In the station

I'm at a major train terminal, in a large hallway full of people. One of them walks from the platform to a doorway and then appears back on the platform, he does this over and over again. All the people have half-blank, half-horrified expressions as they go through a short sequence of actions repeatedly, never getting out of the station. I get the feeling that these are people whose options have narrowed down to such an extent that they have hardly any left at all, and that they are becoming aware of it. I have an awful sense that such a narrowing of options is inescapable but then I realise that there is nothing stopping the people leaving the station, if they chose they could just walk out.