On a train travelling traveling along its usual Wednesday evening route, a man in a tailored two piece suit and a thin turtle neck sweater sat with one leg crossed over the other. He was clean shaven, afro faded, and was playing with the clips of the briefcase that was nestled in his lap. He was staring at the case with such intensity, it was any wonder how it did not burst into flames right there and then. Every now and then, he would try to divert his attention and look at something else, whether it was the scenery outside of the window, or even the other commuters, however his attention always went back to three things – his wrist watch, his briefcase, and the door to the train car next to his. He started to focus a lot more on his watch until a tap on his knee snapped him out of it. A random little boy, no older than six, was looking up at him with an expression that was equal parts curious and vacuous. The man looked at the kid and in an instant, a series of emotions flashed across his face, as if he was trying to figure out what facial expression to give the boy. His brain settled on 'smile' and the most awkward, unbecoming smile forced itself onto his face before he spoke.
"Hey there… kid." He awkwardly greeted.
"Why are you wearing that when it isn't cold?" The boy asked bluntly.
"Because I… well… it's fashion, kid. You'll get it when you're older."
"I get it right now. I get that it's stupid." The boy retorted.
The man sat there looking at this boy, his face morphing and warping as he once again tried to figure out what expression to show, and what to say. Once again, he landed on awkward smile, only this time, it looked like he was physically biting his tongue to not reply, and his brow was furrowed as all, like he was trying to suppress a brain aneurysm. He then started looking around.
"Where is your mother?"
"Over there, why?"
"Why don't you go stand over there, next to her." He suggested, more than asked.
"Good idea. She's not wearing stupid clothes."
As the boy turned around and walked off, a commuter sitting next to the suited man couldn't help but chortle.
"Forgive me." The older woman said. "What a rude boy… ain't got no home training."
"It took everything I had not to pop his snot filled head like an over ripe melon. That kid's mother needs to review how she raises that little bastard."
The woman let out another laugh, while the man looked at her a little dumbfounded, like he didn't understand why she was laughing because he wasn't joking. As the train entered a tunnel, it suddenly started to screech as the brakes were applied heavily, causing many of those who were standing to violently be thrown to the floor and onto other passengers, and the man suddenly looked at his watch as a wave of calm and composure ran down his face. The sound of the wheels scraping along the rails, the sight of the passengers screaming and panicking were juxtaposed by the complete state of calm that the man was in. Prayers were being tossed around and non believers alike and said prayers were answered when the train came to a stop, without any further drama or an impact of any kind. A few moments later, the crackling of speakers caught the attention of the passengers.
"Ladies and gentleman, this is the driver speaking. First of all, allow me to apologise to you all for what just happened, but we spotted some rubble on the tracks and had no choice but to stop the train. Thankfully, we were able to stop just in time, and we will be doing our best to remove the rubble as soon as possible and resume our commute. Please everybody, remain in your train cars and stay calm. Thank you."
The man on the speaker system was doing his best to remain calm, but he was also deeply shaken by what had just happened. Due to being in the tunnel, it was incredibly dark outside of the train. The rude little boy had fallen face first onto the cold, hard floor and was busy blinking back tears and sniffling as his bloody nose leaked. He looked back at the man in the turtle neck, who was looking right back at him with a smirk on his face before he pointed the train's ceiling. Almost immediately after doing so, the cabin lights started flickering until they went off completely, causing those in the train car to start freaking out again. The lights were only off for around ten seconds, but when they came back on, not only were they red, but the man had disappeared, and the door was sliding shut.
What followed was the flickering and failing of cabin lights in all the train cars, with them turning red after flicking back on. This happened sequentially, and the common denominator in it all was the fact that the sliding doors leading into and out of the cars were activated – although barely anybody noticed or heard them, because of the panicked gasps and sighs that filled the air. After a brief period of time, in one of the First-Class train cars, the lights did their dance, and the occupants of said train car started to panic as well. All but one, an older gentleman who appeared to be in his sixties or so, who was seated calmly with a book in his lap and a tea cup in his hand. He looked up at the lights and they flickered for quite some time. He set his cup down, stood up and started to inspect the fluorescent cabin lights, as if to see whether or not the bulbs were the problem. A woman, who was traveling with her children, was doing her best to calm her two younger kids down. Her older son, who was also frightened, was struggling quite a bit to keep his own composure, causing the older man to speak.