~~

{railway station, 4am}

I exhale, breath crystallising briefly under the harsh fluorescent lighting. The cold bench digs into my hip, but I lean back anyway, eyes fluttering shut as my mind wanders. How strange, I muse, that I sit in the veins of a monstrosity of a suburban metropolis buzzed up on adrenaline; yet, for all the company I enjoy, I might as well be nowhere.

I could stay here, suspended in this moment, forever. How ironic, choosing to stay permanently in a place designed for quick transport. How would it feel, to watch countless silver snakes shoot past to various Exotic Destinations, with no sense of urgency to go anywhere, to do anything at all? I wonder. What kind of a warmth can a railway station yield when all people can do is leave them, over and over?

The answer is simply, none. Or perhaps the opposite, the definitive absence of any warmth at all – the kind of cold that overloads the senses to somehow convince the human brain that, yes, you are in fact feeling a fiery burn- but of ice, not fire.

The sharp tang of cigarette smoke teases my nose, and I turn my attention to a shadowed figure farther along the platform. We regard one another for a second; in that second, mutual wariness and something else is shared; in that brief moment, we are bound in our isolation. They look away- the spell breaks, and my eyes follow their footsteps as they fade away to Somewhere Else.

All I know in this moment is the Solitude. If I were to leave, what would the Reality greet me with – a kiss and a welcome back? I doubt it.

“Miss! Ma’am, this is the last train to the city for tonight. Are you boarding?”

I open my eyes, leave the vestments of my mind’s reality, and stand. I leave the hard wooden bench, the harsh white lights, the unknown stranger who may have never existed at all.

“Of course.”