🚂 “The Red Signal”
The forest around Vandhara Loop was the kind that swallowed sound. Even the crickets were silent there.
It was 1:30 a.m. when the freight train stopped — an abrupt, metallic sigh in the middle of nowhere.
The signal ahead glowed red, the color slicing through fog like a wound.
Raghavan, the senior driver, rubbed his eyes and checked the watch. “Strange,” he muttered. “This track hasn’t had a night signal in years.”
Beside him, the younger driver, Deepak, looked out the window. The trees leaned close, wet with mist. “Maybe it’s a fault,” he said.
Raghavan grunted, leaning back. “You watch the light. I’ll rest for a bit. Wake me when it turns green.”
Deepak nodded. He adjusted the throttle, his eyes fixed on the unmoving signal ahead. The rhythmic tick of the engine was the only sound.
Then — a tap on the glass.
He turned.
An old woman stood outside the driver’s cabin, her white hair plastered to her face by the rain. Her eyes, black and bottomless, stared straight at him.
Deepak’s stomach twisted. The nearest village was 20 kilometers away. No roads. No lights.
“Ammā…” he stammered, sliding the window open a crack. “What are you doing here at this hour?”
Her voice came soft, trembling.
“I live here… alone. Please, son, some food… I haven’t eaten in days.”
Something about her tone cracked his fear — she sounded human. He reached for his tiffin box, lifting it toward her outstretched hands.
Then, a rough grip seized his wrist.
Raghavan — now wide awake — yanked his hand back. His voice was sharp, trembling.
“Are you mad? Think, boy! This window is ten feet above the ground. How is she at eye level?”
Deepak froze.
The woman’s face twisted — lips stretching, eyes widening, as if the skin itself was remembering how to scream. Her voice deepened, echoing in the cabin like wind through a tunnel.
“Hungry… still hungry…”
The two men slammed the window shut. The train shuddered as if struck. The red signal ahead began to flicker — red, then black, then red again.
Then the forest went silent. Completely.
When dawn came, the freight train was found still standing at the same signal. The controls were untouched.
But both drivers sat upright in their seats — eyes open, mouths frozen mid-breath — like statues carved from fear itself.
And the signal light?
It was green.
Only, no one remembers setting it that way.
The end: They were killed brutally , their brains had eaten and their stomachs were pierced and their eyes were buckled out . Who did this ? It was a devil named *kanmani*. ButWhy ? Because they haven't made their deposit in stake from the last 3 months.😁
Stake id : Bhuvana12