Story 1167: The Phantom Conductor

At precisely 3:03 AM, the whistle pierced the silence of Evershade Station—long since closed, long since forgotten.

Jasper Crane was the only one who heard it that night.

He had returned to Evershade on a dare—or perhaps a curse. Once a bustling terminal, the station had been abandoned after the disappearance of the midnight express forty years ago. Every passenger on board had vanished. And they said a conductor still walked the platforms, waiting for a train that never truly left.

The station loomed in rusted iron and cracked glass, its grandeur swallowed by rot. The only lights came from old lamps flickering to life as Jasper passed. He stepped cautiously, boots crunching against ash and broken tiles.

Then he heard the click of metal footsteps behind him.

He turned.