Midnight Express Summary
Midnight Express is a short horror story written by Alfred Noyes. It is a story of a young boy named Mortimer. He found a book in his father is library. The book was a battered all book bound in red leather. He took the book to his bedroom and started to read by Candle light. He liked reading books. Mortimer was attracted by the old damaged book. The book had a story called ‘the’ midnight Express’. Mortimer never read the book beyond page fifty because, a picture on page fifty, threatened his for some reason. The picture showed empty railway station at night lit by dull lamp. A man stood under the lamp with his face turning towards the black mouth of a tunnel, Mortimer forgets about the book for years until one midnight when he was waiting for a train in a dark empty Junction. Now Mortimer was a young man. While standing in the station, Mortimer noticed a dark and lonely figure he knew. The figure faced the black mouth of a tunnel. It was the same figure, Mortimer had seen in the old book on page fifty. Mortimer was horrified. There was sense of chill. Mortimer walked towards the figure and looked into its face. He was shocked because he was staring into his own face. Mortimer started to run. He went out of the platform and rushed down a moonlit road. He could hear his own footsteps. He paused for a moment and began to run again soon, he finds a white cottage and knock the door for shelter. A shadowy man with a candle opens the wooden door and welcomes him inside. Mortimer was so scared, he moves inside the house. The shadowy figure took Mortimer to an upper room. There was an armchair and Oak table on the table was an old damaged book in red leather. Mortimer collapsed into the armchair and picked the book. He was shocked because it was the same book from his childhood. The turned the pages of the book and began to read. The story was about a man who in his childhood had read a book with a frightening picture. Mortimer was scared and shocked. He thinks about the shadowy figure. At that some time door opened and the man came in Mortimer sitting on the armchair felt a chill run Up his spine when he realized that the shadowy figure was of his own. Mortimer realized he was looking at himself. The clock ticked in the hall below and sea was roaring outside. The story ends with candlelight flickering and the book lying open on the table.
The story is about a dream or a nightmare. The story has an abrupt ending. The story can be taken as a childhood fear or hallucination. The atmosphere built in the story is very eerie.