The Woman on the Train

Welcome to Scary Story podcast. On a late night train home, a woman steps on, but when does she leave? My name is Edwin and he's a scary story. It was one of those late nights. I don't know what I was doing out at that time. I had no fun out there, loud music, bad food, and everyone talking to everyone except for me. I didn't feel bad for myself though. I was like this all the time, and so I was grabbing some cold snacks from the vetting machine despite it being extremely cold above ground. But there was something about the subway that made it warmer. Too warm. Sometimes there's only one other person on the platform, a guy carrying a brown bag stained with oil across from the tracks. He took out the yellow wrapper, took a huge bite off of sandwich, stuffed four or five fries in his mouth all at once, and then made eye contact with me. He put the food back in the bag and turned toward the wall before leaning in again, stuffing a bunch of food into his mouth. I could feel the wind of the train coming from the tunnel to my left. One of the last ones of the night. I was ready to go home. The train operator signaled me to move back away from the platform as it zoomed past me and squeaked to a stop. Doors opened. He stepped inside and sat on the seat immediately to the right of the door. It was completely empty. My hand instinctively went for my phone and opened up Instagram. No signal. I went to my downloaded music, scrolled through the same playlist I always listened to, and press play. There was something about being out so late that I loved the night by myself, and only those who are looking for something stay out, and those who have it stay indoor. Unfortunately for me, I hadn't worked out yet, but still there was comfort I felt in that tube going who knows how fast, just seven exits away from my stop. That wouldn't last. At the second stop, a man with who appeared to be his elderly mother entered through the door on my far left. On the next cart, I briefly looked in their direction before switching my attention back to my phone. There was an itch to look like when you see a beautiful girl, but didn't quite appreciate the split second glance you did. I want to see her again without seeming like a creep. That feeling suddenly took over me. So I rolled my eyes up to see them again. When I made eye contact with the older woman as she smiled at her son and briefly looked toward me, the lights blinked above them as he walked slowly toward the connector between the two train cars. I quickly turned my gaze down on my playlist, the same seventeen songs I've had for years, with a few added and others removed every few months. I turned toward the mom and son again, this time making eye contact with both. As an inch closer to where I was. They talked and laughed and giggled like two drunks getting out of a club. The train beeped and announced the next stop. They were in front of me, seemingly unaware of my existence. I could smell the cheap perfume and alcohol coming from both of them. But when the train stopped and the door next to me opened, they said goodbye to each other and away. That clearly told me that they were not mother and son. The man stepped out, while she waved like a teenager at him. Doors closed, and she simply stood there next to me in an empty train car. I couldn't scroll very much on my short playlist. So I put my phone away and sat there, looking at our reflections on the glass windows again, the darkness of the tunnel, and between the ads for Jesse u a lawyer, and Jill's or Institute on either side of the windows across from me, a reflective eye contact, if you will. When the lights would flicker, I could tell that her wrinkles were deeper than I had thought, and even though I was right next to her, I knew that I could not look up. But then she made the first move. She grabbed onto the pole next to me and bent her head toward mine. I looked up, seeing her deeply stained yellow teeth darkened in between them as she smiled, her grin almost reaching her ear low, and her nose large and droopy. It was her eyes that got me, deep dark, sunken into her face. I thought of those who were about to go at that instant, those that sat alone in their wheelchairs and empty dark hallways, the smell of death only becoming stronger. I could feel the chill of her body like frost from where she was standing, and all I could do was watch her through the glass as her head bobbed up and down from the movement of the train another weirdo, hopefully, I thought to myself as I turned my head toward her. I tried to smile, I really did, but I was so thrown off by how she was positioned in her face, almost blocking my way out, that all I did was roll my eyes and then look down again. Discomfort was not the right word for this. I thought of fear, if that helps. My legs went cold as they became ready to run. I thought of many things at that moment. I could easily attack, push her back, and deny any wrongdoing. Maybe self defense, but she was an elderly woman, maybe losing it. I could scow to see away and show that I was scared, But instead I looked around. By pure chance, I had the idea to look behind me at the window as my eye caught the sign of the elderly and disabled seating. So I got it. I stood up and offered my seat. Mind you, there were dozens of seats all over the train, so I found it strange that she wanted that specific one. But as you get older, you start being either pickier with everything or not caring about anything at all, and this lady obviously cared about this seat. I put my hand on the seat to my right and stood up. I looked down at where I was sitting as I extended my hand over the seat I had just left. My hand was still signaling while she kept staring at me with those cold eyes. As the train came to a stop, the doors opened and her eyes finally let go of my face. She stepped out, murmuring something to herself, before suddenly stopped, turning around and staring right at me. I could see her entire face now, the crooked lips and hair coming out of her nose, her missing teeth, and what looked like hundreds of moles on her neck, dark and bundled up over each other, like bubbles or grapes about to burst. I swear that if those doors would have taken another second longer, I would have ran to the next car. But just as I got ready, the doors began to close. She simply stood there, looking into my eyes and didn't lose sight of me until the train went back into the tunnels. I was the only person on the train again, four more stops to go. It was not uncommon to encounter these types of people on the train, especially at night, and normally they wouldn't creep me out like this. There was something about the encounter, her behavior, and the way she moved around the train that made me feel very uneasy. Even sitting on the same seat made me feel uncomfortable. So I stood up, went across the aisle and sat on the opposite side, now facing the door that had just closed. I could now see my own reflection against the glass that separated me from the dark tunnel once again. But the urge to look at the window came over me, and so I looked up, only to see the woman's face against the glass from the outside of the train. I stood up and tumbled back