Year of 365

September 20

A/N: Please don't play the song until I tell you to ;)

Midnight. Not a time for a lot of people to be milling about with the expectation of having a destination. And yet, instead of being home on your couch, or fast asleep in your bed, listening to the rain pouring outside, you were simply standing on the edge of the train platform, looking up and down the abandoned drab tracks. It was a sight that you had seen many times in your life, and yet today, you couldn't help but feel something as you stared into the tunnel. 

The station was nearly void of any sort of activity, save the two security guards standing sentinel at the bottom of the stone staircase, batons, flashlights, and other needed tools hidden safely among their depressing grey attire. One looked like he was ready to fall asleep, while the other looked like if you spoke to him wrong he would arrest you. Neither of the two was welcoming, and you had entered the station, ignoring their skeptic looks that followed you all the way to the edge of the platform. Oh, how you wished that you could duck behind one of the large brick pillars ascending from floor to ceiling.

Why did I even come here, you thought to yourself, not daring to disturb the dead silence of the place. Even a whisper would alert the guards that you were speaking, possibly to someone that they hadn't seen enter the place. 

In your hand was the ticket that you had bought only minutes ago upon arriving at the terminal. Ivory and covered with a plastic-like film on one side, it looked just like a carnival ticket from when you went to the fair ten years ago with your older sibling. Those memories were nearly gone, but there was the lingering smell of the popcorn and the sound of the classic music drifting through the carnival from the speakers attached to the giant Ferris Wheel at the back. On the ticket was the time of purchase 11:52 and the time of the train's arrival and then departure. 12:00. There was nothing else on the ticket, except for the number of the train that you would be taking. 

You glanced up at the clock to your left, staring as the large black hand moved one more minute closer to midnight. You had already been standing here for five minutes. No wonder the security guards were looking at you funny. They probably think that you were up to something. Hardly anyone comes to a train platform at midnight when everything else in your city is dead.

The song that had been playing on the speakers ended and not a second later, another song started playing. (Now you can play the song)

"Just a small-town girl," the voice on the speaker sang, echoing through the station. 

"Livin' in a lonely world. She took the midnight train goin' anywhere." 

Subconsciously you started tapping your feet to the beat, your lips moving in time with the lyrics of the song. You had only heard it a few times, but enough that you knew most, if not all, of the lyrics.

"Just a city boy. Born and raised in South Detroit! He took the midnight train going anywhere!"

You glanced up at the clock again, watching as the hand struck the 12 and a loud bell could be heard from the clock in the park outside the doors of the station. The train should be here any second now, you thought to yourself, looking up and down the tracks again. 

"A singer in a smokey room..."

Just as you were thinking that a large thundering sound came down the tracks, accompanied by a blinding white light. You stepped away from the yellow line on the edge of the platform and watched the black train pull into the stop. The doors opened and you smiled to yourself, stepping onto the train.

"The smell of wine and cheap perfume! For a smile that can share the night, it goes on and on and on and on!"

The doors closed just as the chorus started and you smiled, taking a seat where you could look out of the window. 

"Strangers! Waitin'! Up and down the boulevard, their shadows, searchin' in the night!"

Listening to the lyrics of the song, you glanced down at your shadow and smiled. The change of lights in the tunnel outside of your window made your shadow look like it was dancing to the music, its torso waving like waves crashing against the beach. 

"Streetlights, people! Livin' just to find emotion, hidin' somewhere in the night!"

You took a look around, smiling in a secretive way to yourself, before standing up and starting to swing around the train, using the poles and handrails to keep yourself steady as you twirled around.

"Workin' hard to get my fill," you sang quietly, spinning around the pole in the center of the train. "Everybody wants the thrill!"

"Playin' anything to roll the dice, just one more time!"

You grinned and ran down between the seats, laughing to yourself as you swung yourself around. This was much better than sitting in your room, bored with absolutely no idea of what to do. Normally, you felt quite awkward on trains, but with no one on this one, you felt free to do whatever crazy dance you wanted.

"Some will win, some will lose. Some were born to sing the blues! Oh, the movie never ends it goes on and on and on and on!"

You entered the next compartment and instantly collided with something that you hadn't been expecting. You started to stumble back but at the last second, something wrapped around your waist, and your hand found something sturdy to hold onto. As you opened your eyes, you found another set of beautiful eyes staring back at you.

"Strangers waitin'," the song continued, ignoring the slightly awkward situation that you were in. 

"Up and down the boulevard, their shadows, searchin' in the night! Streetlights, people! Livin' just to find emotion, they're hidin' somewhere in the night!"

"Wanna dance," the person asked, pulling you back up. "I saw you through the window."

Normally you would have blushed, but tonight, you didn't particularly care about anything. So, you grinned and stood up straighter, taking the hand of the stranger and pulling them down the aisle. 

"Don't stop believin'," you sang, grabbing onto the pole as the train went around a rather sharp bend. The other person hadn't been paying attention and slipped, but you caught their hand and pulled them back. 

"Hold on to that feelin'," they sang back, grabbing onto the pole as well, their hands just above yours.

"Streetlight, people! Don't stop believin'! Hold on to that feelin'! Streetlight, people!" 

You two continued running down the train, stopping here and there to swing around each other in a dance faster than anything that you had ever experienced before.

"Don't stop believin'! Hold onto that feelin'! Streetlight, people!"

As the song ended, you collapsed onto one seat, your new friend collapsing onto another across the aisle from you. It was silent on the train except for your panting from the use of energy that you didn't know you had, and you grinned at each other.

"Well that was fun," you said with a laugh.

"Yeah."

"So where are you going?"

"No idea. You?"

"Me either."

"Then how about we just journey together to the end of the line."

"Sounds like the best idea I've heard all day."