Exploring was Denny’s primary hobby as a six year old, even if his parents didn’t allow him to explore much further than his house. His cousins, around his age, shared his passion for exploration and even though they had walked the same old hallways, scouring every inch of their middle-class American home, their imaginations allowed them to make the landscape anew each time they all got together to play, which was often.
But, even children eventually get bored of the same old thing and there were only so many imaginary landscapes they could place themselves in before it all got kinda old. Their backyard wasn’t much better either, extremely small and fenced in, the only areas of interest a musty garden shed and a measly sapling tree that had been planted on Earth Day a couple years ago. Really, the backyard was even less interesting than the inside, unless of course it had been raining, then there was at least mud. The street or beyond was out of the question, they lived on a pretty busy road with an above average speed limit for a residential area, their parents probably wouldn’t let them near the street until they were at least teenagers. So, they’d have to figure out a new way to make this house more engaging, but man, it was getting to feel like a job lately.
One night, Denny was close to falling asleep when he noticed a light coming from… strange, the light appeared to be coming from behind his clothing drawers. The drawers were inlaid in the wall, there was no way someone/something could be behind there. Now awake, Denny crawled nearer, into the flat planes of light emanating from the cracks, the light yellow and inviting. He drew close, just within reach, when the light began to fade. Denny pulled one of the drawers out as fast as he could but by the time he had been able to fiddle it all the way out, dumping out all of his socks and underwear in the process, the light had faded to almost nothing. Oddly though, he could have sworn he heard what sounded like a rail system, as if someone on one of those old-fashioned handcars was scooting on by within the walls.
Denny peered further into the drawer, not able to see much of anything in the darkness, when his mother burst in and asked just what in the heck was he doing? Denny looked meekly up at his mother, explaining the light and apologizing for dumping all his clothes. His mother, of course, didn’t believe a word of this light business, just stood there and began counting down, motivating Denny to clean up the mess he made so she could go back to bed. Denny obliged, but was furiously intrigued by what he just knew he had seen and couldn’t sleep for the better part of an hour once back in bed, consciously dreaming of whatever mysterious persons or places might be left to explore within the walls.
The next day, his cousins were over again and Denny excitedly told them what he had seen.
“I swear! It woke me up last night, I was just about to fall asleep when the light came through the cracks of my drawer! We just have to peek behind them, I really think there’s something back there!”
They looked skeptical but were willing to help Denny take out his drawers, without making a mess this time. There were three of the and the two cousins plus Denny worked quietly to avoid notifying the sitter downstairs to their shenanigans. After removing the bottom, final drawer, each child went pale with excitement, it was just as Denny has theorized. There, right in front of them, lying in the walls of Denny’s home, was a pair of black rails, a railroad track, running lengthwise in either direction.
“How does this even fit in here!” Denny’s youngest cousin, Moby, squeaked excitedly.
“It’s almost as big as the train tracks near our house!” Said the older cousin, Lizah.
The children could barely contain their excitement, Lizah suggested they tell the sitter but Denny canned the idea, insisting that adults wouldn’t understand or pretend that they couldn’t see what was clearly in front of them.
The next order of business was obviously exploring the tracks, just where might they go and why were they in the walls of Denny’s house? Being the man of the house, Denny was the first to enter, squeezing through the rectangular bottommost drawer cavity with his trusty flashlight. He swung the beam in both directions but couldn’t see very far either way, as far as he was concerned, these tracks stretched on forever, far beyond the confines of his home. He reported back to his young compatriots:
“I can’t see anything either way, these must go on for a really, really long ways.”
“Let me see, let me see!” Said Moby, clambering through the cavity, along with Lizah.
“Wow, you’re right, these do stretch on forever, how is that even possible?” Agreed Lizah.
“I guess we’ll just have to walk until we find the end, or maybe hitch a ride with whoever uses the rail.” Said Denny, picking the direction that was supposed to terminate in an exterior wall in about five feet but, as it turned out, did stretch far beyond the physical limits of the house.
This fact might’ve confounded an adult traversing the same impossible tracks but, to the young explorers, it was just another adventure. They walked for what felt like forever until the flashlight begun to grow dim, Denny should’ve put new batteries in before they went off but didn’t think it’d take this long to get somewhere. As the flashlight faded the young explorers began feeling uneasy, none of spoke of it but something felt, sinister. They decided to turn back, planning on trying again tomorrow, but each secretly wishing they’d never found these tracks in the first place, something felt… just wrong about them.
Turning back around, the light of Denny’s room was visible far in the distance, they had travelled quite a long way but it didn’t seem to take that long before they were crawling back into Denny’s room. Back home, Denny was suddenly worried that they’d been gone too long and that the sitter would be calling the police or worse, his parents. But, to their surprise, almost no time had passed since they had crawled in, did time slow on the tracks? They couldn’t be sure but, if that were the case, it meant spending the whole next day exploring would be a lot easier without the worry of the sitter or their parents wondering where they had gone.
The group spent the rest of the day preparing for the journey tomorrow, packing a drawstring bag with AA-batteries and granola bars for their long trek tomorrow. They made plans for what they might say if a wall-rail traveller happened upon their way and made a little paper flag to plant once they arrived at their destination, wherever that might be. Without the knowledge of his cousins, Denny packed a small pocket knife his father had given him when he joined the Cub Scouts, just in case the eerie feeling wasn’t just a feeling. Once his cousins left for the day, Denny knew he wasn’t going to be able to sleep that night, he couldn’t shake the sinister presence he had felt on the rail.
He sent himself to bed early that night, camping near the drawers, which he had left removed, deftly barring his parents from his room to avoid questioning, ensuring he’d be ready if a traveller came through in the night. He tucked himself in with his pocket knife and bag within arms reach, waiting, drifting in and out of an nervous sleep.
He wasn’t sure what time it was, but he had been stirred by a sound similar to the one from the night before and the same brightening light in the distance leering through the holes left by the absent drawers. Bolting upright, he poked his head through the middle hole to see the source. In the distance, he saw what appeared to be a mining cart. He squnited his eyes to make out the dark figure inside and felt his blood go cold when he realized what was inside. A deeply disturbed looking man sat in the cart. The man had sunken dark eyes and long grey hair that probably hadn’t been combed or cleaned in his entire life. His clothes were much to small for him and were splitting and yellowed. Travelling ever closer, the dreadful man’s eyes lit up, seemingly at the sight of little Denny and a ghastly smile spread across his face, revealing umber teeth and putrefied gums. Denny let out a yelp and drew back his head but went too fast and banged his head hard against the wooden frame. It was too late, the man, now within arms reach, had grabbed Denny by his hair and dragged him in as he began to scream.
The man silenced Denny, slamming a wrinkled hand with gnarled fingernails against his mouth with super-human force. The cart stopped. It was made of the same black iron as the tracks and had a tiny wooden arm with a hook holding an old fashioned lantern, the source of the yellow light that had first drawn Denny. The man opened his mouth to speak, his black tongue squishing amongst grey saliva.
“You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for this moment. I was like you. I saw the light. I wanted to know. And now, just like me, you will ride the cart until the next one sticks his nose where it doesn’t belong. Welcome to eternity lad.”
And with that, the lunatic man pulled Denny into the cart as he himself leaped out of it, free at last, and scurried out of the hole like a roach crawling out of a drain. Denny began screaming again as the cart roared into motion. All was black ahead. He tried to leap out of the cart but was held by some unseen force. He looked back where the hole in the wall had been, but only saw darkness. His screams eventually subsided into whimpers as he turned back ahead, staring into eternity.
