He trusted his own note. He stayed quiet, avoided the conductor, and got off at the third stop. The doors opened onto a sunny platform with a sign that read "Veliska." A woman waited there, holding an old photo of the two of them. "You made it," she said. His memory came rushing back, and he was finally home.

He crumpled the note. "I don't take orders from a stranger," he muttered, even if the stranger was himself. The conductor appeared at his side, smiling too wide. "Wise of you to stay," it said. The train sped past the third stop and into a long, dark tunnel that never seemed to end. He had missed his only way off.