toward the door, my elbow hitting the safety bar hard and didn't even bother with it at first, so I quickly found my footing it looked out toward the window again. She was gone. It was late, I thought to myself. I need to get home now. The lights were flickering again as I sat there, angry with myself for coming out that night. It could have been at home watching something on TV, asleep, maybe trying out the new pizza place everyone was talking about. But no, here I was somewhere underground, speeding along in this piece of metal. As my mind started wondering what had just happened. I looked over at the end of the train, only four cars deep, but it looked infinite as the reflections died from around me and the lights from the station took over, doors opened and then shut three more stops remaining. The train did a weird turn at this part of the ride. When it was crowded during the day, everyone except for those with suitcases, new to hold on to dear life around here, but since it was and I was the only one, I simply sat there, staring at my own reflection in between flickers. As the train moved and the turn started. The train squeaked as it pushed me forward and rattled. The lights turned off completely and then flickered even more, and then it came to a complete stop. Train will be starting up in a few seconds. Stand by, I heard the conductor say. I had my phone on my hand as I try to find the position for me to turn on the screen after hitting the volume button by mistake, and then it finally came on. But then right in front of me, I started seeing the strangest formations floating in the air right by my phone strings waving in and out in an organized chaos, like a looming orchestra sound waves in the air. They were exploding into tiny clouds. When suddenly I felt the cold there again. I turned the screen around so it faced away from me, and with that amount of light I was able to see the same dress from earlier. The woman was right in front of me again. I turned the phone toward her face and I could see her features, the deep grooves in her face, the hillow teeth. And then the train started up again, and in front of me was nothing but the reflection on the other side of the train. It was me. My neck was beginning to sweat, and I could feel it against the cold dare of the train. I looked around it in both directions, and stood up briefly to look behind the seats. There was nothing there. The train stopped with no announcement. This time. The doors opened for just a second and then closed two more stops. Now, I tell you I had no idea what was happening to me that night. I hadn't drank anything, I had gotten good sleep, Everything was in order, and I had done this trip many times before. But I was tired. That's the one doubt in my mind that I have whenever I relive what happened that night. I thought it would be a good idea to walk around, maybe get some blood flowing to wake me up, although again I was awake, just tired from walking around and waiting in line with my friends earlier. But I followed my own advice. I was almost home, so I walked down toward where the two cars connect, closer to the front. This time. The lights flickered a little less there, and I knew there was another person, another human on the other side of that door at the end by the sign and the ad for the lawyer do not block train conductor only the sign said the train was coming to a stop. Then it walked over the door to double check the signs at the station. When I saw her, she was standing by the platform on the other side of the tracks. I lean back, not losing her from my sight. And when I tell you that I saw her rush toward the bus at an inhuman pace, I know few will believe me. But it was so quick I thought that I was having a stroke or losing it. Somehow, she made it. In those few seconds that the door was opened to the car. The last one of the train. How she got there I will never know, unless she had somehow been in the train the whole time, playing a sick game with the reflections and flickers of the lights. I stood up as she started walking toward me, the lights flickering above her. As she got closer to the connector and between the last two train cars, her body was twisting, hunched, and fragile. As she finally made it to the next all I could do was wait. I looked up at the sign, hoping that the scrolling announcement for Millard Street would pop up in those red letters. It was pointless. This woman was getting closer with every bump and every squeak of the breaks as my heart flickered along with the lights. No no, no, no, no no, I said to myself as I looked up at the fading lights and the train becoming silent again. The tunnels became quiet and the bump stopped. I could hear the woman's feet dragging closer to me as she stumbled around to grab the bars that went from floor to ceiling. There was a certain rattle I remember, like wooden jewelry or beads. As she made her way across the train. She was almost on the section where I sat. I could sense it, and those few seconds felt like forever as I heard her dragging herself, moaning in pain. As she approached. I could hear the clicks through the door behind me where the train conductor was training starting back up stand by, I heard through the speakers. The train started moving as the lights went back on. The old woman was still there, her eyes fixated on my face as she moved closer to me, pain and bad intentions on her face. I got distracted for an instant by the scrolling letters behind her and me announcing Millard's Street. The train was slowing down as she was approaching, and so I stood up, my back flat against the walls of the train as I inched over the door, ready to leave. As soon as they slid open with the breaking of the train, the woman stumbled forward, hitting her face against the seats right by me. She got to her knees, looked up at me, and pulled herself up. Just as the doors opened. I stepped out, stumbling over the gap of the train and the platform. I glanced back at the woman as she gave me a cold, menacing stare and She opened her mouth slowly you, she started. You can see you can see me, she said. Fear spread across her face, sadness of a kind that had never witnessed before, that of a hopeless, desperate person, of loss, of pure terror. You can see me, she cried through whispers. You can see me, you can see me. Tears were rolling down her face, and then her expression changed to anger, the kind I had never seen before. She kept yelling, you can see me, you can see me. You can see the door shut. She pounded against the glass doors as I watched her move away from the platform and into the darkness of the tunnels. Scary Story podcast is written and produced by me Edwin ko Arubas. You can find me on Scary Story podcast dot com and across social media as Edwin cove. That's E d W I n c V. And if you just found the show, welcome. You can support it and get these stories without ads by trying out scary Plus over at scaryplus dot com. You also send me a message and I'll answer any questions you may have. You'll also be able to listen right here, say map and everything. If you're following this podcast, that will talk to you next time. Thank you very much for listening. Keep it scary everyone see you sooner.