''All aboard the Infinity Train! Next stop, last Thursday!''

My throat felt tight and dry as I looked up at the steam train. It looked in pretty good shape for a train made in 1823, according to the booklet I'd been reading while I waited for it to arrive. The Infinity Train. A bit clich, to be honest. The train was painted a deep, forest green like one I had as a child. This is crazy, I thought. I can't get on a train that travels through time! I could end up anywhere! Besides, how can I trust tickets I got in the post? I very nearly walked away and went home. I definitely considered it. Just as I was about to turn around, I felt a hand hit me, square in the back (with quite a bit of force, mind you.)

''You getting on, mister?" said the hand. Or rather, the person attached to it. My indignant response was a waste of breath as I was pushed onto the train.

''Do you mind?!'' I huffed at the stranger. As he sauntered off to the far end of the train, I was almost sure I saw...a tail? Was that a tail sticking out from underneath his shirt?! I chided myself for letting my imagination run wild. He'd disappeared by now anyway, and I certainly wasn't going to go looking for that madman for any reason. I rubbed the sore spot on my back. Ouch. That was going to bruise, no doubt.

The train looked no more modern on the inside than the outside. To my left, there was the door to the engine room, to my right, the door leading to the first carriage. The door leading back to the platform was still open; nothing was stopping me getting off this train and going back home just in time for the 6pm news and a hot cup of tea. Maybe that was the reason I stayed. Truth was, I was fed up with watching the news. I was bloody well sick of it. Tea, though, I was rather fond of. I pulled open, with some difficulty, the sliding door leading to the first carriage. Nothing could've prepared me for what I saw.

Ghosts and ghouls! Monsters and aliens of all shapes and sizes! My mouth opened wide as if to scream but no sound came out. I could only stand with my eyes open as wide as my mouth, my heart beating so fast I could hardly hear the commotion from the creatures in the seats. Why did I think this would be a good idea?! In a daze, I staggered back a few steps and slammed the door so forcefully I thought it might break. Pressing my forehead up against the wall next to the door, I closed my eyes in an attempt to gather my thoughts. It was a tail, then. The man had actually had a tail. Was it even a man? That settled it. There was no way I was staying on this portable freak show! I turned to leave. The door I was pushed through by the man with the tail was shut tight