As The Tracks Take You Away
"You left me before. How do I know you are telling the truth now?"
The next train will arrive in seven minutes, flashed on the screen. People slept on the benches like corpses as they waited for the train. Newspapers rolled on the ground like tumbleweed. Sneezes echoed in the near-empty subway.
"I'm sorry. I was stupid. I should never have left."
"What if you are being stupid now?"
"Please, don't do this to me."
"You did this! You don't know how much—"
"I know, but I am back. Can't we start over?"
Silence engulfed them. The faint horns of the train signalled the end of their time together. Cool air kissed their faces. Their hands swayed closer, and they held hands.
"You toy with me."
"I would never."
"I was just getting over you, and now you come back? Why did you even leave me?"
"There was so much going on."
"And we would've gotten through that together."
"But I am here now."
"Yes, you are here now. Am I a shore and you a ship? That you are allowed to leave whenever you want, and I must wait for you?"
"Don't you like me anymore?"
"That is the problem. Do you think it is easy for me? I thought it would be. I thought I could reject you."
His numb eyes shimmered in the sharp light of the subway. He pressed her hand. "I wanted to pour all my anger on you. To tell you how much you hurt me, what pain I suffered." He sighed, and then a smile brightened his face like a rainbow after rain. "But I can't. I like you too much."
The train, like a white streak, cut through the darkness. It stopped with a screech. People rubbed their eyes and pushed past them as they stepped in.
"I wish…." He took a deep breath. "I wish I could stand here with you forever."
"Me too."
His skin became dry and cracked as soon as he left her hand. He entered the pinching-cold train.
"I love you," she whispered.
The pain suffocated him, but his heart didn't let him move. He wished to forget all his past to be with her again, but doubt, like a nail, pinched him. *What if she leaves me again?*
The train's doors closed, and he whispered, "I love you too." But it was too late.