Crash! Boom! Bang!

1. Liam

“Yes mum, I’m doing fine. Don’t worry okay? This break-up has been hanging in the air for ages, it’s really better this way.”

 On the other end of the line, she kept rambling about how I was coping with the end of my semi-long term relationship.

 “Mum I have to go now, the train is here and it’s really crammed up at this time. Besides, I still have Danielle to lean on. See you next weekend, okay?”

 I hung up before she could add anything else, adjusted the straps of my backpack and moved forward on the platform, hoping I’d manage to get in this train so I’d be home soon. I was completely worn out from this boring day at work, and wanted nothing more than get some massively unhealthy take away food before falling down on the couch and turning off my brain.

 I shuffled into the already packed train and grabbed one of the rubber bands at the ceiling for support while I quickly texted Danielle I would be home in half an hour, with dinner. Danielle and I were best friends since we both started college. We had tried dating briefly, but after a few rather awkward make out sessions I had realised I really didn’t swing that way, so we broke up but we got closer as friends than we ever would have been when we would’ve dated. When we had to move out of the college dorms last year, we decided to move in together, share the rent and the household so we wouldn’t have to cope with all of it on our own.

 Danielle hadn’t been in a serious relationship for a while now, but my relationship with Jake had never really caused any trouble on the matter of privacy or whatsoever. Yet now I was back in the single life, since Jake and I had finally said what should’ve been said months ago. The love just wasn’t there anymore. We were great friends, but the spark had been gone for a long time now.

 I looked around and noticed the carriage I was in had emptied over the last few stops, as it usually did, and I actually found a seat next to the window, a guy about my age, maybe a little older, on my other side, his eyes fixed on the book he held in his hand and a small smile playing on his lips as he read on.

 I leaned my head against the window, closed my eyes and just hoped we would reach my stop sooner, but I knew I’d have to sit out the remaining 20 minutes of my way home anyway. I was too lazy to get out my earphones to listen to some music, and besides, I didn’t want to risk falling asleep and missing out on the announcement of my stop, so I just thought about what I could be doing over the next weekend now that I didn’t have to attend Jake’s family reunion. Another plus about ending our relationship, really.

 I had just decided to go to the movies by myself, it had been ages since I’d last done that and I had always enjoyed doing that. I liked the less popular indie movies and I could never persuade Jake or any of my friends for that matter to go see it with me. I had heard that there was a good one premiering this weekend, so it would be a good opportunity to go see it.

 All of a sudden, an excruciating screeching noise pierced my ears, causing me to sit up again as my body was lurched forward, my eyes wide open to be met with only pitch black. What on earth had just happened? I noticed we weren’t moving anymore, so the sound had probably been from the brakes, but what about the lights? I was pretty sure we hadn’t been in an accident, we would’ve felt the collision if that would’ve been the case.

 After a few more seconds of darkness, filled with annoyed and confused muttering from the people around me, the emergency lights switched on, drenching the train in an eerie atmosphere, still half dark, but now I could at least see my surroundings.

 The guy next to me had looked up from his book, obviously not able to continue reading, and I could see he had a confused look on his face, which I probably mirrored.

 After a few minutes of nothing happening, causing the confusion around me to grow even more, we were startled by the familiar ding dong of the speaker system.

 “Ladies and gentlemen, please remain calm and stay in your seats. We can’t tell you what has exactly happened, but there is a power cut at the moment. Our employees are trying to fix this as soon as possible.”

 As soon as the ding dong sounded again, indicating that it was the end of the message, a lot of sighing and cursing broke out between my fellow passengers. I heaved a sigh myself, a little moan escaping my lips at the thought of being stuck here for god knows how long. The boy next to me turned his head and smiled at me.

 “Exactly what you need on a Friday night when you’re trying to get home huh.”

 I chuckled. “You got it. Let’s just hope they get it fixed soon.”

 “I’m Louis, by the way, we might use the extra time to get to know each other after all, right?”

 “Sounds good. Liam.” I answered before shaking the hand he had stuck out at me.