• Any of you happen to have one of those days where things just don't go too right? Where you're knocked a** over teakettle trying to figure out if you're ever going to break the hell out of this rat race?

    Let me tell you something. I got my chance to. Oh BOY did I ever get a chance to! But that's just me getting ahead of myself. I should probably explain how I wound up sitting on this beach when days before I was just some hungover slob working at Tony's Pizzaria, shouldn't I?

    Well, my name is Luke Rays. I was just some guy working at the local pizza joint when my boss, Tony (yes, unlike the six hundred other "Tony's" pizzas, our boss was named Tony) had just caught me sneaking in to work five minutes late . . . again.

    "Where have you been?!" Tony asked. He was a big guy, not the kind of guy you want to cross, especially when you're hung over.

    "Uh, sorry I'm late sir. My bike had a flat tire on my way to work . . . again." I replied. Well, I really don't have a car. To be honest, I don't have a car, still live with my folks and am trying to squeak by through college without getting in trouble or drafted. Does that sound familiar?

    "That's the fifth time dis week that you came in late! Luke, if you want to keep your job, you better step it up. Matter of fact, if you're late one more time, you're FIRED!" Tony said, getting redder and redder. Hoo, boy. Welcome to the Jungle.

    Aside from the particularly crappy day at work, I was just passing under the old light rail station when I saw something weird. The lights were on! Sure, the trains went through at nights, that's usual, but that station was closed for years. Not much stopped there, if at all. There was an old subway car that was left to rust on one of the platforms. It wasn't anything special really. However, leave it to curious me to try to take a look. Instead of going straight home, I slipped under the chain and up the stairs to the platform area. The metal creaked and groaned as I climbed up. The platform was old and rusted. However, the light came from the car itself. I stood on the platform when a girl came up behind me, probably from behind the building. Regardless, she scared the crap out of me.

    "Hey, you got a ticket, right?" she asked, coming up behind me as I turned around. She had pink hair tied up in a bun . . . and she looked like she was wearing a conductor's outfit. I struggled to find an answer. What did she mean by ticket?

    "Well, I . . . uh . . ." I stammered.

    "Try not gawking and look in your pocket, huh?" she asked. I fumbled in my pocket and found what looked like a green piece of paper. Almost the size of a card. It sure didn't look like any ticket I ever saw . . . as a matter of fact, I'm not sure how it even got in my pocket! It wasn't there when I left home!

    "Is this what you're looking for, ma'am?" I asked, doing my best to not stammer. She took a look at it.

    "Close enough. I suppose you're new to this, aren't you?" she asked, leaning up against the old railroad car.

    "Well, I-I-I" I tried to think of an answer but froze.

    "Hey, if you want, you can go back down the steps, go home, oversleep and get fired from your job, or you can climb aboard, take a little trip and quite possibly enjoy life for a while. Now which sounds better?" She asked.

    "How'd you know?" I asked.

    "It's not unusual to want escapes from life, but not many people take them up. Oh! I'm Gina by the way." She said, offering her hand.

    "I'm Luke." I said shaking her hand.

    "Luke? The boy down at Tony's who gets late for work all the time?" She asked. My life summed up in a sentence unfortunately. She giggled a little bit. "Well, you came to the right place, Luke. I'd advise not missing this train." She said. Wait, what?

    "But . . . wait, I thought this stop wasn't used anymore." I said, still a little skeptic. She smiled and put her hand on my shoulder.

    "No, you're just looking for the wrong train." She said as a light appeared from up the track. All of a sudden the rusting railcar she was leaning on vanished, as if to make room for what was coming.

    "Should I have run home to pack?" I asked as the light got closer, a rumbling sound got louder and louder.

    "You don't need that where we're going." she said with a knowing smile as the train came to a halt in front of us . . . it looked like something from a science fiction novel. People below moved along like nothing happened, but I didn't get a chance to look as the door opened. I knew for sure this was going to be one hell of a ride.