'Fey is asking to enter your room', it squeaked out, and stood, waiting for a response in return.

  Pending ignored the incoming confusion and questions and looked up. The girl had seemed sweet and looked to be nice company, and it would be nice to distract himself.

  Giving in, he responded with, 'Let her in'

  The fluffed creature waddled back into the doorway and tugged weakly to pull the door closed. After several attempts, to no avail, the duck looked down at its webbed feet and shuffled out of the room in what seemed to be sorrow.

  A few seconds passed, and Pending heard heavier footsteps slowly approaching the door and looked up to greet his new visitor. A lock of light brown hair swayed through into the doorframe, and Fey came into view. One hand was loosely holding onto the edge of her bag with her thumb etched into the fabric and the other lightly brushing against the smooth plaster of the doorway. Her lips raised into a gentle smile and her eyes glistened into crescent moons.

  'Hey again', she said paired with a comforting gaze: not too sharp, not too soft, 'I just wanted to check up on you considering that this is a weird situation to be in', she ended. Pending let out a sigh, as his head flopped down to face the ground

  'weird would be an understatement for whatever just happened', he muttered under his breath, brows furrowed and eyes tightly shut in exhaustion. The girl silently chuckled at the comment then switched back to her gentle demeanour, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She seemed to hesitate for a moment, balanced on the ends of her feet, before taking a few small steps forward closer to the other man sat on the edge of the bed, clutching the sheets which pooled around his legs. Upon seeing no defiance from the other at her closing in, Fey softly sat down, balancing on the edge of the bed with the same hesitancy gracing her stature.

  'If it's any consolation, none of us know what’s going on', she began, also staring down at the floor, 'we arrived here just a few days before you did; I don’t know about Collyn and The Conductor though'. Pending glanced to the side to see her scrunching up the material of her dress with her limbs stiffened. He hummed in acknowledgment before returning his gaze to the plain flooring tiles.

  'I don't even know why I got here in the first place', Pending sighed out, 'I have so many things to do, and my family to get to. If they'd be so worried'. His head lolled to the side and he leaned back onto his stiffened arms clutching the sheets. In the corner of his eye, he noticed the other girl stiffen and shuffle around on her seat. Fey's expression morphed into one of understanding and compassion as she turned to face Pending.

  'The Conductor said they'd never notice. Time passes differently here', she stated, reassurance lacing her words as she leaned slightly closer towards the older man, relaxing herself.

  'And you believe what he's telling you', Pending replied sharply, a slight tremble in his tone. He didn't know the man nearly enough to trust him, especially after recounting the events that happened just moments prior. The girl froze for a second before turning to face him, staring into his eyes.

  'I trust him' she responded with nothing but sincerity washed over her features, 'I can't tell you why, but I trust him'. Pending didn't know what to say to her response. How could he refute something said in such absolution. Something in him agreed with her; he couldn't just ignore the nagging thought bouncing off the walls of his head. He trusted the stranger to the point it felt scary. Pending looked down, eyes shut and shook his head.

  'I just, I just don't want to worry my parents anymore', he explained with his expression downturned and thoughts elsewhere. He shifted his gaze back to the girl sitting in front of him, with worry collecting in his eyes. Fey hummed in confirmation and turned away to stare at the empty polaroids scattered across the otherwise empty desk.

  'I can’t say I understand. I bet he'd barely notice if I really was gone. But I know that your parents would never notice your disappearance in the first place', she said sincerely, before turning back to face Pending, 'I trust The Conductor to bring us back safe'.

  Pending didn't respond and instead stared straight ahead at the wall, glancing at his new appearance. The two sat in a comfortable silence for a while with only the ticking of the clock resounding off of the empty walls.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  After a few minutes of staring at his reflection, Pending remarked, 'I don't think I'll ever get used to what I look like now'. Not like he ever had, he thought to himself. He shifted uncomfortably under his own unidentifiable gaze from his reflection.

  'Tell me about it', Fey replied, eyebrows raised and a sigh playing on her lips. She tugged at one of the ribbons tied into a neat bow around her elbow, loosening the knot. The silk elegantly slipped off of her arm to reveal what was hidden underneath. Placed at her joint was an eyelid scrunched shut. Upon the ribbon uncovering it, the eyelid slowly opened to reveal a human eye, the same brown of Fey's glancing frantically around the room in what seemed to be excitement and glee.

  Pending's eyes widened at the sight and mouth lay slightly open. 'I have these on my elbows, knees, shoulders, hands and here', she explained, gesturing towards the side of her face covered by silk locks of hair tied by another ribbon, 'Drew gets her cool teleport powers, Hadley gets his hand tendril things and I get creepy eyes everywhere', she ended in exasperation, moving her arms frantically up and down with a look of disbelief on her face.

