A rainy day. I was sitting on a bench while waiting for the rain to stop. I gazed over the train station for a while. Strangely, there were deep fogs beyond the station’s edges. I couldn’t see a damn thing.
‘It surely isn’t the time for winter, huh?’ The ticket checker expressed the same concern. ‘Yeah, I am worrying more about the next train, though.’ Initially startled, I replied to him.
‘Well, what are you waiting for? The next train is going to be late,’ he asked me. ‘Yeah, I know. I have nothing to do except wait for the train. I have to be somewhere soon though.’ I replied while seeing the thick rainlines dropping from the station’s rooftop.
‘Did you see those red flowers? Look how beautifully bloomed they are!’ he pointed to the south side. ‘Aren’t those called ‘Spider Lilies’?’ I admired the beauty of these lilies while looking over them.
After a while, the fog started to clear up. Lots of people began to gather at the train station. Strangely, most of them are old. Many seemed happy. Some were angry, sad and who knows what emotion they were feeling. But deep down, I thought they all knew they had to board this train.
Even after that, I saw the train entering the station. ‘Finally, it’s been ages.’ One of the old men shouted. ‘I can’t wait to be at home,’ another woman cheered.
The train was there at the right time. Then I saw many children gathered around to board the train. They were as happy and excited as ever. But the weird thing is that there weren’t any parents around. Yet they followed the rules like a good boy or girl would.
Then all of a sudden, I saw a little girl crying out loud. She was saying, ‘I don’t want to go. I want my mother and father’. I couldn’t bear her pain any longer. ‘Don’t worry, girl, your momma and daddy may be visiting your relatives. If you board this train now, you can make many friends with them.’ I told her to look at kids gathered at windows smiling and laughing. ‘But I don’t know them.’ The girl replied frightenedly.
‘Hey now, it’s okay. I too feel anxiety while meeting new people.’ I calmed her down with a gentle head pat. ‘Umm, Why don’t I take you to your seat? I will keep you accompanied.’ I assured her that it was okay. ‘Thank you, mister. You are so kind. Wish I had met you earlier.’
I took her to the Boggi that she pointed out earlier. ‘Well, you see, you have a nice reserved seat beside this window.’ I cheered her up since no one was there for her. ‘Hey mister, look over there,’ she pointed towards the window. ‘Do you see those fields of mustard flowers? Yay, these are so beautiful! If we could stop the train now, we could have played hide and seek there.’ I was pleased to see her finally smiling. Then I gazed through the window. There was nothing but fog outside the train. ‘No way, this isn’t happening, right?’ I told to myself, ‘Oh god, what is the meaning of this?’ I couldn’t tell the truth to the little girl. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.
Trying to forget that hell of a view, I started to gossip with her. Then the same old ticket checker came again in our boggi. He didn’t look surprised to see us both. ‘Okay, Why don’t you all show me your ticket?’
[To be continued]
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Writer
Sadi Reza
Intern, Content Writing Department
YSSE