December Every Day
Train Closer Up
Eventually, the gates opened and people began to be let inside. It took longer than the four would have liked to reach the front of the line, but eventually they did get there. The man at the front was familiar, and David, who was first of the four, greeted him enthusiastically. "Hey, Smith!"
The man grinned, a huge smile that seemed to David like it would hurt. He couldn't help but smile back, though. Eventually, the man turned back to the paperwork in front of him. "I need your ticket, ID card, and passport." The four handed the required documents over, and he ripped off part of the tickets and handed it all back. "Through the gate, there will be people to tell you what train section you're in." He waved. "Bye!" David waved back, and they headed through the gate.
The platform was a little way to the left. The train was double decker, and it looked like just about any public transportation system that any of the four had ever seen, except that it didn't have any markings on it and it was brand new. It seemed a little showy to David, but then again, it seemed like effect was what bands survived on, so even if it went a little over the top, it didn't really matter.
There were people standing purposefully around the platform, and one came up to them. "May I see your tickets, please?" They handed the tickets over again, and the girl studied them for a moment, then nodded. "You're in the second car, over there."
They got to the car, handed their ticket to yet another purposeful looking person, and boarded.
This car was nearly empty. David wondered why, then realized that he didn't know how many people were in the other cars at the moment, so he had no idea whether this was normal or not. He looked at his ticket again, now creased from being handed to so many different people, and sighed. For some reason, he had imagined the time on the train as time spent talking to someone, but it didn't seem like that was going to happen. Why had he done that? Oh, right. Mark. That's why. Because he had been talking to someone. But he had no idea what train Mark had been assigned to. Did they get seats in the same place because they were next to each other in line? Probably not. He sat down and stared out the window. No view of the line, just white.
Colin also slid in to the seats. What was up with David? He was never like this, he looked... depressed or something. Jeez. Well, he didn't want to talk to David, he decided. He didn't know how to deal with the guy, and whatever he said wouldn't help, so why bother? He leaned back, attempted to fall asleep, and succeeded almost immediately.
People started to board the train, and David felt calmer as each one entered. He liked watching them all, observing their hairstyles, piercings, tattoos, and clothes. They nearly all wore black, but the slight variations were much more noticeable that way, and they seemed to color the rest of their bodies to make up for it. Funny thing was that tons of them were wearing Misfits shirts. He decided to count. One Misfits shirt, two Misfits shirts, three... fuck it, he was too tired. He leaned against Colin. Everything started to fade out, but he heard a voice nearby, and a flame red blur presented itself on the edge of his vision.
"Aww, how cute."
He didn't reply, because by the time he could have made sense of any of it, he was already asleep.
The man grinned, a huge smile that seemed to David like it would hurt. He couldn't help but smile back, though. Eventually, the man turned back to the paperwork in front of him. "I need your ticket, ID card, and passport." The four handed the required documents over, and he ripped off part of the tickets and handed it all back. "Through the gate, there will be people to tell you what train section you're in." He waved. "Bye!" David waved back, and they headed through the gate.
The platform was a little way to the left. The train was double decker, and it looked like just about any public transportation system that any of the four had ever seen, except that it didn't have any markings on it and it was brand new. It seemed a little showy to David, but then again, it seemed like effect was what bands survived on, so even if it went a little over the top, it didn't really matter.
There were people standing purposefully around the platform, and one came up to them. "May I see your tickets, please?" They handed the tickets over again, and the girl studied them for a moment, then nodded. "You're in the second car, over there."
They got to the car, handed their ticket to yet another purposeful looking person, and boarded.
This car was nearly empty. David wondered why, then realized that he didn't know how many people were in the other cars at the moment, so he had no idea whether this was normal or not. He looked at his ticket again, now creased from being handed to so many different people, and sighed. For some reason, he had imagined the time on the train as time spent talking to someone, but it didn't seem like that was going to happen. Why had he done that? Oh, right. Mark. That's why. Because he had been talking to someone. But he had no idea what train Mark had been assigned to. Did they get seats in the same place because they were next to each other in line? Probably not. He sat down and stared out the window. No view of the line, just white.
Colin also slid in to the seats. What was up with David? He was never like this, he looked... depressed or something. Jeez. Well, he didn't want to talk to David, he decided. He didn't know how to deal with the guy, and whatever he said wouldn't help, so why bother? He leaned back, attempted to fall asleep, and succeeded almost immediately.
People started to board the train, and David felt calmer as each one entered. He liked watching them all, observing their hairstyles, piercings, tattoos, and clothes. They nearly all wore black, but the slight variations were much more noticeable that way, and they seemed to color the rest of their bodies to make up for it. Funny thing was that tons of them were wearing Misfits shirts. He decided to count. One Misfits shirt, two Misfits shirts, three... fuck it, he was too tired. He leaned against Colin. Everything started to fade out, but he heard a voice nearby, and a flame red blur presented itself on the edge of his vision.
"Aww, how cute."
He didn't reply, because by the time he could have made sense of any of it, he was already asleep.