Reunion

Metro

Everyone has a place that they love, because it calms them down. It can't make your problems go away magically, but the weight still seems to get lighter on your shoulders.

This place for me is the metro, the underground. Many people say that they are afraid of it since it goes in a tight tunnel many meters under the surface.
But I love it. As soon as the escalator starts moving deep into the ground with me, my mind just goes compleatly blank, in the best way possible.
Moving away from the city was hard. Leaving the place that you know like the back of your hand felt like dying in a way. And I couldn't bring my happy place with me to make me feel better. I really missed it for a long time.

But now, I was sitting on it. I'm not sure for how long. Probably hours. It was line 2, the one I used to take all the time. We reach one of the ends of the line and everyone gets out of the train, not even one person looking at me as they leave.

Slowly new people start to fill the empty vehicule up. It's a warm day in late spring, everyone looks happy that summer is right around the corner.

The train under me starts to slightly move and I look out the window, watching the small distance we take before sinking into the ground for the rest of the ride.

After the only thing I see is complete darkness outside the window, I turn my head to the side and notice a girl standing only a few meters away from me. She's tall, has soft brown, curly hair and wears all black. She reminds me of someone I used to be really great friends with. A few seconds later she turns enough for me to get a better look at her face. Yes, it's definitely her. The almost ten years that has passed since I last saw her in the flesh changed her. She still has the same features, but she doesn't look like a little girl anymore. We used to be neighbours and we spent a lot of time together.

A smile appears on her face when a boy waves at her while pushing himself through the people. I know him too. At least I used to know him. He lives in the same town as the girl, the same one I spent most of my childhood at. He was my classmate since first grade, but the last time I talked to him was around the same as I did to the girl.

When I moved away I tried to keep in touch with them. I really did. Few of my friendships just faded into nothing after a while, but a few of them was really trying to stay alive. I didn't let that happen. Sooner or later they had to die. It may sounds selfish, because it is in a way. The few people that I really loved and loved me back were struggling. Being with someone every day and then suddenly not seeing them anymore isn't an easy thing. You get so used to each others presence. They wanted me to visit them often, but travelling hundreds of kilometers to see them for a few hours is not worth it. It's expensive, time consuming and pointless. And the pain it caused me and my friends was powerful enough to make me do what I did. I cut them out of my life. Because I loved and still love them.

I turn my head to the side, not wanting to look at them, but a few people stands between us anyway at the next stop so they block my view. The train is loud, luckily I can't hear what they are talking about, I only catch a few words here and there. One of them being my name. I know exactly where they are going.

The metro haltes to a stop and it means that I have to get off unfortunately. But it was a nice ride for sure.
A lot of people leaves at this stop and a lot of them gets on since there is a big train station above us on the ground. It's always busy.

The girl and the boy walks towards the escalator as well, but I'm well behind them.

As I climb up the last few steps and the noise of the city gets closer I let a deep breath out. I'm getting closer to my destination, I could take the tram and go a stop with it, but it's pointless. I decide to walk, since the weather is nice.

Maybe five minutes later I arrive to a big gate that opens from the road. I stay on the other side of it and lean against the wall of a building.

I see many people waiting and just chatting near the gate and I hear a tram arrive to the stop. I got here sooner than it did.
The girl and the boy step out of it, now one of them is holding a few flowers in his hand.
I notice some familiar faces in the crowd and some that I've never seen before.
My family. Old friends and not that old ones, classmates, people I was in love with. I'm surprised to be honest.

A few minutes before 2 they slowly start to walk through the gate, huge trees casting shadows over the broad path. I follow them behind silently. This place always looked beautiful in the spring.

They all stop and stand around something or someone more like. I peak over their shoulders, no one can notice me anyway, and I finally see the coffin with my name graved in it.
A few people cry, some of them looks bored, like they were forced to come here, but everyone listens in silence.

The ceremony ends quite quickly, there isn't much to tell when you didn't live for too long.

Years and years ago I promised to myself to never let any of my friends see me again and it was one of the few promises that I kept.