The Signal Below
A railway signalman hears warnings no bell has sent. A visiting engineer promises help—then watches the warning come true.
The bell inside the signal box rang once.
Elias stared at it. No wire had moved.
Then a voice from the tunnel called, “Below there! Look out!”
Did someone call you?
You heard nothing?
Mara listened. Rain tapped the roof. The cutting below was empty.
Only the weather.
Elias lifted his lamp and studied the red signal beside the tunnel.
That is how it begins.
Mara had climbed down to inspect the line, not a frightened man.
How what begins?
A figure stands by that light and covers its face with one arm.
With the other, it waves as if the whole world must stop.
A trespasser? A worker?
I ran into the tunnel the first time. There was nobody there.
His hand hovered over the silent bell.
Six hours later, two trains struck beyond the bend.
The warning always comes before someone dies.