It has been a long day for Gian. The subway tunnels are dark and damp as usual, but the hours of work felt longer and more laborious than most. It is not so much that he cannot endure the dark and the damp; in fact, he enjoys it very much. No, rather he had a rough sleep the night before which made his already tired and old body suffer in the morning. Most of the blame for this was held by his disagreeable roommate. Even without the late hour commotions, Gian suffered from a difficulty in falling asleep for his anxiety kept his dreams absent. This condition only grew worse with his roommate's witching hour habits. Many times before he had tried to confront him over the issue. No matter what he had said or how politely he had done it, he was only responded to with verbal attacks and threats of violence if he were not to disappear right back into his room.
Gian, being a pacifist and too weak for any physical altercation, decided that he would not cause more trouble than need be. He spends as little face time as possible with his roommate to avoid conflict. He finds it easier to simply hide in his dark corner of a room and seal off the loud music and clamoring coming from the living room, as best as he can, from his sensitive ears.
Now, his work day is just about done. He has been rummaging through the tunnels for hours inspecting the pipes and rails to ensure that they have maintained their standards. From his investigation, he found that everything was up to code. He is always grateful for this, for the sake of those thousands of passengers who trust the trains to transport them throughout their daily lives.
Although important, his job is a simple one, as he is too old now and much too tired for underground construction work. That was a task for his youth. But even in his old age, he enjoys the meditative walks in the name of protection and security. No matter the years, his legs have always been able to support him in these long distances.
Gian feels the rumbling of a train on a nearby line as it passes by. The sound of its hesitant horn brings a smile to his tired face. He knows that soon the trains will come to a hush and rest for the night until the next day when both he and they will start anew. For now, he is finished. The clock has found itself in those late hours and Gian has completed his checks.
It is only a few inches to the nearest exit where Gian spots a rat. He reflects on how much larger they appear to be growing nowadays and jokes to himself that perhaps he may just be getting smaller. He waits a few moments for the rat to scurry off, afraid that it may attack him if he gets too close. The rat stops, sniffs the air, and then darts away, leaving an open pathway for Gian. He freely crawls out of the subway lines and makes his way back home. He is quite fatigued from the work, but the fresh and cool night air puts a slight spring in his steps. Perhaps tonight he will take the scenic route. After all, he isn't sure how many days he has left until his legs can no longer carry him the distance.
As he wanders home, his presence is unnoticed. He scurries through the streets unseen by anyone; not even a glimpse of a smile is granted to him, but he doesn't mind. He would rather be invisible and undisturbed than acknowledged and feared. In fact, the lack of acknowledgment gives him the luxury to daydream. He feels free to act a fool when no one is looking. To Gian, the city buildings look like giant monsters that he finds himself just able to sneak past. He enjoys pretending that they are trying to hunt him down; he must avoid the glaring light from the street lamps by jumping around in order not to be seen. Should he be found, who knows what they might do to him?
After some time of being stealthily undetected, Gian arrives home. Pleasantly for him, he lives on the first floor so he does not have to struggle up the stairs. Unpleasantly for him, he can already hear the deep beat of rock music sliding out into the building hallway from under his apartment door. Either his roommate is inconsiderately blasting music on a weekday evening or he is even more inconsiderately hosting a party on a weekday evening. One or the other, Gian knew this would be another rough night.
