On a chilly autumn afternoon, the 3:15 train to Meadowbrook pulled away from the station, its rhythmic clatter lulling passengers into a soft reverie. Among them were two strangers: Clara, a timid young woman with a stack of books clutched to her chest, and Thomas, an older man lost in thought, his eyes fixed on the landscape flashing by the window.
Clara found a seat near the back of the car, positioning her books against the window as a