The lantern's blue flame struggled, flickering violently in Evelyn's shaking hands.It wasn't just reacting to fear — the darkness itself was trying to blow it out, like a predator annoyed that its prey had brought a tiny weapon.
Alex, Leo, Sophie, and Evelyn squeezed together as the "carriage" groaned and shifted around them.The walls weren't walls.They were ribs.Curved, grating against one another like they were breathing.
Leo wiped blood from his leg where the hand had grabbed him.His voice cracked: "If this is… a stomach… where's the mouth?"
A low rumble answered him.The floor vibrated.The air thickened.
Sophie gasped, "Why did you say that?!"
Alex squeezed her hand. "It's okay. Just—keep the lantern up. Watch for—"
He didn't finish.
Because the "floor" in front of them unzipped.
Not like a door opening.Not like a hatch sliding.
No.
It peeled, slowly and wetly, like skin tearing open.Fleshy strands stretched, snapped, oozed.
And underneath…A hole.
Circular.Lined with jagged white fragments.
Teeth.
Hundreds of them.
All pointed inward.
Evelyn whispered, barely able to breathe: "That's a mouth. That's a mouth—"
The mouth exhaled.
A hot, rotten stench blasted them, so strong Sophie choked and fell to her knees.
The blue flame flickered violently.
The darkness crooned:
"YoU wAnTeD tO kNoW tHe EnD…"
Alex yanked Sophie up. "DON'T LISTEN!"
But the voice continued, vibrating through their bones:
"ThE dEaD… dOn'T gEt tO lEaVe."
Suddenly the ribs snapped inward—like a cage closing.
Leo screamed, "IT'S TRYING TO CRUSH US—MOVE!!"
They ran.
But the floor wasn't solid anymore.It heaved like the tongue of a giant beast, forcing them back toward the mouth.
Flesh slapped under their shoes.Every step stuck slightly, like the train wanted to glue them down.
The mouth widened.
Its inner throat rippled, opening and closing like something hungry waking from a long sleep.
Evelyn held the lantern high—
A surge of blue light erupted outward.
The ribs froze.The tongue shuddered.The mouth stopped stretching.
The flame grew — stronger than before, brighter, almost white.
Alex shouted, amazed, "Evelyn! What did you do!?"
But Evelyn wasn't answering.
She was staring at the lantern, jaw trembling.
Inside the flame…A face was forming.
An eye.Then another.And another.
A distorted whisper came from the flame:
"Y o U C a N n O t S a V e T h E m."
Evelyn dropped it instinctively — but the lantern didn't fall.
It floated.
And the flame — the face inside — smiled.
Leo stuttered, "Evelyn… t-that's not your lantern anymore…"
Evelyn stepped back, trembling."It's… it's possessed. The Heart… it's inside the flame."
The flame spoke again, voice layered and wrong:
"B u T S h E C a N C o n d e M n T h e m."
The lantern exploded with light—so bright the monstrous mouth screamed and snapped shut.
The entire car shuddered violently.
Then—
Slowly…
The world reassembled around them.
The mouth was gone.The ribs were gone.The eyes, the teeth, everything… gone.
They were standing in a normal train car again.
Except—
Evelyn wasn't holding the lantern.
It floated beside her, whispering.
Sophie whispered, terrified:
"Evelyn… it's following you."
Evelyn didn't answer.
She just stared at the lantern with a hollow, terrified expression…
Because she could hear the whispers louder than the others.
Because the flame wasn't just glowing.
It was breathing.