SOON Online Magazine

Stories

The Hell Bound Train

by Shirley Smith

One night in late December; I felt unusually tired and decided to go to bed. It wasn't long after my head hit the pillow that I fell into a deep dreamy sleep In my dream I was walking through this dense dark fog and I was afraid because, I didn't know what would be waiting in there for me. As I walked, the fog started to become thin. The further I walked; the thinner it got and I could actually see the form of some sort of building in the distance. The closer I got; it became more evident that this was a large apartment building. You could still see old paint but most of it had peeled away.. The sidewalks were cracked and grass was growing through the cracks. What used to be flowers growing near the apartment steps; were now dried up weeds. This place appeared to be condemned. I started up the front steps to check it out, when I realised I could hear people talking but, I couldn't see anyone. Then through the weather stained windows I thought I saw people inside. I walked closer and wiped the residue off a window and peeked in; Yes! there were people inside. What were they doing in this old run down building? I stuck my face to the window to get a better look and I realised that the people inside looked familiar. There was a man and a woman sitting at this old kitchen table. They seemed to be engulfed in what was on the table. I made my way around them; I could see a big pile of drugs in the centre of the table. They didn't see me or anything else; only the pile on the table.I felt so uneasy, I raced to get out the door and stumbled over the old stickery bushes out by the steps. I couldn't wait to get out of there, These people were clearly headed down the wrong road. I ran down the sidewalk until I came upon an apartment that seem to have feel of home, so I walked inside. I saw this old woman sitting in a rocking chair watching T.V. She seemed very lonely and Her eyes were withered and drawn in. The old woman wouldn't look at me. All she was interested in washer television. How sad this was to me. The sorrow overwhelmed me so, I left. I came upon an apartment where a couple was moving out. I felt the unrest around these people. It seemed as if this couple never stayed anywhere for very long. They moved all their life and had never settled down, but they couldn't seem to stop. I walked on down the sidewalk hoping to see something more positive. I went around to the front of the building and I saw an old car parked on the lawn; there was a man sitting in the car. He appeared to be around the age of 42 or so. The loneliness coming from that car was so overwhelming that I had to step away to catch my breath. This man was drinking booze and holding his head down in despair. He knew that he had wasted a lot of his life and that he was to hooked to ever quit. If only he had found GOD in his younger years. I wanted to tell him that there was still time but, he couldn't hear or see me. It was useless so, I kept walking. I walked on pass him down the hard cracked sidewalk towards the back of the building; when this unusual force seemed to be drawing me near. I was scared for a moment. There in the flower bed stood this tall man with dark brown hair and bibbed coveralls on. He was looking at me and smiling. I felt a little awkward so I started to keep going; then he spoke these words to me; " don't worry I'll be around for a little while." OK! I thought; I don't even know who you are. But the man presence felt comforting to me. At this point I decided to go back and pay the old woman another visit. The floor creaked as I made my way to the living room. She was still watching television; what a waste I thought. I so wanted to get her attention but she wouldn't even look at me . This old lady had given up on life; she was controlled by something that wasn't even real. How very awful. I remember being angry because this woman had so much to live for, but she just didn't care anymore and there was nothing I could do about it. I decided it was time to get out of here, so I went out to the apartment playground to see what the kids were doing? There were about ten or so children playing in this huge sand box. They couldn't see or hear me either. In what seemed like a flash; I saw this tall dark hairy man standing in front of the kids; saying " It's time to go." As soon as the man spoke these words; the kids got up and they were all dressed in white robes. These robes were so white that they glowed. The man was wearing a white glowing robe also. They started to float towards heaven. Then I saw that this man had come to lead the children to heaven. This made me very happy. That feeling didn't last long; As soon as they left, I turned my head towards this huge, dark mountain. I heard the sound of a whistle and a roaring that was so loud my ears started to hurt. What is that? I thought; As the noise got louder, I saw this monstrous, black train coming around the side of the mountain on this narrow dirt road, sling souls side to side. It was heading straight for the apartment building. I quickly moved out of it's path, but the guy in the car drinking booze couldn't open the door and get out. I couldn't get to him to help; there wasn't enough time. I closed my eyes and screamed. The train snatched him right out of his car. He was now sitting in the train I could see him through the window. There was no way out for him now. His bad choices cost him his soul. Demon creatures were torturing the souls inside and they were screaming. The screams of the voices sounded familiar and I knew that this was the people from the apartment complex. But why did the people at the apartment seem so familiar to me from the beginning? At that moment God opened my eyes and I saw that these souls were my family that was unsaved. I awoke in a sweat and shaking from head to toe. I stumbled out of bed and walked into the living room; where my husband was sitting. I told him of the dream I had and described the horrible train to him. He had a surprised look on his face and he told me that I had a dream about the 'Hell Bound Train'. He said that an old friend gave him an album to listen to just a couple of days before he died and that the name of the album was 'The Hell Bound Train'. It has drawings of the train on it. I will try to find it to see if this is the train that you dreamed about. I never listen to it; so it's probably at the bottom of my collection. (He had about 200 hundred records) I didn't know anything about the album nor ever heard of this train before so, I was surprised that he even knew about it. He went to his collection to look for it. He was back almost instantly and had an amazed look on his face.The album was sitting on the top as if someone or something had placed it there. I took one look and saw that this was the same train I saw in my dream and now it had a name. Was this a warning from GOD to my family or just a strange event? I told my family about the dream and I hope they take it for more than just a dream.

©Shirley Smith 2003 (Based on a dream I had.)

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