It all started with a small card, haphazardly jammed into the corner of the shop’s window.
He sometimes used the lane as a shortcut between the bus stop and school. The shop itself was pretty dingy. The card read Unwanted Relatives Disposed Of. He had never noticed it before. He went in and made enquiries. It was very expensive. The way it worked was you paid for a ticket, which would be sent to the chosen relative in the guise of a randomly selected winning prize. The trip of a lifetime; starting by train.
He started saving.
She had always been really nasty to him when he was a kid. She always looked sour. She never liked children, and said so. He had to take on two extra paper rounds, but finally, he went back and bought her ticket.
She took her seat, thrilled with the prospect of what lay ahead, along with all the other winners; hundreds of them. As soon as it pulled out of the station the conductor picked up the microphone. “Good morning ladies and gentlemen, please sit back and enjoy your journey to…” He went quiet. The train conductor simply could not remember the train’s destination. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Ah! Sorry, this train is going to…” Again, no destination.
All through the carriages passengers were starting to wonder not only where they were going, but where they originally thought they were going. They didn’t know; they couldn’t remember. They peered out of the windows, but the mist was so dense they couldn’t see a thing.
“Well people,” the conductor laughed nervously and went on, “let’s just see where the journey takes us, shall we?” Not surprisingly, nobody answered. The train just kept rattling along, never stopping, never emerging from the fog that seemed to travel with it, with the conductor never remembering where it was headed.
The schoolboy had no idea where she would end up, or if she would end up anywhere. After all, people go missing all the time. After a while the police and other agencies just stop looking; anyway, people like these are never really missed.
He certainly wouldn’t miss Aunt Dora!