The Silver Arrow and the Station of the Dead

Out of a nightclub in central Stockholm steps a young woman wearing a puffy coat — after a long evening, it was finally time for her to go home. Back then, trains didn’t run all night on weekends. Looking to avoid the night bus in these conditions, she hurried towards the light of the metro station.

She was worried that she had left the nightclub too late to make the last train, and her fears were confirmed going down the escalators when she heard the train screeching as it departed the station. Just her damn luck! She checked the timetables. It really was the last train for the night. She was about to turn around and find a night bus when she saw the distinct lights from an oncoming train. The train rolling in was like nothing she had seen before: the Silver Arrow.

The Silver Arrow was an experimental train, and only one was ever built. Instead of being painted blue or green like all other trains in the metro, this train was unpainted and glistened silver. Some said the train was haunted, but she didn’t believe in such superstitions; she was just glad to have a ride home. She entered the train, and the doors closed behind her. Luckily, there were plenty of free seats, and she got comfortable in a window seat.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the carriage. The few other passengers with her looked tired, very tired, but this was a late-night departure. Their eyes seemed empty and dead. She ignored them and put on headphones to listen to music on the way home.

She knew the route home very well, and soon, it was time for her station. The station flashed through the windows; the train was going incredibly fast! No way that it could stop at this speed. She felt a rush of panic through her body, the train had to stop. Within the blink of an eye, she had pulled the emergency brake, but the train didn’t even slow down. Just as suddenly as the station had appeared out the windows, it was gone, replaced with the inky black of the tunnel.

She must have been standing there for minutes, staring out the door window. She could feel the dead eyes of the other passengers in the back of her neck. Everyone was staring at her. A mix of shame and fear swept over her as she slipped back into her seat. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. This was the beginning of her waking nightmare.

The train was howling through the night, destination unknown. Stations flashed by, one by one. Even though the train never stopped, every time she looked up, there were more and more passengers onboard. Eventually, every seat was taken. She was squeezed between the window and a gaunt, pale passenger staring into the void. The carriage was hot and humid and smelled like rotting meat.

It felt like forever, but finally, she could hear the screeching of the breaks. Where was this place? The doors flew open, and the tired, sluggish passengers shuffled out of the train. She followed — no way she would stay a second more on this godforsaken train.

She looked up at the sign on the platform. This was an unfamiliar place, nothing like any station she knew. In faded letters, it said a single word: Kymlinge. She was sure no station with that name existed anywhere in Stockholm. The moment she stepped out of the train, the doors behind her closed with a loud bang. The train speeded off and disappeared in the tunnel as if it had never existed. The station drowned in eerie silence.

The rest of the passengers were walking towards what seemed to be an exit, and she followed. Even if she ended up in the middle of nowhere, it was preferable to this nightmare. The passengers led her to a staircase under the platform, she couldn’t see the end of it. As she descended, it got hotter and hotter. The darkness of the station morphed into the glowing red of whatever laid below. Even though she could turn around, she didn’t want to. She was drawn into the depths with incredible force.

She didn’t make it home that evening. She never made it home at all. The winter was long and unrelenting. It wasn’t until April that the forests around the abandoned station Ksilvymlinge started to thaw. She was found in a pile of snow. The police never found a cause of death and no suspects. The case hasn’t been solved to this day.