empty train station (Cecilia Tavares

Empty Train Station

By Cecilia Tavares ('23)

"Is this seat taken?" A voice asked.

It took me a second to respond, the rest of the train station seats were empty. Fragments of light emitted through the windows, reading my plans for that day, too tired to argue if I said no. "Sure, you can sit there. " I paused my scrolling, barely glancing up to see who spoke to me. "Thanks. "

I went back to scrolling on my phone, not really thinking about what had happened. I glanced up and saw the boy looking at me, smiling, with his head tilting to the side. I had no words. No one talks to each other at a train station unless you know the other or if they're looking for directions. But he seemed different. His warm demeanor juxtaposed his silver chains, rings, and gothic style. But, was he aware of what he was doing? It piqued my interest though, so I decided to put my phone down. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

“Like what?” he replied with a smirk.

“I think we both know exactly what” "You seem interesting" "Why?" "Well, this is the earliest anyone has been here for a while. I'm usually the only one here in the morning. Plus, you must be engrossed in something else to not notice me sitting next to you when all the other seats are vacant. " "Hmmm, I guess so. Well, I'm going on a trip for school today to a museum, so I had to come in early today. " "Ah, I see. Sounds…fun. "

The boy chuckled, remembering something from the past; satisfied with my answer, and glanced away. I still didn't understand him. Why was he being sarcastic? I decided to continue. "So, where are you going?" "I have to go to school on the other side of the city, it's pretty far. " He responded gazing forward. "Oh, do you like it there?" I inquired. "Yeah, it's pretty nice, " he muttered, slowly looking down with hollow glassy eyes.

It didn't sound like he actually liked the school, but I didn't want to bombard him with questions asking him about it. A silence so deafening… He could tell the atmosphere had changed and didn't even need to glance to know I viewed him with worry. However, he slowly looked up, peering into my eyes, and smiled like nothing was wrong. The color came back to his eyes. A feeling in my chest made me stiffen, but I smiled back and looked forward to the railway as the train pulled up.

"Well, it was nice meeting you" I gave a cheerful smile and spoke softly. I wanted to know more about him, and understand him. There was something he was hiding.

“Maybe we'll meet again sometime. " "Yeah, that would be nice, " he responded.

I stood up and entered the train's squeaky doors to be welcomed by some of my friends. I waved to the boy and mouthed bye. He grinned and waved. The train began moving, started moving through the railway.

My friends gave me weird glances asking "Koko, are you okay?" "Yeah, why?" I asked.

They looked at each other and replied, "You were waving at no one, there was no there. That station was pretty much empty. "

I looked at them and laughed. How could they not see that boy was there? But they seemed worried. "Did you hit your head or something?" "No, I don't think so. "

I looked out the window, in awe, but maybe I wasn't too sure. Whoever that boy was, whether he really exists or was a ghost, it was one of the nicest interactions I had in a long time. I sat in one of the unoccupied seats. I absentmindedly opened my backpack and was surprised to find a rose and a note reading "one day" . I sat there looking at this reddish-yellow rose with satisfaction. Whether this interaction was real or not, this rose was proof something did happen. Maybe one day we'll meet again. I never even got his name.