Jerald was the Janitor at the local train station. He was an old man in his 60s almost 70s. He had a thin wiry frame, a bald scalp and wisp of an incomplete short beard, though he was thin, he had a noticeable beer gut.
Jerald hated his job, mopping up the floors and cleaning up the grim an vomit of other people was a putrid and humiliating chore he had to do. He was played little to clean up other people's messes.
And it didnt just end there, he hated his life. He was single and unmarried a long time, even if he was gay. He tried to be an novel writer, but he never got to attend college. And his parents thought he was a waste of space in their basement. At this point they might be dead from old age, but jerald never checked.
Jerald was cleaning the platform like usually, thankfully there was a light rainfall that night which did help with some of the cleaning and made some relaxing sounds. It was also a full moon which was also neat.
As Jerald continued with his sweeping, he heard the sound of ringing. It was the landline phone in the station office, why would someone call in the dead of night. As Jerald went in the office and picked up the phone, he only heard static. But as he was about to hang up, he heard the words, "Do you want to go Elsewhere?". Jerald has heard of the rumors that local teens gossip about. One would be about the Elsewhere Express that can make dreams come true or whatever it did.
"Sure, why the hell not!" Jerald replied, he was mostly kidding, but a part of him truly did want to be somewhere else, doing something else than cleaning the train station.
Jerald was caught of guard by the loud horn of a train coming to the station. But it wasn't the usual train. This one looked old, made of black metal and decorated in dark shades of green. On the side it read "Elsewhere Express". Ornatly written in a legible font with the symbol of a butterfly next to it.
Jerald didnt believe this could happen, a magic train just appeared right before him. This could get his ticket out of here, out of this crummy station and pitiful job. He stood before the doors leading to the inside of the train cars as they began to open. Jerald looked backed at all he would be leaving behind, he wouldn't miss much.
As he stepped into the entrance cabin, the lights flickered on and the doors shut, the station moving out of frame and out view. Herald looked one last time before the train entered a tunnel and blocked the view.
Inside the small cabin was a table, covered in small papers and pens. Above it was a small golden plaque mounted on the wall. Etched into it was "what is your Final destination?", below the question was a slit big enough to slide papers through.
Jerald took a paper and pen and he began to write. "Anywhere but here" read his paper before inserting it into the slot, just as he did. The door leading to the main room of the cabin unlocked. Jerald was interested as to where it would lead.