Vivian
Brad Martinez
I
I sat in an empty train car, empty but me and one woman clothed in black. The train shuffled along in all but anonymity. I glanced over to the woman slowly, she sat some ways down the aisle on the opposite side.
She nodded up and down with the running of the train. She almost looked familiar but I knew better. I'll just make a fool of myself. Her hair fell out of her hood, it hung in the air before her face. I looked up at the map of the city behind me; long way to go. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
Sometimes I got on the train and just let it run so I could see the city. There wasn't much to do at home alone. Is this really much better? I sort of chuckled. I looked out the window; my reflection staring back at me. I tried to avoid him and look out. The walls of the underground shook past me instead.
The train came slowly to a stop and the doors opened. I looked over at the woman again, she was asleep. "I wonder..." I thought. The train door closed and we kicked on. I waited for a while longer, feeling a little anxious for my new friend. The train went up the tracks and the sky opened up into the brilliant night. The stars shone dimly behind the smog of the world and what it did. I stood up. The train shook me so that I was unsure.
I stepped preciously over to the woman. She slept so gently.
"Miss?" she was unresponsive. I sat down across from her and called a little louder.
"Miss?" still she slept. It was going to take a resurrection to wake this woman. Some people do sleep so soundly... and I envied her.
I wasn't sure why I wanted to wake her, maybe I'm just selfish and lonely. A light drizzle hit on the windows and I almost started to cry. I wondered if she was alone too. If she was homeless — but I doubted it because she was so beautiful. I could tell despite her cloak and hood. "Miss..." I said a little quieter than before.
I got up again and began to pace around the train. The rain started to beat harder as we reached the end of the line. I went back and sat across from my new friend again. We sat in the quiet of the empty train for what seemed like a long time. Like the empty echo of an eternity.
Finally, she stirred. "Hi," I said. She looked up and her eyes shone with a glaze, half opened. "Where am I?" she asked. I couldn't help but feel an ironic tinge of fate.
"We're at the end of the line."
"Oh fuck," she stretched and kicked one of her many bags over. "What time is it?" she asked.
"It's almost midnight." I replied.
She slouched in her seat and closed her eyes again.
"Miss?" I asked again.
"Yes?" she stretched her eyes wide, sleepily.
"Don't you have somewhere you need to be?"
She laughed with a touch of malice. "Don't you?" we sat in silence for a little while then she closed her eyes.
We sat quietly, a little like old lovers. The doors of our train stayed open as other trains on the opposite track flew by, came to a stop, and flew on, over and over.
"Why don't we catch a different train?" I asked.
She opened her eyes, "Okay."
We got up, her with her bags, me with my heavy brown coat, filled with a bunch of stuff; miscellaneous. Standing on the platform, we waited for the next train in a quiet little happiness. I looked at her profile, half obscured by her hood. She had a sharp but rather small nose, long, thing eyelashes and thin, pale lips. She sort of looked like a priestess of some forgotten religion. Maybe one dedicated to secrets, or beauty, or the night.
