Cool air accompanied the opening doors. A large crowd milled around the station. The curious peeked their head inside, looked back at the terminal gray behind them, and stepped in. I smiled behind my mask. There were always those that needed to be first.

It didn’t take long until my train compartment was filled, with some visitors that I would enviously guide back and others that I knew I would not. It took me years to learn to tell them apart, but was easy now. The former wore wide eyes, still vibrant with life. The latter always had the same questioning look stamped on their faces. Wherever they expected to be, it wasn’t here.

One lady nudged me until I turned toward her. Though she didn’t recognize the mask or the uniform, she drew back. The trappings of my office were far older than the shade of the black-iron engine that headed the train. I was a Ticket-Taker and everybody made this trip- on one side of the train or the other.

Soon dark smoke curled along behind us, the only sign of where we’d been.