The train rumbles across the bridge, sparks dancing from the wheels as it traverses the steel latticework, the river below a distant sheen, an expanse of glass. My fingers brush the cool windowpane, feeling the thrum of the engine, the shaking of the carriages, as if the bridge itself is alive, quivering underfoot.

"You don't know where we're going?" a woman's voice, soft and curious, floats from the seat across the aisle from me. I turn to see a young woman, her hair a wild tangle of brown curls, her eyes wide and full of wonder.

"I don't," I admit, my voice barely a whisper. "I boarded without a destination in mind. Just wanted to see where it takes me."

She laughs, a melodic sound, and I feel something shift inside me, a stirring, a sense of possibility. "Well, I'm glad you did," she says, her smile bright and inviting. "Maybe we can find our way together."

As she speaks, the train shudders violently, the lights flickering, and I feel a strange sensation, as if time itself is warping around us. The bridge outside seems to dissolve, to melt away into a swirling vortex, a portal to somewhere else, somewhere other. I reach out instinctively, my hand finding the woman