1
It was a normal afternoon for December, and the air was chilly as Mei walked down the street. Tugging her sweater around her shoulders, she walked down the subway steps, intending to ride the F train home.
Swiping her metro, she waited for a short while before the train arrived. While waiting, it seemed as though several trains passed by the opposite way. She huffed every-time one of them screeched to a halt in front of her.
They have all these trains going to Manhattan, she thought, what the hell? What about Coney Island? This is bull. And still, instead of walking about 10 blocks home, she just waited. And waited.
And waited.
When the train finally came (12 minutes later), she muttered an aggressive “finally” under her breath and climbed on. She had walked into a freezer, hugged her thin sweater even closer to her. The train was silent, and the silence terrified her. The lonesome quietness made her even more uncomfortable in the train than it would be if it were full and bustling. She was normally so comfortable all alone in an empty train car- but this? This was different. Her gut told her something was wrong.
The doors shut with a beep, and she sat in the corner seat.
Alone.
Putting her bag by her feet, she curled up next to the wall. Her earbuds played music loud enough to block out the noises going on outside the train. Her favorite songs could be played on her playlist now, the songs she didn’t want to listen to could be skipped, because she paid a couple extra bucks for a premium subscription. Thank God for that raise at Earl Caffiene.
Fixing her sweater yet again, she cursed under her breath. It was the middle of winter, why the fuck was it so cold? Without thinking of what she could’ve done (worn something thicker than a flimsy sweater), she blamed someone else. Couldn’t a train operator or someone have enough fucking common sense to turn on the heat in the middle of winter? She continued grumbling as she snatched the hook of material of her bag to grab some work from it. She took out a yellow folder, English, obviously, and took out a sheet she had received from her teacher Mr. Quinn. A planning page for a Socratic Seminar. Great. Mei loathed these seminars, the planning, the actual talking, the books too. How the fuck do you have a Socratic on a fucking book of poems. She wrestled the book, The Nightingale’s Song, out of her bag, and stared at the cover for what seemed to be two, three minutes. Basic, a nightingale on a tree branch. It wasn’t necessarily a bad book- just, not her taste. How could you even analyze a freaking poem?! And literally only the first poem was about a bird, and it wasn’t even a nightingale. It was just a random ass bird- not even a specific type. This was why Mei preferred non-fiction, as she flipped through the paperback. It wasn’t stupid. You didn’t have to look for deeper meaning. The facts were there. She flipped to her assigned poem, number 81:
cutting off bits of my soul
for your heart to become whole
is something i’m willing to sacrifice
Her immediate thought, after thinking that poetry was stupid, was the notice of the last sentence. It pissed her off, even more than she already was before she even read the dumb poem. Isn’t poetry supposed to either rhyme or not rhyme? Why was soul and whole used but sacrifice was too? If you’re going to do something stupid like this, Mei thought, at least make a final decision on it.
The poetry and the train and everything was getting to her head. She wanted to hit something, anything. Who would judge her from doing something? She was alone. Yet, she went with her better judgement- slamming the paperback- the slap from the papers a little disappointing, admittedly- and shoved it in her bag. She put her song to the highest volume it could go, and drifted off as bass thumped in her ears.
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Time passed quickly to an unconscious Mei. As she slept, the air blanketing her got colder. She shivered in her sleep, pulling her sweater over her nose. Her hands turned pink, numbing but stinging at the same time, and this finally woke her. The lights flickered, now earning Mei’s concern. Without warning, the train jerked forward. She was sent back, hitting her head on the wall behind her.
“Dammit..” she groaned, now wide awake and rubbing the back of her head. She stood up shakily, throwing her bag over her shoulder and looking out the door window. However, nothing could be seen except for the darkness. Just.. dark emptiness.
Perplexed, she gripped onto the metal poles to ease her walk to the other end of the train car. Halfway through, the train jerked again, tilting to the side. Losing her grip, she ended up on the floor under the blue seats.
She crawled out from under the seats on her hands and knees, aching, hair now out of place. Wishing for death on something, she rubbed her head, cursing. She grabbed the edge of the blue plastic seat, pulling herself up. Placing a finger at her cut lip– wincing at the sting– she peered out the window again. The outside world as seen from the mirror grew lighter, like a new dawn. Only in this, the dawn wasn’t a warm orange but a deadly white. When it finally became light enough to see outside, Mei examined the outside. All she could see were green grass fields, and not one sign of life. Her eyes scrunched in confusion. In anger. In feelings that swirled in her chest but couldn’t be expressed verbally. She swung her bag around to her front, unzipping it and pulling out her phone from the front.
