Sometimes you need to go downtown late at night on a weekday. Uber is fcking expensive, and we’re boycotting them now because of Trump ties. Taxis are hard to come by. So you take the train… but tbh, it’s a little spooky.

I needed to get downtown to see bae. It was 12:43 am and school hadn’t been canceled yet, but I knew in my heart of hearts that it would be. We were going to have a snow day, and I sure as heck wasn’t spending it (alone) in bed.

Uber was looking like a $20 ride and I don’t know how to use the Lyft app. Not a car was in sight on the road. So, I popped a xan and took the train.

The first strange thing I noticed was the slickness of the stairs leading down to the 116th street station. It was as if a slimy animal, like a giant slug, had rolled all over them. Gross. I also knew it was just water.

Swiping in was easy–too easy–and that was another strange thing. I passed through the turnstile on the very first try.

I descended the stairs, and took note of the lonely assortment of late night 1 train travelers. The next train was 11 minutes away (the longest I’ve ever had to wait!), and my fellow travelers were slumped in chairs, talking to themselves, listening to music.

In the center express track was an incredibly long, unlit, and abandoned train. What the fuck, I thought, remembering the show Thomas The Tank Engine from my childhood, and knowing that trains sleep in houses at night. Why is this train sleeping here?

Suddenly, I heard a whooshing coming from the north tunnel. Was the 1 train here already? No; it was still 9 minutes away. Slowly and surely, an entirely empty/abandoned train came rolling down the center express track. Who was driving it?

With a slow screech, the train ground to a halt, and connected itself to the train in front of it. Now it looked like there was just one endless train, stretching all the way from the north side of the station to the south tunnel entrance. The second train’s lights went out as it went to sleep.

The station grew eerily quiet. With a sinking feeling, I realized that I’d just imagined the other people in the station earlier. I was entirely alone. The sign announcing the 1 train arrival now said that it wouldn’t arrive for another 25 minutes. What? Had I entered a parallel universe? As a Stranger Things adherent, the prospect terrified me.

I closed my eyes and prayed to Alma. I opened them, and I was at an NYU bar playing pool with bae. Wow, that was weird, I thought. I guess I made it. Maybe the late night 1 train isn’t so bad, after all. 

The problem is, I’ll never know which parallel universe I’m in, and if it’s the right one. Guess I just have to believe.

Photo via marcostrain on Wikimedia Commons