breath. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest.

Amanda was sprawled out on the floor, a few feet from Debbie. Her head was throbbing not just from the buzzing but from it hitting the floor when Debbie threw her. There was one extremely loud buzz then silence. Debbie and Amanda both noticed that the buzzing had stopped. Debbie could hear Amanda trying to move in the darkness.

“The buzzing stopped,” Amanda moaned.

“I know Amanda, I am going to open the door and see what’s going on out there,” Debbie replied.

“NO, who knows what’s going on out there. They might be right by the door, waiting to get us,” Amanda whispered forcefully.

“Their not by the door, their not waiting to get us and why are you whispering?” Debbie said.

Debbie went to her knees. She had not completely regained her wind. She crawled a few feet to the door. Debbie reached for the handle, she turned it and pushed, the door gave out a squeal again in protest. The door opened about an inch. A small shaft of blue light flowed in.

Debbie looked at the sky through the opening. The sky was no longer an orange color it was back to its normal dark blue. The moon wasn’t full anymore.

“The train is gone,” she said as she looked back in Amanda’s direction.

Before she new it Amanda was at her shoulder, looking out the doorway at the sky. They both scanned the landscape outside the station. They could not believe their eyes. Everything had changed in just a few seconds. Amanda rose to her feet to get a better look.

She finally said. “Not only is the train gone but so are all the people and the sky is no longer orange.”

The girls were silent for a moment. Trying to take in what they had seen but now it was all gone. Not a clue was left as to what just happened. It was etched in their minds but no place else. Finally Debbie looked up at Amanda.

“Did we see what we thought we saw?” Debbie said as she turned back towards the door.

“I think so but I am not sure of anything anymore,” Amanda replied.

From behind them, down the passageway a women’s sob echoed off the walls. Amanda turned but could see nothing in the darkness. She thought it was just her imagination so she waited to see if she would hear it again. She heard it again as it echoed of the narrow walls of the passageway, this time Debbie heard it too. They both looked at each other.

“That’s twice I heard that,” Amanda whispered.

“It sounded like a sob,” Debbie said.

Debbie got to her feet. Took two steps past Amanda and stopped. The door behind the girls slowly closed with a creaking sound that echoed down the passageway. They stood there in the dark in silent. They listened for the sobbing to echo through the passageway again.

A door slammed off in the distance. Debbie grabs Amanda’s hand and they slowly headed back down the passageway. She slid her hand along the stone wall to guide them. The wall was cool and damp to the touch. Debbie could feel the grooves in the wall where the mortar and stone came together.

Her fingers could fell the roughness of the granite stones. Her left hand could also feel the clamminess of Amanda’s cold hand. They slowly moved back through the passageway in silent. Their sneakers squeaked on the stones below their feet. Debbie stopped to listen once more.

They continued on down the passageway. They were at the first door that they could not open. Debbie could feel the cold steel. She could also feel the paint chips and rust that came off the door when she tried to open it under her feet. The girls slowly moved on until Amanda kicked something.

It made a “pinging” sound as it bounced off the bottom of the stone will and ricochet off the other wall.

“Ouch! What was that?” Amanda said as she stubbed in to the wall.

“I think it was the door handle I pulled off the door before,” Debbie whispered.

“I can’t see a thing,” Amanda replied.

“Shhh! be quite, I think we are almost to the door to the hallway,” Debbie shot back.

The girls heard more sobbing and talking off in the distance. The sound was coming from some where in front of them. They could not understand what was being said or who was saying it. They could see beams of light coming from down by the floor. It was the door to the hallway that leads to the bathrooms.

Debbie pulled open the door. The girls heard the sobbing again but it was coming from behind them this time. The sound was coming from the passageway they just came through. They shielded their eyes from the light in the hallway. The light in the hallway was less then 40 watts but after being in the pitch black darkness for a time it hurt their eyes.

Debbie and Amanda stumbled out into the hallway, trying to regain their bearings. They could hear the music from the DJ out in the main room.

“We need to go back into the passageway to find out where that sobbing was coming from,” Debbie said quickly.

“No, I need a break, let’s just go back to the party for awhile. Let’s go find Jack and Adam,” Amanda said.

Amanda’s hands were still shacking as she opened the door to the main room. The girls pushed their way through the crowd to try to find Adam and Jack.