Kingdom Come

Chapter 3

Kerri had been asleep for a few hours before he finally woke up again. Simon didn't look like he'd slept, but if he had, it hadn't been for very long. He had finally eaten his own granola bar and the wrapper was close to falling out of the pocket of his long coat. He stared with heavy eyelids out of the window as the train started to slow down.

            "Is this our stop?"

            "No," Simon mumbled. His voice sounded like it had a slurring to it. He hadn't been drinking, had he? "We go to the end of the line."

            People entered and exited the train. Kerri watched people come and go. Families reunited on the platform outside, the sunlight glaring against the windows and obscuring their views. Simon must have sensed Kerri waking up sooner than he'd let on. He rummaged in another inside pocket and drew out another breakfast bar that Kerri had never seen before. "What's in it?"

            "Nothing that would make you sick, or else I wouldn't have offered it." Kerri still didn't take the breakfast bar. Did Simon have more to eat? "It's a new kind of granola I found. It's still strawberry, but it's also got cream flavor."

            The train began to speed away from the station. The last few people entering had taken their seats. Kerri took the breakfast bar from Simon, hesitated before he opened it, and then slowly took a bite. He sighed. "I love strawberries."

            "I know."

            "You know everything. It really ruins the mood sometimes." Despite the slight agitation in his voice, Kerri smiled. Simon stared for a moment. What was he looking at? "What?"

            "Nothing." Kerri gritted his teeth, and he felt his smile falter.

            "It's always nothing until it's not."

            "Why are you always so philosophical?"

            "Why not?"

            Simon didn't respond, and they sat in silence for a little while.

            "You know you are allowed to talk to me."

            "I know."

            "Of course you do."

Kerri didn't have to look around to know that people were staring at them. He wished that he could have gone back to sleep, or just not woken up quite yet. Had Simon been enduring this the whole time? Of course, if he had, he would have ignored it. He was always good at ignoring other people. Or fighting them. Simon might have fought them too. Kerri doubted it, or else they would have been kicked off the train, but it was always a possibility with Simon.

            "They're staring," he murmured to Simon.

            "People do that."

            "I don't like it."

            "Just ignore them, Ker."

            "You don't think that they'll call the cops, do you?"

            "I don't think they care enough about two guys on a train to call the cops."

            "But what if they do?"

            "We're brothers, Ker, not lovers. What are they going to do?"

            Kerri looked over at Simon, his good leg starting to tap nervously on the floor. "I wish I was still asleep."

            "I'm sorry."

            Kerri hugged his jacket closer to his body and tried to sleep again. He closed his eyes and tried to steady his breathing. His scarf was warm from his hours of sleep.