Hey there, DETECTIVES! DETECTIVE WRITER here! Since I’m taking a little break from my usual author interviews, I thought I’d switch things up and bring you a short story of my own.

This week, we’re diving into a mystery thriller called “The Last Passenger.”

Myra is traveling alone on a late-night train when a mysterious woman appears carrying something Myra never expected to see—a photograph of herself.

What begins as an ordinary train ride quickly turns into a mystery involving a long-lost family member, a forgotten secret, and a message that could change everything Myra thought she knew.

So, DETECTIVES, settle in and see if you can figure out the mystery before Myra does.

The train was supposed to leave at 11:45 p.m.

By 11:50, there were only three people left on the platform.

Myra checked the station clock again.

11:51.

She pulled her coat tighter around herself and glanced down the empty tracks. The station had been nearly deserted when she arrived, but now even the security guard had disappeared.

Then she heard footsteps.

A man stood at the opposite end of the platform.

Black coat.

Gray scarf.

Watching her.

Myra looked away.

When she looked back, he was gone.

The train finally arrived with a metallic screech.

She stepped inside.

Only one other passenger was aboard—a woman sitting alone at the far end of the car.

Myra sat several rows away.

The doors closed.

The train began moving.

For several minutes, neither woman spoke.

Then Myra noticed something.

The woman was holding a photograph.

And Myra recognized the face in it.

Her own.

Myra's stomach tightened.

She stood.

"Where did you get that?"

The woman slowly looked up.

"You don't remember me?"

Myra stared at her.

"No."

The woman smiled sadly.

"You wouldn't."

She turned the photograph around.

On the back was a date.

October 14, 2011.

Myra froze.

That was the night her older sister disappeared.

A sister everyone had told her had run away.

A sister Myra had spent years believing was dead.

"Who are you?" Myra whispered.

The woman stood.

"I was the last person who saw your sister."

The train suddenly went dark.

Myra heard a scream.

Then the lights returned.

The woman was gone.

So was the photograph.

But on Myra's seat was a folded piece of paper.

Three words were written across it:

She never left.