The Man in the subway

The rumbling of a subway train passing through. Its lunchtime, people are packed inside the subway station. The muffled noise of the television that’s only discernible to the most attentive of passers-by.

Sitting comfortably on a secluded neon orange seat in the subway, dressed in a plain black shirt. Covered with a black hoodie paired with a pair of washed-out jeans, gazing at passer-by transiting through the stations.

“The search for the missing girl, Samantha is still ongoing. Police have reasons to believe that the kidnapper is still in the metro area. The police urge the public to come forward with any information that they have pertaining to the kidnapping.” The television plays.

“Some onlookers stopped others pass treating it as normal occurrence. They rather be somewhere else, thinking of something other than their fellow human being. It’s the sorry state of our society now, everyone is numb to tragic event. They see it daily on the news, in the papers and on social media. There’s been an abundance of grim news in this sick sad little world. There’s only so much sympathy and empathy to go around.” Gordon thought to himself.

A train stopped.

The train door opened, and people pour out of the train like water that been trapped behind a sluice gate.

Gordon watched as people pass by, moving in and out of the train and up to the world above. It’s a symphony of movement in the subway station. It was one of Gordon guilty pleasure. He remembered the movement of a mechanical clock that his grandfather used to build when he was little. It brought him joy and satisfaction seeing things work perfectly in sync, so does watching people in the subway for him, regularly they move like clockwork occasionally they don’t. The unpredictability of humans makes it interesting for him.

Intermittently, one person will stray from their intended path. When that happened Gordon is intrigued, he started to muse on every possible event that might occur to that person. Sometimes he follows them if it piques his interest enough. Seldom he finds something interesting that makes his stalking worthwhile.

Years of watching people makes him adept at reading people body language, the phrase, reading people like a book suit him perfectly. He could tell if people were anxious, angry, and have a lot on their mind by the way they pose themselves. He can spot the face of lovelorn couples’ miles away.

Another train stopped.

The same procedures and motion occur. Among the crowds of people, Gordon spotted someone ominous. The figure was anxious at first sight. Looking down most of the time, periodically checking side to side and behind. The figure was hunched with a beige overcoat collar raised up even though it’s not chilly in here.

Gordon was intrigued, he watched the figure shuffling through the crowd, wading through people in a hurry. He sat up from his seat and started to shadow the figure. Gordon kept five steps behind the figure; it helps him incognito and keep pace with the figure.

The figure exits the subway station, went left, and continue straight. Gordon followed, through the seemingly familiar neighbourhood, the figure turns right into an alleyway.

Gordon stopped and hid himself behind a corner. The figure walked further into the alleyway, stopped at a half-filled dumpster. The figure pushed it aside, revealing a door, a mouldy door and by that hasn't been opened for years.

The figure checks his surrounding once again, Gordon sticks himself onto the wall hoping the figure wouldn't notice. Gordon peers again, this time the figure was gone.

Uh, interesting

He makes haste to the door, the door creaked slightly.

Why do they always make that noise?

The other side of the door revealed an abandoned slaughterhouse, dark, damp with the sound of a constant drop of water. He tuned his ear to hear any footsteps that might give him clue to the location of the figure.

The discernible sound of a footsteps stomping through a puddle. Gordon walked slowly and methodically avoiding any startling sounds that might alert the figure. He saw a lit room upstairs, outside of the door to the room a shadowy figure entering the room. Gordon watched, trying to catch a glimpse of a face but he could not get a clear view.

Gordon crept slowly through the puddle and onto the suspended steel walkway. Gordon crept closer, he stopped then he heard a faint sound of sobbing, coming from the room. Gordon face was bemused, he knows that this turn of event is getting interesting by the minute.