July's Sun

I know you're out there.

The school day was as over before anyone had realized. The sun shined through every classroom window. What can you expect? - It's the end of the school year, there's nothing for the students to do except to bathe in the sunlight and try to not sweat too much. Tetsudo had been writing something to get his mind to relax - the whole time he thought he was about to overheat. "What a wasteful day... I could be in my room, where there's actually an AC..." he thought as the last bell rang and he started to put his thing into his bag.

"Tetsudo, want to hang out? Me and two girls are going on a karaoke night! We'll have a blast, you should come!" said someone. Tetsudo didn't even look at them. Just stood up, fake-smiled and said:

"No, sorry, I already have plans. Some other time."

"Oh, come on! You always say that! Who is so important in your life, that you go out with them everyday it seems?"

"Maybe I'll tell you one day. See you tomorrow!"

"Yeah, see ya."

Tetsudo was walking home alone. The lavenders were prettier than ever and he couldn't care less. "Middle of July - what a boring time. Summer is so cliche - you go out, you party, you have fun, repeat. I hate that, I hate being cliche. Why do I even have friends then? I should at least talk to them, I guess..." he thought, while the sun kept on falling. He snickered at himself.

"Extrovert on the outside, introvert on the inside..." he said out loud. He stopped and looked around. There was no one to hear him. He was relieved. 

Tetsudo kept on walking in the blazing heat till he got home. He opened the door and felt the pretty breeze from the house, and he smiled. As usual, there was no one home either. His parents always worked late. Tetsudo sat down in the living room's couch and started reading manga. The sun showed no sign of setting soon. "I'll go out in a few hours, too hot now..."

*

It was 7pm. The sun finally began to weaken its shine. "Looks a lot better now." Tetsudo thought, as he looked through the window. He got his shoes on and walked outside. 

The sky was still blue, but it was slowly turning pink, with a few clouds sprinkled across its empty canvas. Tetsudo began walking uphill. The neighborhood looked as empty as the summer heat expects it to be. Everyone is at home or in some café or store, where the heat can't sneak in. The more uphill Tetsudo walked, the less houses were around him. 

At the end of the street was a little pathway, almost invisible because of the bushes in the way. Tetsudo made his way through them and in front of him was a railway. A shining and long railway, warm electric poles and simmering above them wires. On the other side was a forest, dark and frightening. The setting sun hugged all of them. Tetsudo turned to his right and started walking along the rails. He felt something warm and welcoming about these rails, a sense of bittersweet nostalgia.

While the town felt like where he was born, this railway was where he grew up. At least a day every week for about two years he went here, always alone, always happy and feeling like he was at his place. He never saw another human walking around here. Trains were also pretty sparse and only came at peak-time weekdays. 

As he continued on, the railroad split up in a few tracks and up ahead was an old train station. As far as he knew, it wasn't abandoned, there was a station master and an operator, but rarely did other people come. Often the operator and station master wouldn't stay long, because it was a boring job without the trains or the people. Tetsudo almost never saw them too. The station had three tracks, with one of them being rusted and unused. It never shined. 

As he kept walking along the rails, to the left of him the bushes started to clear out and he could see the entirety of the little gold city. He loved this view, especially during summer. He found peace looking at the blending horizons with the sun behind him. The station was on a steep hill and looking down Tetsudo could see, that it was maybe two hundred meters above the town. The street, from which he came from, was the only normal way to actually reach the station. Otherwise you had to be a mountain climber with climbing equipment. 

Tetsudo felt sudden rumble and he heard the faint sounds of a train coming. It was a weekday after all. He turned around to look. The train was still far away, but you could hear its horn. Tetsudo loved riding on trains also. He felt it was safer than a car or bus and he hated the smell of petrol or gasoline. The train got closer and closer and soon enough stopped at the station. After a brief minute, the train started again. 

"No one will get off, no one will get on... Why even bother stopping?" thought Tetsudo as he watched the train leave. 

As these thoughts and the train left, his eyes caught a silhouette, standing on the other platform. It was a girl about his age, with dark hair and an unrecognizable for Tetsudo uniform. He was stuck in one place: 

"A girl got off? Here? Why? Who is she? What is she doing here?" As these thoughts ran through his head, the girl looked at him. She had light brown eyes, a soft face and rose cheeks. She smiled at him and said:

"Hey, where do you live?"
Tetsudo was immediately weirded out by this question.

"There." he pointed at the simmering town behind him.
The girl smiled again and asked:

"Can I stay over? I just ran away from home."