“When the train comes, will you help me?” Judd asked.
“Don’t do it, kid,” Reggie said suddenly.
“Do what?” He became aware of his heart beating hard in his chest for the first time in his life.
The old man shook his head, and the long gray whiskers of his beard fluttered about. “Don’t get on the train.”
Shadows moved in the dark spaces between the old planks that made up the floor. Or at least, Judd thought they had. If Reggie would have said a monster lived down there, Judd would have believed him.
He looked away to veil his eyes. “Why would I get on the train?”
“Because they all do.”
That was the craziest thing Judd had ever heard, and panic ripped through him.
Judd wilted back down on the bench; the wooden floor creaked and the monster stirred below. “I’m not the only one who hears this thing. I can’t be. There’s a hundred houses between here and mine. How can I be the only one?”
“You’re not, boy. There have been others, and there will be others after you, like I said.”
“My mom just doesn’t pay attention to things, you know. I’m sure she’s hears it, too.”
“Don’t kid yourself, kid. I just ask you not to step foot on that train.”
Judd turned on him. “Why? Why in God’s name would I get on this train?”
“I can’t tell you, boy. I wish I could. All I know is that the folks who come here claim to have been hearing a train just like yourself.
“And then just as I’m talking to them, as sure as I’m talking to you now, they tell me they hear it, and of course, I never do. From what I gather, it’s an old locomotive they see. They ask if I can see it, too, and I always says no, no I can’t. I wait by their side as this train supposedly comes to a stop. Then they just sort of reach out as if someone is holding a hand out to them...and then...”
“And then what?” Judd asked desperately.
Reggie shook his head. “Nothing. I’m just a crazy old man, remember?”
“You’re a crazy old something but you aren’t a man,” Judd said. “At least, I don’t think you are.”
“What do you think I am, boy?”
“I think you’re a vampire. Or, at least, you think you are.”
The old man chuckled and then, as if to prove the point, suddenly reached down through a gap in the floorboards, grabbed hold of something that squeaked in surprise, and hauled his hand out. Only his hand wasn’t empty. A little field mouse squirmed in it. Without missing a beat, he bit down on the creature’s back and promptly sucked it dry. He cast the lifeless body aside. Judd shuddered.
“Sorry. I was really hungry.” Reggie shrugged, wiping his mouth on his sleeve.
Judd felt sick. He knew he should run. This whole night was turning into all sorts of crazy fast. He had decided it was time to go home, when he heard something in the far distance. Something that made his heart flutter.
A train’s whistle.
“You hear something, boy?” asked Reggie, looking at him sharply.
“The train, I think. Actually, I’m sure of it. It’s coming.”
Reggie nodded and sat forward. “Leave, boy. Leave and never look back.”
The whistle came again. Judd jumped. He looked down the train tracks, which glowed faintly in the moonlight.
“No one’s ever been as young as you before. This ain’t right. You’re only a kid.”
Judd looked at the old man curiously, then got up and moved across the creaking platform. The monster beneath shifted, and Judd thought he could just make out its shadowy shape.