Chapter 7: After the Last Train Left, I Was the Only One Remaining at the Station

The clock read 10:08 p.m. One minute left. There were only three people on the platform now. Me. The boy. And the station attendant. Only two lines remained on the departure board. SCHEDULED TO DIE: 0 INTRUDERS: 1 The deaths of the five had already been canceled. More precisely from all the versions of “yesterday” this station had repeated over and over again I had chosen a future where they didn't die. That was the truth behind the retries. This station hadn't been turning back time. It had been recreating the future just before death again and again. And every time one contradiction remained at the end. The boy. A person who had died one year ago whom I had brought to this place. That was why no matter how many times we tried again the world's calculations never added up. “There's still time.” The station attendant spoke. “Please return the intruder to his original time of death.” The boy looked at me. “So that means...” His voice trembled. “I have to die again, right?” I didn't answer. I couldn't. The clock kept moving. 10:08:31 p.m. The boy gave a faint smile. “It's okay.” “What?” “It's okay.” The boy stared across the tracks. “I died a year ago, right?” “Then I'm just going back.” No. It wasn't that simple. For an entire year I had been running from that day. If only I'd been a few seconds faster. If only I'd noticed sooner. If only I had reached out that day. I had thought about it thousands of times. That was why I accepted that ticket. A station where you could cancel the death of one person. If such a place really existed I thought I would do anything. And so I summoned the station. To save the boy. But now I understood. What this station had given me wasn't a miracle. It was a choice. Erase someone's death and someone else had to take on the contradiction. That was all. 10:08:44 p.m. I pulled the old ticket from my pocket. On the back in my own handwriting were these words. NEVER CHOOSE THE SIXTH PERSON. At last I understood what they meant. The person who wrote them wasn't yesterday's me. It was the first me. The me from before all the repetitions began. On the first retry I chose the boy. I returned him to his original death. The station returned to normal. I made it home alive. But the next morning I saw the article about the boy's accident and remembered everything. I couldn't bear it. So I summoned the station again. The next time was the same. I chose the boy made it home alive regretted it and summoned the station again. Over and over. That was why I had left a message for my future self. NEVER CHOOSE THE SIXTH PERSON. So that this time I could make a different choice. 10:08:53 p.m. I held out the ticket to the station attendant. “I choose the second option.” The station attendant didn't move. “Please confirm.” “The person who summoned this station will inherit the intruder's death.” “Yes.” The boy grabbed my arm. “Wait.” “I never asked you to do that.” For the first time I looked straight at his face. The face I had failed to save one year ago. The face I had seen in my dreams again and again. But the boy standing before me now wasn't the boy from my memories. Even though he had lost an entire year he had thought felt fear and tried to stop me right here. He was alive. “I'm not doing this just for you.” I spoke. “I want to end this.” 10:08:58 p.m. The departure board changed. INTRUDERS: 0 SCHEDULED TO DIE: 1 Below that my name appeared. TIME OF DEATH: 10:09 P.M. The boy screamed. At that instant the second hand reached twelve. But nothing happened. I was still standing. The boy was still there. The station hadn't disappeared. “What does this mean?” I looked at the station attendant. But for the first time he was smiling. “The correction has been completed.” The departure board changed once more. SCHEDULED TO DIE: 0 SERVICE ENDED I held my breath. “I'm not going to die?” The station attendant shook his head. “What you inherited was not his death.” “Then what was it?” “The fact that he died.” I didn't understand. From somewhere in the distance I heard a train. A white train pulled into the platform. Its destination display showed only one word. LIVING WORLD The doors opened. The station attendant looked at the boy. “Please board.” The boy looked at me. “What about him?” The station attendant didn't answer. I understood. What I had inherited was the world's record that the boy had died. From now on in this world the person who died one year ago wouldn't be the boy. It would be me. The boy could return. But there was no world for me to return to. My home. My job. My name. The memories of everyone who knew me. All of it would become something that had never existed in the first place. “Go.” I pushed the boy gently toward the train. “But...” “It's the last train.” Crying the boy boarded. Just before the doors closed he shouted. “Your name!” “What?” “Tell me your name!” I tried to answer. But I couldn't remember my own name. It was already gone. The doors closed. The train began to move. The boy disappeared into the darkness. Only the station attendant and I remained on the platform. “Is it over?” I asked. The station attendant removed his cap and bowed deeply. “Yes.” “You will never summon this station again.” One by one the lights went out. The ticket gates disappeared. The clock disappeared. The tracks disappeared. Finally the station attendant disappeared too. I alone remained in the darkness. I don't know how much time passed. Suddenly I heard something in the distance. The sound of a train braking. I opened my eyes. I was at an unfamiliar station. Morning sunlight streamed onto the platform. Crowds of people walked past. A boy who looked about high-school age ran past me. For just a moment our eyes met. It was him. But he didn't know me. Of course he didn't. In this world I had died one year ago. His friends called to him and he ran off laughing. I watched him go. Something made a sound inside my pocket. The old ticket. Words were appearing on it. SERVICE ENDED NUMBER OF RETRIES: 7 PEOPLE SAVED: 6 Then one final sentence appeared beneath them. “YOU ARE ALSO INCLUDED AMONG THOSE TO BE SAVED.” I looked up. Across the platform a single-car train was waiting. There was no destination displayed. Only its doors stood quietly open. After hesitating for a moment I boarded the train. The doors closed. There was no need to try again anymore. The train began to move. Outside the window the morning city slowly faded into the distance. I didn't know where I was going. But there was one thing I knew for certain. At that station where only those destined to die tomorrow get off the last train would never stop again.