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I stared out of the train window, the route so familiar now that the scenery past by without any recognition. My face floated in the reflection, tired eyes and pallid skin, ghostly against the grey light of the morning. We passed into a tunnel and the sound of the train jolted me from my melancholy. It was only then I noticed that I appeared to be alone in the carriage. I saw nobody ahead through the gaps in the seats or to the right of me, across the aisle. I stood up and peered over the two seats facing me. Nobody there.545Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs5PR7qF7EC
We came out of the tunnel, the change in pressure causing me to lose my footing slightly and sit back down. I turned around to look through the gap behind me, moulding my face into the triangular gap like playdough.
Nobody. All alone, on a Monday. I should miss the rush hour train a bit more often. I slid down my seat and stretched my legs out onto the seat across from me. This is the closest I’ll ever get to travelling first class, I thought. I closed my eyes and felt the train rumble beneath me.
“Tickets,” came a voice from behind.
I sat up with a start, planting my feet back on the floor of the train. That was short lived. Looking between my feet, it was at that moment I realised I didn’t have my rucksack with me. Shit. Had I left it on the platform? Did I even leave the house with it this morning? I’d been in such a rush to get up and out after oversleeping that maybe I hadn’t even taken it with me. My mobile phone was in there. And my cards.
The ticket conductor came to halt in front of me. He was tall, freakishly so, more than able to see above the luggage racks that hung over me. He looked down, out from underneath the shadow of a peaked cap.
Did they still make them where those hats as part of their uniforms?
“Ticket,” he repeated, like a mantra, monotone and flat and said without thought. It wasn’t a question or a command, it simply was. 545Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmfzf3cnKTM
“Ah, I’m really sorry,” I muttered. “I was in such a rush this morning. Completely overslept and I left everything at home. My phone, my card…”545Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG5BDuaIZ8T
“Ticket.” he said once more, ignoring my muddled answer. The shadow over his face was so thick that I couldn’t even make out his eyes. His cheeks were coloured in a thick grey stubble that looked almost as if they were a continuation of the shadow from his cap, slowly fading into the light.
“I don’t have one.” I said finally, fear welling up inside me for reasons I wasn’t entirely sure of. What was the worst that could happen? I got a fine that I still couldn’t pay. They threw me off at the next stop and I was even later for work.
“Well how am I supposed to know whether or not you’ll be alighting?”545Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCsEn1SRedF
Whether or not I'll be alighting, what on earth was that supposed to mean? Maybe it was just conductor jargon. He looked like he’d been in the business a long time. 545Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0uYlqXGwTu
“I’m really sorry. I’ll be coming back this afternoon, after five. I can pay then if you’ll trust me?”545Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7MVD4LAave
He didn’t answer, only continued to stare from his shadowy vantage.
“Or I can just get off at the next stop,” I said, the increasing silence weighing heavy on my chest and forcing the words out from my mouth.
“No. I don’t think that’s for me to say yet.”
“So, I can stay?” I said, not really understanding. “I really do promise I’ll pay later. I’ll get a colleague to buy me a return ticket at the station.”
“Yes, do that,” the conductor replied, his expression impossible to know. “But would you mind terribly moving down the train. The train is too long for the next few platforms, so if you need to get off you won’t be able too. ”
“Too long for the platform? Why’d you put so many carriages on if it can’t even fit on the platform? There’s nobody even on this train.” I blurted, suddenly finding voice again. “You’d think you could add a few extra carriages during rush hour. I’d be happy to walk down the train to get out onto the platform. It’s like being in nightclub on the train before nine am, only without the loud music.”
“This carriage is specifically for those that are riding right to the end of the line” the conductor replied, in his monotonous drawl. “The rest of the train is not so empty.”545Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjowhYHdtEh
He smiled revealing a brilliant set of teeth, floating in the blank shadow of his face like a Cheshire cat grin.
Why argue, I figured. I’ve gotten away with not buying a ticket now, so I guess I can move. Shame though, I was looking forward to my nap in an empty carriage. 545Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKWjQYtUIQ2
“Ok, no problem.” I answered, finally.
“Thank you,” he said, and with that he continued down the carriage beginning his chant once more. “Tickets”.545Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS3H1GRMDvh
545Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrrgZ6F6XiG
