It was a gloomy day. Like always. I woke up ten minutes late, so I had rushed out of my flat without eating any breakfast. As I shimmied through the crowd of tired sleepy bodies, my stomach growled painfully. I looked at my watch. 5 minutes till the train came. I knew I wasn't going to be able to eat at work, I couldn't afford to have a lunch break. I scanned the room for a vending machine of some sort, but it was hard to see over all the people. Finally I spotted a popcorn machine, and I gave up my last few coins for a small portion of popcorn. I winced as I handed the man my money. That was all I had left. But when I shoved the popcorn into my mouth in handfuls, I felt it was worth it. I finished it quickly and threw it away in a basin. I checked the clock. A minute till the train came. I pushed my way through people, briefcases jabbing into my torso. I made it to the station just as the train was pulling up.
Of course there weren't any seats left for me, so I had to hold on to the railing with one hand, my other hand tightly grasping my handbag. The train smelled like a combination of body odor and sweaty feet.
"Tickets! Tickets!" the Conductor yelled as he walked down the rows through the train. I had to let go of the railing to dig out my ticket. I unclamped my bag and started to look for it.
"Where did I put that bloody thing?" I grumbled. It wasn't in the main compartment, so I checked the two pockets on the side. The conductor was nearing.
"Miss, your ticket please," the Conductor said growing impatient. Suddenly, the train hit a bump, and since I wasn't holding onto the railing, I fell, landing atop two other people around me. Whatever knickknacks I had in my handbag scattered around the train.
"Great," I mumbled. I gathered my belongings, and found my ticket crumpled on the ground. The two people underneath me grumbled and untangled their bodies from each other and got up. The next things that happened are indescribable. Someone from behind me helped me up, but the strangest thing happened. As I held onto the person's hand for support, I felt an electric shock shoot through my body. Suddenly, visions started flashing through my eyes. I tried to make sense of them but they disappeared so fast. Millions of random pictures flashed through my eyes, and in a matter of seconds, it was gone. As I came back into reality, I looked around me. I wasn't holding onto the mysterious person's hand anymore. I looked around me, trying to find them. I remembered whoever it was was wearing a blue hat and a black trench coat, basically every male on this train was wearing a black trench coat, but in the corner of my eye I saw the one person on this train who was wearing a blue hat. I couldn't see his face, but I could tell he was a male. Curly brown locks spewed out of his hat, and he was tall and lanky. As the train pulled up to the first stop, he quickly got off. I wanted to shout out to him, but he just left. Just like that. It made me wonder if he had witnessed the same thing.
"Miss, we are ALL waiting for you!" the Conductor yelled.
"Yes, right, sorry," I said as I handed him the crumpled up ticket. He hastily smoothed it out and punch two holes in it and gave it back to me where I then stored it back in my bag. I knew I should've felt embarrassed for falling in front of everyone in the train and making a huge commotion, but I just couldn't feel embarrassed when my main emotion was curiosity. Who was that man? Why did a life that wasn't mine flash before my eyes when I touched his hand? And did it happen to him as well? I knew I needed to find him, but I just didn't know how. Surely there were plenty of tall males with curly brown hair who wore hats and trench coats in London.
The train pulled up to my stop, and I got off and started to head to my work. I was a suicide prevention hotline receptionist. You might think we don't get a lot of business, but at this time of economic and financial crisis in London, I'm pretty sure everyone has thought about killing themselves. I know it isn't the most cheerful job, but it was all that was available for me. I graduated with a major in journalism, and I am a smart girl, but since there are no jobs available, this is what I get. As I walked up the stairs to my office, I glanced at myself in a nearby mirror. My hair was a mess so I started to smooth it out, and as I did, I noticed something on my left hand in the mirror. The same hand that touched the mystery man's hand. There, in the middle of my palm, was a small heart. It wasn't marker, or a sticker, or anything like that. It was a fresh wound from when I touched his hand. The wound was a small cut in the shape of a heart. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, so I looked at my hand from all angles to make sure my mind wasn't playing tricks on me, but when I pressed down on the cut I felt pain. That's when I knew it was real.
"Get to work, Janet!" my boss yelled at me as she walked across the hall.
"A-alright," I said shakily. I sat down in the chair in my cubicle and got to work. You wouldn't believe who the first caller was. Him.
