The Underground

The Underground- One Shot

In the course of her life, Auden Howard would encounter more trains, subway cars and metros than the average human being, a majority of which would be nothing more than a mode of transportation.

But on that Wednesday, amid the crowds, the anonymous voices of millions, and the kind of rain that when it falls, it clings to every surface, leaving cars, buildings and faces in a muted haze almost as if the whole city had climb out of the shower to find a fogged up mirror, was not quite unlike the day before and the day after.

But what makes this particular subway car, on this particular day, so special is the person that was seated in the right corner farthest from the door that faced the Charring Cross subway platform. As a general statement, this person was not of any great importance, nor were they outstanding in their looks or their smarts. Rather, it was simply what they were capable of and what they could mean to Auden.

 

It was far past the usual time at which most inhabitants of London find themselves on the train home after work or school, still before the younger citizens began to spill back out into the streets for nights out. Within that weird time of twilight for the subway, Auden found herself numbly allowing her feet to guide her, without much attention to where in particular she was going.

Echoing the air outside, her head felt like it lost in a daze and she hardly registered as her body fell into autopilot. Card through the reader, pass the gates, down the stairs, and on to the correct platform, her motions were as soothing as curling up in bed.

No longer did Auden have to lift her head to read the signs, her feet knew the way, her head knew the schedule. The correct train would arrive three minutes late of the posted arrival time, and hopefully void of the usual crowds of tourists.

These thoughts floated in the back of her head, tucked neatly away behind the incident that was currently requiring her full attention at the moment. As the cold air of the platform was sucked away and replaced with a heavy gush of warm, metallic scented air and the loud roaring of the train, she stepped carefully into the car.

 

Not lifting her head higher than she had to, Auden zeroed in on a seat tucked away in the back corner of the car. In normal circumstances, she would have avoided sitting there due to the presence of a wall on one side and a man on the other, but she slunk into the seat, carefully crossing her arms and her legs to avoid brushing the man to her left.

He looked up as if startled to find Auden sitting beside him. But the look of surprise quickly melted away into a smile that made Auden recoil. At this point she had had enough unpleasant subway encounters to be hesitant, but the smile slowly unfurling across his face caught her attention.

Nodding and looking away, she glued her eyes to the window in front of her, which showed nothing but a dark expanse of the subway walls and her own startled, pale reflection. Despite her best attempts she was enthralled with the scene reflected back at her.

There she was, blonde hair damp and sticking to her head, her small and perhaps too thin limbs wrapped tightly around her and eyes perhaps too large for such a petite face, and ghostly pale to boot, seated stiffly beside the lounging man.

He was splayed out in his seat, so that he looked comfortable, but without surpassing the small bubble of personal space allotted to him. A tan, warm face with heavy brows and a heavy bottom lip, under a fringe of brown hair that was starting to look scraggly, framed a slightly crooked nose.

But suddenly the reflection lifted his eyes and caught hers noticing him. He smiled, his face crinkling around his eyes, as they seemed to smile too.