all_unwritten #182: "alone on the subway"
Title: Come to Me and I Will Give You Rest
Author: kingzgurl
Rating: PG
Word Count: 520
For all_unwritten , prompt the one hundred and eighty-second: “alone on the subway”
***
In the early hours of the morning, over an hour before morning rush hour and women and men crowding into the subway cars like sardines shoved into a can, she was alone on the subway. It was a bizarrely surreal moment that would make most anxious and uncomfortable, but she found it tranquil and calming.
Her thoughts, which usually ran ninety miles a minute during the daytime hours, were quiet. A deep breath and her ipod in her ears further added to the growing sense of contentment she basked in. Seated in the far corner of the car with her knees drawn up to her chin, she watched the walls of the tunnels pass with unfocused eyes.
Stops passed one by one. She did not count the stops, nor watch to see when she would get off. Instead, she sat back and waited patiently. Something was coming; she could feel it in her bones.
Finally, someone stepped into the car she was seated in.
He sat down heavily in a seat midway down the car, dropping his bag uncaringly onto the floor, and leaned back against the window with his body in profile to where she was seated. She watched as he sighed in exhaustion, a sound she was all-too familiar with, and closed his eyes, resting the crown of his head against the cool glass as if to take some comfort from it, the window supporting what his shoulders and neck no longer could.
He was young, she noticed right away, about her age, although he was significantly thinner, with buzzed blonde hair that showed remnants of color in it, although what color she couldn’t tell from the distance. His shoulders shook with every ragged breath he took, as if he was crying. Minutes passed slowly on the silent train, the boy’s shaking getting worse before it eventually subsided, the girl never drawing her eyes away from him.
Even after his body stilled he rested his head against the window. Like her, he took to the calm and silence in the relative privacy of the subway car, relieving himself of his burdens, if only for a moment.
Many stops later, just as dawn drew near, he lifted his head from the glass signaling it was time for him to once again take up the weight he carried. Opening his eyes, he stood on sturdy legs and hefted his bag from the floor, leaving the subway car as soon as the doors slid to the side.
She watched him move through the crowd of morning commuters until she lost sight of him. She would never know who he was, where he was going, or the burdens that he carried, but his image would remain etched in her memory for the rest of her life.
For years after she returned home in the late afternoon that day, the image of a young boy willingly continuing on his journey through life with the weight of the world on his shoulders always reminded her that no matter what happened, she possessed the strength to continue on.
Author: kingzgurl
Rating: PG
Word Count: 520
For all_unwritten , prompt the one hundred and eighty-second: “alone on the subway”
***
In the early hours of the morning, over an hour before morning rush hour and women and men crowding into the subway cars like sardines shoved into a can, she was alone on the subway. It was a bizarrely surreal moment that would make most anxious and uncomfortable, but she found it tranquil and calming.
Her thoughts, which usually ran ninety miles a minute during the daytime hours, were quiet. A deep breath and her ipod in her ears further added to the growing sense of contentment she basked in. Seated in the far corner of the car with her knees drawn up to her chin, she watched the walls of the tunnels pass with unfocused eyes.
Stops passed one by one. She did not count the stops, nor watch to see when she would get off. Instead, she sat back and waited patiently. Something was coming; she could feel it in her bones.
Finally, someone stepped into the car she was seated in.
He sat down heavily in a seat midway down the car, dropping his bag uncaringly onto the floor, and leaned back against the window with his body in profile to where she was seated. She watched as he sighed in exhaustion, a sound she was all-too familiar with, and closed his eyes, resting the crown of his head against the cool glass as if to take some comfort from it, the window supporting what his shoulders and neck no longer could.
He was young, she noticed right away, about her age, although he was significantly thinner, with buzzed blonde hair that showed remnants of color in it, although what color she couldn’t tell from the distance. His shoulders shook with every ragged breath he took, as if he was crying. Minutes passed slowly on the silent train, the boy’s shaking getting worse before it eventually subsided, the girl never drawing her eyes away from him.
Even after his body stilled he rested his head against the window. Like her, he took to the calm and silence in the relative privacy of the subway car, relieving himself of his burdens, if only for a moment.
Many stops later, just as dawn drew near, he lifted his head from the glass signaling it was time for him to once again take up the weight he carried. Opening his eyes, he stood on sturdy legs and hefted his bag from the floor, leaving the subway car as soon as the doors slid to the side.
She watched him move through the crowd of morning commuters until she lost sight of him. She would never know who he was, where he was going, or the burdens that he carried, but his image would remain etched in her memory for the rest of her life.
For years after she returned home in the late afternoon that day, the image of a young boy willingly continuing on his journey through life with the weight of the world on his shoulders always reminded her that no matter what happened, she possessed the strength to continue on.