There were only two men in the last compartment when the train started to move. It was the compartment of quite people. People who like silence had always preferred the last compartment, because it was impossible to hear the roaring engines from there. The man with a dark blue suit was wearing rectangular glasses. He looked like a serious person. The brown beard covering his cheeks, his steel blue eyes, and finally his small rectangular glasses made him look serious. Everybody could easily think that he was a very important person -- everybody but Sherlock Holmes. Only he could understand that the man was an ordinary fellow. He was quite fat and rather short, and was probably returning home from his office. He was sitting by the window thoughtfully until he was interrupted by the other man in the compartment. He first noticed the guy opposite to him at that time. The man, who was wearing a black suite and black sun glasses on that winter day, was extremely suspicious-looking. He had got a snub nose and double chin. His cheeks were covered with freckles and he had a tall-hat on his head. His thin and arched eyebrows gave him a fateful face.
"DID YOU KNOW THERE COULD BE SUFFERING FAR WORSE THAN
DEATH?" said the man.
"Oh really?" said the first man while he was thinking:
"I must have one of those faces. Whenever I get on a train some nutter wants to
tell me story of his life."
"I'd like to tell you a true story." explained the man.
"It was a wet and cold winter day, like this. There were two people in the room
sitting beside the table. The table was full of rich food, but none of it was eaten.
Sadness had covered all the room. It was raining heavily and the woman was weeping
quietly."
"Come to the end, please!" said the first man, with curiosity. "I haven't got enough time for a long story."
"O.K. Don't worry about it. I'll finish my story before you get off." said the suspicious man and continued his story: "As I said before there were only two people in the room; a man and his wife, They were neither very rich nor poor. They had a big old cottage which had been inherited by the man, who was a bank accountant. In fact, they had been very happy in their life."
"But why were they so sad on that rainy day?" interrupted the first man.
"I'll tell you." continued the second man.
"They had had a daughter, and they had
loved her very much, Let's say their names were Mr. and
Mrs. A. Every time Mr. A,
had come back home, he always had a present for his daughter. They had had a lot of
difficulties in bringing her up. They had protected her from all badness of the outer
world. Well, the bad things had begun five years before. That tragic day had been similar
to others except that they lost their daughter in a terrible traffic accident. When,
Mrs. A., who had returned from shopping and wanted to park her car, was backing her car
into the garage, she ran over her own daughter. The poor child died immediately. It
was the beginning of the nightmares for A's family."
"That day was the fifth anniversary of that terrible event. They were sitting by the table without saying one word. The cry of the rain was coming from windows as it had been five years before. The woman's eyes were full of sorrow and fear. She was on the verge of madness. 'If she was alive she would be thirteen now,' she said to herself. The sharp smell of unhappiness turned to drops of tears again. Her middle-aged eyes looked as if they belong to a person who was 80 or 90."
"Then, the thing which had been expected happened: there was a great scream from upstairs. The woman raised her head full of fear. It was clear that she was suffering. 'No, no I can't stand this. I don't want to go there' she exclaimed."
"'We have to go there, I'm sure it's a trick of the wind. We should go there and you have to get rid of those absurd thoughts' whispered the man. His looks were strong enough to melt any opposite ideas. Then, he stood up and held his wife's hand. They both went upstairs."
"After unlocking their daughter's old room's door, they went in. Nothing had been changed since the accident and the door always kept locked. It was quite a big room. Everywhere was full of webs and dust. Baby dolls which were sitting on the bed were smiling sadly. The poor woman went to the wardrobe directly and suddenly stopped in front of it. Her hands were shaking wildly. She closed her eyes and opened the wardrobe hesitantly. Then, she opened her eyes slowly. She was moon-eyed instantly. 'Oh, my God!' she screamed. She was absolutely horrified. 'I didn't want to do this, my baby. I didn't want this at all. I wish I had died instead of you' stammered the woman and burst in to tears."
"She went out of her mind and she wasn't ever cured again. She spent rest of her life in a hospital for mental illness."
"But, what did she see in the wardrobe?" asked the first man in the compartment curiously.
"As a matter of fact, she saw her daughter's wet dress which had been on her when the accident happened. There was some fresh blood on its collar and it was wet from
top to bottom as if someone who had come in from outside had just undressed. This event
had been repeated on every anniversary of the accident over five years and in the end
the woman went out of her mind."
"Come on! Didn't you say that this was a real story? You don't expect me to believe such a story, do you?" claimed the first man anxiously.
"Please calm down my friend." said the suspicious man, while the train was slowing down
to stop at a station. He stood up and get ready to get off. Then he turned to the other
man and said:
"It was the man my friend. It was Mr. A. He had never forgiven his wife. He thought that
the only responsible person for his daughter's death was his wife. He had judged her
himself and found her guilty. He had made that scenario in order to drive his wife
mad. That was his vengeance."
These were the last words of the suspicious man. He turned back and went out of the compartment. "Hey! How do you know all of this?" cried out the first man looking after the suspicious stranger, but he had already disappeared in the darkness of night.
This was the most unusual journey he had ever had, and he thought about the suspicious man and his story during the rest of his journey and fell a sleep.
When he arrived home, he saw a big crowd in front of his house. His heart started to beat rapidly. He ran to the crowd and broke through it. He saw his only daughter who was eight lying on the street just behind his wife's car, and his wife was weeping over her. He remembered that his name was Alan Adams and he was a bank accountant. He dropped the doll he had been carrying and passed out. The doll fell to the street and got wet...
He woke up full of sweat after giving a cry. He was still in the compartment. That was a relief. Then he started to think. He was really affected by the man's story, his story had been exactly corresponded to him. (He was a bank accountant. He had a 8 year old daughter etc.) But, how could that man manage to know all of this and why did he tell him that story?
He tried to think carefully. Then everything become more and more clear. The suspicious man really looked like the father of the girl whom he had struck with his car. The girl hadn't had any serious injuries, but her father had been furious after the accident. He had also threatened him several times. He must have studied all about his life-style, and told him that story to get his revenge. In fact, he had done it quite well.