Travel-Snack

 Next thing I remember, I'm almost thrown out of my seat when the train suddenly stops.

I shake the drowsiness off and looked at my cellphone, whose battery is now dead. I scanned my surroundings to find any evidence of elapsed time, but I'm still alone. I look out the window and see the sun is still high up in the sky.

"I couldn't have slept for too long... the train left a little after midday."

I scanned the scenery to see where we had stopped but a tall forest blocked my view. I looked at the other side of the car but the same tall trees were everywhere.

I wasn't aware of any big forests close to where I used to live, but then again I didn't get out much, or know about the local landscape, so I just thought to make the best of it and enjoyed the view.

I opened the window, closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It was fresh and invigorating. Almost made you want to run through the trees and explore.

I stared at the trees, admiring their natural wonder. But the more I stared, the more I realized I couldn't see past the first three lines of trees on each side of the railroad line.

With my head out of the window, I could see the platform where we stopped, which just looked like a big polished rock, no signs or benches, no indication whatsoever of where we were stopped.

No houses in sight, no roads or paths, not a living soul to be seen and yet we were now stopped for five minutes.

I tried recalling the first few stops I saw on the train schedule, but was unsuccessful... back then I just glanced and noticed the long list of names, not taking one of them in.

I was now at the car's door, with one foot on the platform. The scenery was the same all around us, except for the railroad line and the platform, trees as far as the eye could see.

And that's when I noticed what was bothering me. The sound... there wasn't any.

No wind blowing through the trees, no animal noises from the forest, just the constant humming of the engine.

Why on earth were we stopped there?