  Pending chuckled at the girl's intense outburst before fixing onto one of her statements. 'Hadley? Who's Hadley?', he asked in confusion with his head tilted forward slightly to better face the other girl.

  'He's another passenger', Fey replied, a large smile painted across her face, 'He's the really grumpy looking one. You'll meet him eventually'. Pending nodded in understanding. He looked at her with a thoughtful expression.

  'So how many passengers are there?', he asked, hoping there wouldn’t be too many. Fey's eyes widened as she seemed to think for a minute before her mouth opened.

  'There are three other passengers not including me', she started, 'there's Drew who you met earlier, Hadley who I just mentioned and Blair. Blair was picked up right before you; she's trying to get over the shock in her room. You might see her later as well' she finished. Her eyes suddenly lit up in excitement before she said, 'A few of them should be in the primary cabin right now'.

  Upon noticing the other man's questioning sight, Fey responded, 'The primary cabin is basically the first cabin you enter when you get into the train hence the name. It was the one you were just in'. She bounced off of the stiff bed and spun to face Pending.

  'Let's go see if anyone's hanging around there shall we?', she remarked. Without waiting for a response, Fey swiftly gathered her bag and ran over to stand by the doorway in waiting. Pending's eyes widened as he stumbled to get up and stuff some polaroids into the small pockets hung around the belt loosely hugging his waist.

  Upon seeing the other man's presence, Fey mumbled something, which Pending assumed to be 'primary cabin', under her breath and the door burst open, light pouring out the door in a cacophony of colours. Unphased by the sudden luminosity, the girl took another step forward and disappeared into the swirling light. Pending, again with slight hesitation, made his way to where to girl had stood before and waited for the brightness to slowly wisp away.

  Clearing his throat, he recited, 'Primary cabin', with a wavering voice and watched as the burst of vivid colours seemingly swept him away. Pulled into the gust, Pending took a few steps forward, leaving a dwindling gleam in his wake.

  A torrent of wind swept past him, leaving the man disoriented as he stood, legs weak, elsewhere. The cabin was the same one he had seen when he had first arrived, with the same vines snaking throughout the walls with bursts of vibrant flowers peeking through the cracks of some. Upon the abrupt arrival of the two, the two others in the room, Drew and another, previously in deep conversation, perked up to look towards him in curiosity.

  At his side, Fey looked up at him and gestured towards the two sat on the uncomfortable train seats, previously in comfortable discussion. 'You've already met Drew,' she began, as Drew waved with a smirk playing on her lips as she leaned back into the foliage, pipe dancing lazily between her fingers, 'and this is Hadley', she continued, waving towards the man sat next to Drew.

  Hadley was an attractive man with medium length black hair covering the majority or his forehead and neck. He had sharp features, pointed eyes and a lazy expression paired with prominent bags hung under his eyes. Hadley wore a simple navy shirt and black cargos paired with a leather jacket falling off of his pale shoulders with several pockets and straps draping around the clothing. The man seemed to be in his early twenties, a little older than Pending himself. What looked so distinct about him though were the countless inky tendrils also draping off of his form, similar to that of Drew's but more unnatural: more alive. A few short tendrils hung off of his shoulders to hold onto his seat with misshaped hands curling around the edge.

  The man in question lazily brought his own hand up into a half-hearted wave and muttered a small, 'Hey'. 'And this is Pending, the newest passenger', Fey ended in an overly joyous manner as she pointed at Pending with her thumb. Hadley's expression stayed unwavering as his gaze raked over the other man, before giving him a small nod and turning back to look at Fey with the same straight faced expression.

  Clearing her throat again, at the uncomfortable silence which had slowly filled the room, Fey asked, 'Have any of you seen Blair again since, you know?'. At the question, Hadley shook his head with his eyes closed, facing the scuffed floor beneath Fey.

  'None of us have seen her since she's arrived.', Drew explained, sight fixated on the twirling pipe balanced on her knuckles as she crossed her legs, leaning forward to prop her elbow on her knee, 'The poor kid's still in shock. Won't let any of us speak to her either.', she ended, a puff of smoke twirling out from between her bright lips.

  As she finished, the same gust of wind burst the hinges of the door behind Pending wide open as both Pending and Fey stumbled at the sudden move. Pending swiftly stumbled back away from the door, followed by the other girl as a shiny leather shoe appeared at the foot of the doorway.

  Suddenly, Collyn jumped into view through the doorway, in Fey's direction. Bouncing on the ends of her feet, Collyn brought her arms behind her back, leaning forward slightly.

  In a cheerful voice, Collyn exclaimed, 'We will now be approaching our first destination'