The Last Train

David checked the time on his phone

Half an hour ‘till closing time…

He looked around. Most of the other sellers were currently packing up their stuff. Some were already gone and only a few were still selling their last copies. David looked at the table in front of him. It was empty except for the “Sold Out” sign. This had been the case for a while, but David was still sitting behind it, waiting. He let his gaze wander aimlessly through the crowd that went past, looking to see if he could spot a certain someone.

Still not coming…

He grabbed his phone and opened up the convention timetable.

The last scheduled meet and greet event ended half an hour ago… twenty minutes ‘till closing… She probably isn’t coming, right? I should just go… I could take an earlier train maybe, let’s see… Oh, if I hurry now, I could take two trains earlier…

David looked up and the “Sold Out” sign came into view.

Mh… but then I have to stress and run… I don’t wanna run… Oh! And if I go right after closing, I still get one train earlier… I must have looked that up wrong yesterday… Well then, let’s just wait… doesn’t really matter if I wait here or at the station…

He remained in his chair and played a game on his phone to kill the time. After a while he checked the time again.

And the convention has officially ended…

Everyone around David had packed his stuff and made their way to the exit. He remained seated for another minute, then another one and even a third.

Yeah… that’s what I thought…

David sighed, stood up and grabbed his empty backpack. He joined the masses slowly making their way out. It was already dark outside. David checked his phone again.

If go straight to the station and don’t dawdle I can make the train before the last one…

David slowly made his way to the station. He arrived five minutes after the scheduled departure of the train, but luckily it was ten minutes late. David smirked when he read the delayed message on the display board and went to the platform. The train arrived with the announced ten minutes delay and departed a few minutes later. David watched it vanish behind a curve.

What am I doing… This is stupid… I should have gotten on the train.

He looked at the display board, which was now showing the next train to arrive in forty-five minutes, the last train.

I did say I would take the last train… No reason in making something a lie if you don’t have to…

David sighed, shrugged and then went to one of the seats. From there he could see the stairs coming down onto the platform. Playing on his phone he frequently looked over there. David was alone on the platform for a while, then slowly more and more people came down the stairs.

Ten minutes left…

David looked over at the crowd that had gathered on the platform. There was no one he recognized.

Maybe she found someone who could take her back home by car?

The display board showed five minutes until the train would arrive.

Maybe she decided to stay the whole weekend and found a place to stay at…

Four minutes until the train.

…or someone…

Three minutes. The platform became more and more crowded.

Well, doesn’t matter to me anyways… She was probably just being friendly with me and never intended to meet again… After all, I was just an excuse, used to get rid of those men.

Two minutes.

Why do I keep thinking about her… I know better than to get my hopes up… This is life, not a rom-com… A woman will not be interested and just magically fall in love with me after a random encounter… nor is it a doujinshi, so she also won’t be joining me in bed tonight either…

One minute. David smirked tired, followed by a deep sigh.

It’s been a long day… I’m just not build to sozialize that much with so many people… I’m tired and I could use a drink… But hey, it was a rather successful day… I sold way more than I expected…

David looked at his empty backpack. He suddenly felt this strange panic rise within him and his eyes began to dart around, scanning over the people on the platform.

No…

A collective groan went through the crowd. David followed the annoyed looks to the sign board.

Five minutes delay.

David felt strangely relived. He grabbed his backpack, stood up and started to walk through the crowd. After walking back and forth the whole platform two times he stopped at the bottom of the stairs. The train came shortly after. David watched the people board it one after another.

This is it…

Half of the people were already on board.

The last train…

David was the last person still on the platform.

I have to get on it…

David wanted to move from his spot at the stairs, but his body just wouldn’t.

What the… Why am I not moving? She isn’t coming! She was never going to do so! I can’t miss this train!

The conductor blew his whistle, signaling the imminent departure.

MOVE!

David took a step, but his body froze again before his feet hit the ground.

“Shit, shit, shit!”, he heard coming from the top of the stairs quietly, slowly getting louder.

David turned his head and he spotted a reddish-brown messy head of hair appearing above.

She… came…

“Fuck, I’m gonna miss hi-“, the person shouted and tripped, rushing down the stairs, “Aaaah!”

David reacted instinctively and rushed to catch the stumbling woman. He managed to do so, but her momentum was too much, so they both went down. David breathed out and braced himself before he hit the ground. It wasn’t the first impact with the hard floor, that made him groan in pain, but rather the immediately following one. David found himself looking up into two surprised light blue eyes. Blinking a few times, they stared right back. Messy reddish-brown hair framed the face of the woman and tickled his, which was not even an arm’s length away. Suddenly the eyes began to sparkle like sapphires.

“Hello there”, The woman on top of him said with a growing smile, “ Fancy meeting you here.”

Blowing its horn the train started to move. Startled, she looked to the side.

“Oh, the train…”, She mumbled as someone who did not care a lick would.

The woman looked back down, and by doing so, shifted her body slightly. David groaned sharply as pain shot through his lower body.

“What’s wrong?”, she asked alarmed.

“Ngh… kngh…”, David responded groaning.

“Kngh?”

“Knee… Your knee…is…”

She looked down at her knee and noticed that it had landed in a very unfortunate place and was pressing down on it.

“Oh, shit! Sorry! I’ll get up!”, she said panicked and got up.

But while doing so she unintentionally shifted more of her weight on the knee in the precarious location, sending another shot of pain through David’s gut and making him groan.

“No! Sorry… I didn’t want… sorry…”, she mumbled.

David breathed deeply a few times, fighting down the urge to vomit.

“Don’t worry…”, he pressed out through his teeth, “I’m okay…”

“Really?”, she asked worried.

David saw the guilty and concerned look in her eyes.

“Really… Some people pay for that, so I should count myself lucky, shouldn’t I?”, he said with a forced smile and trying to sound witty.

She looked at him surprised and blinked a few times.

” Haven’t crushed your humor, huh?”, she said while shaking her head slightly with a faint smile.

“Only my balls.”, David countered with a more natural smile.

Now they both began to laugh. After a while they noticed that they were completely alone on the platform.

“We missed the last train…”, she said, looking down the empty train tracks.

“We did…”, David answered and was surprisingly unbothered by it.