The metal chains and bondages were clanging. The wheels were losing grip and threatened to rebel against its predestined path. Every moment was filled with pregnant silence as each individual as terrifying sounds wrapped around each head. The atmosphere erupted into figures of panic as we realized what was happening. The carriage started tipping precariously to the right. Luggage flung in various directions; whether by flurried minds or the unorthodox movement of the carriage we will never know. My fingers clung onto the arm rest. All my concentration was centered on my knuckles morphing to white.
People say your life flashes by when encountering death. All I could see were my tears and frustration because I didn’t know why they were present. Refusing to admit that I was paralyzed by fear, I stood. I regretted my decision immediately. The momentum of our carriage crashing into the one in front of us resulted in involuntary reactions of bodies being flicked, as a finger would a minuscule paper ball, onto the nearest surface.
My head hit, what is now only rubble, a metal wall. My torso convulsed from the impact. My eyes threatened to shut. Fear ripped through my nervous system. I forced my lids to stay open. Before we could inhale, the carriage toppled and landed right side down on the ground. Already on the right side initially, I didn't have far to fall. Those who were on the left could not say the same.
The art of physics are too complicated to grasp but by tipping to the right, reacting forces pushed the opposite direction. Before my own eyes, conscious and unconscious beings broke and flew out the window to the exterior. With the meager senses I had left I realized that continuous crashing of glass and metal hitting soil from the front signaled a domino effect. Fear held me by the leash knowing we were but a breath's away from danger.
Within a heartbeat, every carriage of the train had formed a parallel formation, horizontal against the track. We braced for yet another impact. Mouths formed to emit screams. Facial grooves formed pain, fear, shock. Dread. Dread damped itself onto every individual. I saw everything happening, every second magnified, every sound non-existent. The roof and floor of our cabin slammed in towards each other. It formed a suffocating cocoon. Carriages burst into each other, forming a mesh, a collage of white and broken orange stripes.
Heavy darkness sank on me. It took everything in me to picture Maya, in my arms. Screaming for my brain to move any part of me only in vain. Every inch of me was disappearing. I knew I couldn't keep the image of my baby much longer. Her body faded into just her face. I concentrated on her smile, blinding with overflowing joy. Her hazel eyes were the last thing I saw, milky and soft, inviting me to never leave her gaze.
101 people died on the 3rd of June 1998 in the Eschede train disaster caused by a fracture in the wheel. In memory of those who tried to fight to survive, to go back to their friends and families. To witness, experience and withstand terror, holding on in hopes to see their loved ones.
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