She attempted to turn it on, but the only thing she could see was her reflection in the dark screen. “Dead... dumb, piece of-!” she threw her phone down on the floor in anger and disappointment. She sat back on the seat, finally defeated. How long ago was she just complaining of the train not coming? How close was she to just leaving when the train huffed into the station? Now, all she wished was to be home, with her annoying little brother, working on her stupid Socratic Seminar planning page and listening to pounding music.
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Slowly, the train came to a creaky stop. Mei stood, finger again checking her split lip. No blood. As she looked up, the doors pinged, and slowly eased open. The scent of fresh pine and dew eased its way into the car, (along with something else unidentifiable), and filled her nostrils. She stood up, stretching her arms over her head, and took a peek out the door. She stepped out timidly, getting mud on her sneakers.
“Come on-!” she groaned, checking the bottom of her new Nikes. She looked around, then back behind her, only to realize the train disappeared.
“What the fuck?!” she screamed into the field., “ Is this some fucked up version of a joke?”
Only the echo of her aggravated voice answered her.
She huffed, turning and looking for some type of explanation. Peering into the distance, she saw a deep red building, ivy blanketing the windows and walls. Sighing, she made her way towards it, seeing it as her only option.
After walking drearily for quite some time (as the sun began to set) she arrived. The building was much bigger as she got closer, obviously, but much bigger than her expectations. The mansion was the color of blood, a mix of fresh red and a brown that reminded her of a campfire, rickety and old- as though her grandfather became a building. Mei had never been in a mansion before, but now, she assumed, was the time.
She straightened her bag and knocked on the door. After waiting a couple of minutes, it opened, revealing a tall, pale woman.
The woman greatly intrigued Mei. Standing at about 5’10”, 5’11″ maybe- her dark eyes, like shiny buttons, seemed to burn into Mei’s. She wore a dark velvet dress that cut off mid-thigh and came up to under her collarbones. Her kinked black hair made its way down her back, to the middle of it. She looked a little like Betty Boop, but with none of the kindness of it, Mei realized.
“Hello..?” the lady asked, hand on her hips, lips pursed.
“Um, Hi-” Mei began, now noticing how creepy she may have appeared to this complete stranger- now deliberately trying not to stare. “Um.. my train just kinda.. disappeared? Do you mind if-”
Before Mei could finish her rather unbelievable story, the woman ushered her in. “That happens a lot around here dear. Which train was it?” As the woman talked, she led Mei down the corridor, decorated with golden candelabras on the walls, wicks aflame. No creepy paintings as Mei would have expected, thank god. She didn’t know if she could deal with a creepy old mansion with paintings of old men whose eyes seemed to stare at her as she walked by.
“Uh, the F,” Mei answered as she was ushered down the hall.. a hall that seemed to go on forever. However, in what seemed like an instant, Mei and the woman stood at a tall, dark oak door. She turned the golden doorknob, revealing a room of 5 teenagers. Their heads seemed to turn almost instantly to the door. Mei could immediately notice the diversity between all of them.
One in particular, however, caught her eye.
A blonde in a wheelchair, seemed separated from the other teens. They looked as though they thought they were better than anyone else in the room. Sitting in a corner, they were reading some book, coke bottle glasses sliding down their nose every so often. The other 4, however, were banded up together in a fort of pillows.
The Woman licked her painted lips, putting Mei at unease. “These,” she said, pausing to take an unnecessary breath (possibly for dramatic effect), “are the others. The others being in the same situation as you, of course. I’ve been housing them, until their parents arrive for them, of course.” At this, Mei saw the blonde in the wheelchair look up at the Woman, in disbelief, possibly, before looking back down. Perhaps they also noticed she was saying ‘of course’ a little too much, as though trying to push out any idea that what she said was not the gospel truth.
“They show up every so often, like strays.” She laughed before continuing. “But I treat them as my own. Michael is the one with the long hair, much too long for a boy in my opinion. But, he refuses to have it fixed, so I can’t really do much in that situation now can I?
“The two who look similar are Vincent and Lily. They’re twins, I believe. Though I don’t know if they’re fraternal or other. They look similar, but they are two different genders. I’m not sure how that works. And the brunet is Jason. He’s a bit heavyset,” the boy frowned at this, “but maybe it’s just genetics. I’m not one to judge.”
She paused, as if deciding against introducing the last teen, the one in the wheelchair. She sighed, blinking twice before speaking again.
“That’s Ray.” were the only words that slipped her lips. No full on introduction, which puzzled Mei yet intrigued her more to this person. It was as though a storm darkened her face
(all because of a teenager?)
and she nodded, back-treading towards the door.
“If you need anything at all, please. Feel free to ask.” The woman said, voice just above a whisper. And with that, the door clicked shut, and Mei was left to think.
