Metro
By Mason Hochstein
9th grade
1559 words
I walk to the opening of the metro tunnel. It had been a long day at work. Things are
tough right now in the office and they’re making me work extra hours to try and find a way to
climb out of the hole we were in. There’s no better way to put it: we are going bankrupt. People
were already being laid off or having their pay cut. Mine was already low but it was the only job I
have that isn’t manual labor. The idea of being out in the sun all day long is the only thing
keeping me in the office until 9:00 p.m.
I get down to my train, sit down, and put my earbuds in. I’m not in the mood to talk to
anyone. As the train lurches forward, so does my stomach, giving me an unwelcome taste of
my lunch.
I put in my earbuds that fill my ears with piano. I’ve always had a fascination with the
instrument, the way some songs would make me feel like I was floating and others would pound
my soul with the loud and heavy deep notes. I feel like in a whole new world fueled by the
emotions these keys of an instrument have on me. It feels unnaturally exciting that the mere
strokes of an instrument could make me feel.
Despite my love for the instrument, I never had enough money for one since I had been
living paycheck to paycheck in my crappy new apartment. Living in the crummy part of L.A. is a
whole other tier of hell, not even the great Dante Alighieri could fathom.
As the train was moving, I was thinking about my day when something occurred to me. t
Wait. Did they announce where the next stop was? I shrugged it off thinking it was a bit out of
the ordinary since no one and nothing is ever going to be perfect in any way, no matter how
efficient it may be or seem. However, I had an uneasy feeling since it's not usually this
inefficient. The wheel squealed against the tracks, jolting me forward, as I waited for my stop to
be announced in vain. Then I heard a loud crash, and everything went dark.
I woke up in a void of darkness. Was I dead? No, impossible. I still have my briefcase
and phone but no cell service. I couldn’t be dead. I turn on my flashlight, a light in the dark for
me, and I shine it around. Through my shock, I manage to squeeze out a cry. I took a moment
to truly analyze what surrounded me. Bodies. Bodies everywhere. All the people whom I had
just seen moments before, maybe checking in with a family member or even playing a game,
were now lying still before me. Not a breath could be heard. The silence was deafening in a way
that a nuclear bomb could never match up. The only thing bringing relief from the silence is the
spark of live wire every 10 or 20 seconds. I looked around, attempting to compose myself,
eventually succeding. I began to appreciate how lucky I was to have survived, seeing people of
all ages strewn across the floor of the metro like old toys tossed aside once the child got bored.
I now have begun to walk through as many railcars as I could, in desperate search for
another survivor that could be my companion in tragedy. So that I did not have to be all
alone..So far it’s been an hour, and no one is to be found. Was this thing infinite? It was either
infinite or the longest metro I had ever been on. I was just down when I hear a thunk from one
of the cars just behind me. A survivor? I rushed to the car and shone my light around, frantically
searching, hoping for a survivor. In the car directly in front of me, there was nobody, so I quickly
ran to the other two flanking the car I intended to take a break in. In the third car, I found a man,
and I can’t express in words the relief it brings me. He was covering his eyes from the light, and
it hit me that I was shining my light directly in his eyes.
I apologized ashamed. “I’m so sorry”, I say. “It’s fine,” the mystery survivor responded.
“I’m Charlie,” I say, introducing myself to this new possible companion
“I’m Sam,” said the survivor. At least I could have a more suitable name for him other
than “mystery man”. It truly has been quite a long lonely hour, at least I would have someone to
chat with.
“I heard a thunk and I came to look for whoever was in the car.” I said trying to explain
my frantic actions with the flashlight.
“Yeah, I hit my head,”
“Have you got any food or drink? I’m Famished.”
“No. I don't. We need to go find some.”
I had been walking for an hour and had not thought of food or water. But thinking now I
too was parched. We then went out to go and look for food or water. We walked and talked.
Sam was an architect who was doing well for himself. His car had been stolen and he had to
take the metro for a few days while he got a new one. I just couldn’t afford one. We had been
walking for an hour and a half according to my phone. “BAM.” There was a massive thud in the
window, cracking it. I spun, shining my light outside into the tunnel, I saw nothing.
“What was that?” I said. “Did you see what made that noise?”
“No what are you talking about?”
“It was that thing. I think it had bright orange eyes that glowed like hot coals.”
“What are you talking about? I heard no noise and I didn’t see anything”
I looked back and saw that there was no longer a massive crack going across the
window
We walked for about 15 minutes towards what I thought was the rear end of the metro.
Once we got to a good place, we rested. The past few hours had been tiring and stressful.
There seemed to be a presence. It wasn’t always strong but you could feel it. It was almost like
a tapping on your shoulder begging for you to turn around and yet… It was silent. Perhaps the
darkness and the crippling silence broken only by the sound of footfall, breathing, and the
oh-so-quiet Samuel Jenkins. At this point, my phone had died and there was no way to tell time
or to see. We had searched people who strangely did not have phones on them or they were
cracked and destroyed with some being almost snapped in half. So with no better ideas, we
rested.
When we woke up, the thirst was unimaginable. I yearned for water more than anything
in the world. I would’ve rather had a nice cold glass of water than any expensive car, house, or
piece of cutting-edge technology. At that moment I wondered if it would have been better to
have died in the initial collision. I woke up Sam nudging him into consciousness.
“Sam!”
It took a few callings of his name and gentle shoves on the shoulder before he woke up.
“What time is it?” He said.
“Still have no idea. My phone’s dead remember?”
Thinking about it, it had been at least five hours while my phone was alive but there’s no
way to tell. Had it been days? A week?
I wanted out. I loathed this train. It was awful. I was sick of the darkness, and the stink of
dead bodies. I wanted to go home. I smashed at the window with anything that I could find.
Books, phones, shoes. Nothing worked. At that moment, I noticed that Sam was nowhere near
to be seen. Where had he gone? Perhaps he had been a figment of my imagination? That
couldn’t be. I had been with Sam since I found him oh so many hours ago. I searched for him I
called out loud with no success.
“SAM!”
I searched for so long. My sole companion was gone and it left me doubting whether he
was real or not. I was completely and utterly alone. I sat and sobbed. I cried more than I ever
cried in my life. There was no end. No end to the darkness, no end to this cursed Train, and no
end to this train.
And when I finally stopped crying and opened my eyes, I saw a figure. The figure was
dark and had a color similar to obsidian but what stood out to me was the bright orange obsidian
eyes I thought I had seen earlier. I no longer had any fight in me. The thirst and the hunger were
too intense.
“Take me,” I said. “Please”.
The humanoid figure put one clawed finder on my forehead and put a massive hand on the back
of my head, and the last thing I remember was a searing pain in my skull as all of my hunger
and thirst melted away and there was simply nothing more. I was free
I verify that I am the sole author of this work.
Mason Hochstein