Subway Stories: The Ride That Took Forever

The first time I took a real ride on the local train in my current city was to see my first apartment away from home that I would live in with roommates. The ride was projected to take only 35 minutes or so but it seemed to take forever that day.

I began to panic because it was so loud and so fast. And I had no idea where I was going because I had never been on my way to where I was going before.

As soon as I settled into an empty seat, I didn’t like the sensation in my stomach while we cruised on the narrow track way in the dark, twisting and turning whenever the track changed directions.

My heart was thumping loudly inside of me and for a split second, I was tempted to hop off. But I had already gotten on and like it or not, I had to get to my new destination or else it would have been a waste of time and money if I wasn’t even going to see my new place.

So I gripped the bar in front of my seat, gritted my teeth, and stayed put. Just when I felt like I would howl out loud from being stuck in the dark tunnel, the train accelerated and popped out of the station to the street-level traffic above ground.

It was a whole new world I had never seen before. Sure there was cars, people, stores, and sidewalks like any other city but there was something different. It could have been the fact that our train track was smack in the middle of the street, with traffic on either side of us.

Maybe it was that I knew absolutely no one and no one knew me. Or that I was alone, traveling through a new, strange land for the first time. It was terrifying but wonderful. And I miss it.