' Hy , look.'
'At what, Taylan ?'
'Turn nine o'clock , on your left . '
' What about it?'
'That is our ticket out of here .'
'Are you serious? A delipidated, train?'
'Yes! It's not like we can wait out here for a presidential jet to come whisk you away - now can we?'
'Okay. I'm sorry. It's....just ... that...I'm exhausted...and...just super frustrated. You know...'
' It's fine. I get it. I too, would be like yourself, if not way worse.'
They both laughed, for the first time, in a very long time. Taylan eyed her, for as much as he could steal a glance of her.
'Hey! Earth to Taylan! The train isn't coming any closer. Come on.'
Taylan shook his head back into reality.
'Oh! Yeah...the train! Come on. Why you still standing.'
'Funny you should ask me that. Mr. Daydreamer.'
They both laughed again and charged towards the escaping train. Taylan helped Myla onto the moving train with such precision, that Myla questioned herself as to whether he had done this before. Within 5 minutes and 2 seconds, they had successfully colonized the roof of the train , with Taylan securing all the bags and making place to sit next to Myla. They spent the night squeezed next to each other ,from giving up all the additional free space to the bags. They couldn't even turn and toss . They had to spend the whole night - back pressed on the hard,cold metal roof of the train. The only consolidation was the beautiful view of the starry night sky. It helped take away some of the focus from the agitating position.
At that moment they both realised how much of strangers they were to each other. They had spent so much months under the same roof, but have never been as close as they had initially thought. They were no longer a door away, but were now a hair's breadth away. That much intimacy between them was very foreign , especially to Myla. Atleast Taylan had a significant other and was accustomed to being that close to another human,whilst the same could not be said for Myla. At first the discomfort had forced her to hold her breath, thinking it would help to create the much needed gap. It didn't, because in less than a minute her windpipe gave way and she was frantically gasping for air and embarrassing her, as Taylan was alerted by her frantic coughing.
'Oh my! Are you okay? Sir up! Come on! Give me your arm.'
The only reply he got was violent coughing.
'What were you thinking - holding your breath like that. We are in high altitude if you did not know. Come on. Sit up. Here is some water. Drink it in small instalments.'
Myla sat up and drank as per Taylan's instructions. After she regained control over her breathing, Myla was flushed, with embarrassment and so wished that she had more room available for her to make a run for it. She did the first thing that came to her mind, to try and push the matter under the rug - by starting a conversation.
'Thank you.'
'No problem. It's nothing.'
'Ir is. I have lost count of all the bailouts you have given me.'
'Ahh...come on. You saying it as if someone is.'
They both go into a roar of laughter.
' I don't know. Maybe you are.'
'Why would I ?'
'I don't know. Maybe you might need a favour 8n the future and this is your way of securing that favour.'
'Nah.'
They both laughed.
'But what if I am? Would it be such a bad thing?'
'YES! Well, in my books it is. '
They erupted into shared laughter again.
'Why?"
'Because...'
'Because ...'
'Because....'
'Because what?!'
Taylan and Myla laughed at Myla's mockery
''Because...'
'Oh, come on! Just spit it out already. You killing me here.'
Hysterical laughter took over immediately.
'Good. Die.'
Taylan's mouth was agap, in fake shock and they simultaneously laughed.
'Wow. Thank you very much for that beautiful piece of knowledge. Atleast I now know you don't want me. Now atleast I can write on my tombstone that I was friends , oh! Wait , let me rephrase that , I was frenemies, with the ice queen herself.'
'Ice Queen?! Don't give me too much credit.'
Their voices erupted in laughter again.
'Too much credit? Like...who are you right now? Should I just jump off this train right now,before you shove me off it?'
' I am giving you a head start, just so you know.'
'Oh yeah? What if I'm the one giving you the head start.'
The remainder of the night was filled with this scarcastic banter and laughter. The first to succumb to the silent spell of sleep was Taylan. He placed his back back onto the cold metal, with his hands behind his head. As Myla was turning to get his reply ,she was met with the most peaceful sight she had seen in a while. This view was so therapeutic and contagious , to the extent that she too immediately succumbed to the spell of slumber. It was the quickest sleep she had ever succumbed to in the last few hours she had been busy trying to fend for herself and get herself to safety. All the previous hours had been wasted on paranoia for the future, but that moment on the train was nothing close to it. She felt she had finally reached her destination, just because of Taylan's support and the absence of not feeling lonely.
Unlike all this other times she had been unsure if when and how her slumber had come about ,when she received a nudge to the arm, from Taylan.
'Hey.Hey. Wake up. Come on. Wake up.'
He only received mumbling and turning from Myla.
'Myla!Wake up.'
Myla mumbled one last time, before turning to violently, causing her torso to capsize onto the side of the train .
'Oh my! Myla hang on!'
'What?' A drowsy Myla responded, unaware of her current situation.
'I said hang on.'
The drowsiness that had consumed her, left her body all at once , when she opened her eyes and beheld the view to the moving train's window.