*This subway story took place on December 9, 2015.
There’s a lady that I’ve been seeing on my train since I moved here almost six years ago and I saw her again today. She looks exactly the same as the last time I saw her. She wore the same type of outfit (dark top, coat, and skirt) with her short brown hair loose and straight just above her shoulders.
She also had the same scowl on her face, very slight but nonetheless there. And she still looked not too young but not too old, making me wonder how old she actually is.
It was as if she were still in 2011 with the rest of us in 2015 looking like slightly different versions of ourselves. I thought she was from Europe, maybe Italy or Romania. Then I heard her talking to someone in Spanish on her cell phone one time and I was shocked but not really surprised.
I used to see her a lot, almost everyday, on my way to work before my evening graduate school classes. After awhile, she disappeared. By that time, my life had taken a different path: I switched jobs during my grad school thesis semester, finished grad school, and became a full-time working professional.
Now, out of nowhere, she came back today. I noticed her sitting in front of me on my way to work. I couldn’t see her face but I recognized the hair and knew it was her when I caught a glimpse of her profile as she walked off the train. Just like that, someone I don’t know has become a familiar face among strangers.
The Fearless Wordsmith 