LOVE WINS ERA · THINK ABOUT THIS

Train Chronicles

Fri, 11 Sep 2026

You would think I would be used to it by now.

The pattern is always the same. The ending is always the same. I don't know why I still allow myself to believe it could ever be different this time.

Even the sound of the train in the distance isn't enough to stop me.

The whistle is unmistakable in its warning. There will be no mercy. There never is.

I know how devastating the aftermath will be. I only pray the end comes quickly this time, unlike the last few times I found myself here.

And still, I lay there with my ear pressed against the track.

I am aware of how calm I feel.

My heart pounds loudly enough to drown out the rumbling of the ground beneath me, but through the steel I can feel it coming.

The vibration reaches me before the train does.

At first, it is barely there. A low frequency traveling through the rail and into my bones. As it grows stronger, something in me begins to answer it.

I know this frequency.

For one fleeting moment, there is something almost sacred in it. As if somewhere between the pounding of my heart and the trembling of the steel, we've stumbled upon that secret chord David played.

Two separate things resonating at precisely the same frequency.

In tune.

It never lasts long enough.

The whistle sounds again.

Closer now.

I should move.

I don't.

The vibration grows stronger. My heart races to meet it, until I can no longer tell which rhythm belongs to me and which belongs to the train.

Then the light finds me.

I am not blinded by it.

I am hypnotized.

It washes over me until there is nothing beyond its brilliance. No past collisions. No aftermath waiting on the other side. No reason to run.

Only this.

The vibration.

The light.

That impossibly brief frequency where two things become perfectly in tune.

Closer.

Until there is no distance left between us—

I bolt upright.

Gasping.

Sweat clings to my skin. My heart pounds violently against my ribs.

My bed.

My room.

Alone.

👀 Stay tuned for more stories.

Brandy Lee Novak

42 Degrees From Here | Love Wins Era