No Way Out

Chapter 13 - Singing

Chapter 13

To say that I hate mornings at that very moment, was an understatement of the era.

I woke up to the annoying “Panic” sound of an alarm that you’d usually hear in cartoons when the whole place is about to self-destruct or blow up. I swear I could’ve thrown my phone across the room and not care the slightest. But even though I had a raging hangover, I knew better than to do that.

“Shut that bloody thing off!” I heard Jessie’s muffled voice from afar. I lifted my head groggily and looked around slowly so I didn’t kill my head from nausea in the process of scanning my surroundings for my bag to silence the devil of a phone that was creating that foul alarm sound.

I wondered for a moment why in the world would I set such an annoying sound for an alarm, and then I remembered. Oh yes, because of that very reason then I’d get off my ass to go turn it off, waking myself in the process.

When I located where I had discarded my handbag, I groggily lifted my body to get up to go shut the damned thing off. Whilst getting up, I could hear my whole spine crick as I stretched from the mangled position I was in previously. Sleeping on a beanbag, and getting high and drunk as hell is really not good for a person.

I dragged my heavy and tired body up, collected my belongings, put on my trench-coat and scarf before bidding Jessie a half-assed goodbye. I went through the mazes of doors and openings until I reached the top little tunnel like room where the ladders that took me back to the surface were. When I got to the top, I immediately went to the bar, asking for a glass of water and a couple of aspirins. Since the bar was a regular place that I visited, and after countless times where I’d forgotten to bring, I decided to leave a bottle of aspirins for the bartender to give me after my little visits when I’d need them.

When I pushed through the wooden doors than exited to the cobblestone pathway, the sky was dark, lighting up slightly as the minutes ticked on by, the streetlights flickering and all of the shops closed or safely tucked away from the rain’s reach.

I ran through the alley way, trying to make it to the subway station as fast as possible so I don’t become drenched and soaked from the rain, catching the flu or cold. The skies thundered above me, roaring and lighting up now and again.

When I finally reached the subway station, I swiped my handbag over the sensor and ran to the escalators that lead to the subway. It was cold and almost empty, except for a few people standing by, waiting for the train to arrive. The cold air the travelled from the surface blew around us and I shivered a little. I wasn’t drenched but I wasn’t all that dry either and all I longed for was a hot shower and just curl up in bed.

The train arrived a little over five minutes. I stepped in and took a seat nearby the door so I could be the first to leave and be quicker to get to my final destination: the shower.

I sat there on my phone, looking aimlessly around at the shiny sandpaper like floor, to the cold, dotted, metal chairs that connected to the side of the train, the colourful map directory that hung above the sliding doors of the subway and finally down to a couple sitting a couple of rows to my left.

They were no older than probably twelve or thirteen. The boy had his arms around the girl’s shoulder, her head resting gently on his shoulder and his on her head. The boy’s free hand held the both of the girl’s hands in his and it rested on his lap. They were both in school uniform, the elementary version where they had the little cape around their necks with a ribbon in front.

The girl giggled at something the boy said, as he proceeded to draw patterns on the girl’s palms.

I smiled, looking at the happy couple. They looked so peaceful, no worries or problems. I wish I had that, somewhere inside me thought.