This next car is… strange. It stretches out far longer than any train car should, if it ever wanted to make a turn safely on the tracks. Once again, the rows upon rows of seats look completely empty. In the large, scenic windows, however…
Each window you pass bears a different reflection, a fleeting image of Robert’s life as it grows past his father’s death. There’s Robert, alone in the studio, working on his first album, his mustache half-grown. There’s Tony waking up in the hospital, racked with pain and missing an eye but alive.
With each window, you watch Robert and his family slowly piece their lives back together. Repairs finish on the McCay mansion. Robert tries on his first pair of those flowery embroidered jeans, looks in the mirror and finally starts to feel like himself. Robert’s ma meets Tony’s ma, a tall red-headed woman with a brazen smile, and she eventually moves in with them, to save on rent and be with her son and not at all because she thinks Robert’s ma is cute. Robert’s album takes off and he starts playing local gigs. Tony starts to move around more and more, scooting about in wheelchairs and rollators, and the four of them go to Disneyland to celebrate his last day of physical therapy.
Years pass as you walk down the impossibly long corridor, and things settle into a comfortable routine. Mornings spent scanning paperwork in the county courthouse, afternoons spent recording in the studio (with Tony always at the mixer,) weekends playing music in local bars or festivals, dinner always spent with the people he loves so dearly. There’s a glimpse over Robert’s shoulder during a break at the office, looking at engagement rings on his phone…
Oh. Here’s the end of the corridor, and the door to the engine. Is it time to go already—
Hikaru feels an arm wrap in a headlock against his throat, pulling him off balance, and the chill of a shaky iron barrel against his temple. Over their shoulder, you see a freckled face appear, wearing a black hat and blue bandana.
“Hands up, lil’ piggy. Y’all ain’t getting past me that easy!”
One last bandit remains…
