Once again, a day has gone by, buried in work, phone calls, daily stress. There is nothing better than the feeling of knowing that soon I will be home, relaxing. The only thing in my way is the journey home. I rush fast towards the metro as the sun still shines high in the sky. I can hear the traffic and the anticipation of everyone on the roads, suddenly downtown turned into a noisy environment.  Car horns signing their annoying melodies, people on cell phones, calling friends and family, arranging their plans and discussing their day, creating a buzz on the sidewalks.

I finally reach the entrance of the metro, a labyrinth of underground tunnels, where everyone looks so small and in a hurry. It always made me think of a colony of ants, scattered everywhere, each of us having a task, being united but at the same time independent and pre-occupied by our own thoughts.

I always enjoyed the metro, even if it’s impossible to avoid, it’s the perfect place to observe others.  I hear the next train coming, as I run down the stairs.  Avoiding the incoming crowd, I make my way through it just before the door closes.  I hear someone hitting the door and scream something, but it’s too late and the words are submerged by the echo of the metro leaving.

I stand in the middle of the train, surrounded by all these people, the air pushed through the ventilation sticks to my skin, its hot and not recycled, I always hated it, especially on a hot day like today. Paranoid, as I am, holding the metal bar made me always uneasy, all the germs, jumping all over my fingers.

To distract myself, I look at the television monitors to my left, the same commercials passing by, silent, in four colours always made me smile, wondering if anyone actually paid attention to them. Finally we reach the next station, most of the crowd leaves, giving me space to move and breathe some fresh air coming through the open doors. There is no place for me to sit down, so I move towards the door, where I can rest against it till I reach my destination, even if I still have a good 20 minutes to go.

This time, my attention turns towards a girl, sitting at the end of the train; she looks in a daze, staring into the void in front of her. I wonder what she’s thinking about. Her eyes look so alive yet so neutral, finally the blinks once and as if it was a wake up, she turns her head looking around her. She opens her bag and takes out her cell phone. There is no reception in here, but I know that she must be looking for something, maybe a text message or her agenda, working on her daily plan for tomorrow. Her black hair makes her look even more white, the amazing contrast that attracts your attention; her pink lips are small and her brown eyes looks so familiar. I think to myself if I know her...

A young boy in front of me drops his bag, it looks heavier than him, I remember my days in school, when the teacher would gives us an incredible amount of assignments, careless of the fact that they were not our only class and I always ended up bringing all my books and folders home. But I can’t really complain, I guess everyone passed through that stage, even if we all went to school for an education, it was our friends and secret crushes that made it all past faster and easier.

I hear a baby’s laugh, as I turn my head by the new distraction, I see the girl smiling at the mother playing with her new born. The girl’s smiles fades quickly as she picks up her bag and takes a clip to tie her hair.

The light in the train flickers two times, just before we reach the next stop. A young man comes in; you can hear that he’s a fan of Metallica, as his ear phones vibrate from the loud sounds. Everyone turns to his direction; he plays indifferent to all this attention, and simply puts his hood on, soon enough, his face disappears, as all you can see is his blond hair, gently moving with the breeze of the closing doors.

My feet start to hurt; I had spent most of my day on them, running around to finish up on our inventory. These heels look great, but are such a pain; I guess it’s a price to pay to look good, even if I was never a big fan of them, but since my new jobs requires an elegant and clean dress clothing, I have to deal with it.

An older woman stands up, getting ready to leave, she loses her balance and steps on my left foot, I start smiling at the irony of it all. She blushes and before she has the time to apologise, I help her towards the door as the train slows down. The young man with his loud music, takes her place as I turn to sit down, I guess I run out of luck. Suddenly, as I turn, the baby throws his small blue teddy bear and just before it hits the dirty floor, the girl catches it. She hands it to the mother as she walks toward the door, the mother whispers...

“Thank you, but I’m sure it will happen again.”

The girl walks out with a smile, as I jump on the opportunity to take her seat, as I sit down; I feel the warmth of it. The door closes and I see her, suddenly turning around with a shocked face, she looks completely white, her eyes are wide opened and her pink lips are trembling, she hits the door and screams...

“What? ...Wait!”

The train leaves, I look at her, and wonder what she forgot; I look around the seat and see nothing.  I keep on looking outside as all I can see is the gray walls distorted by the speed of the metro and the occasional lights that flash by my eyes, creating a blue display of shadows.

I remember catching myself counting them, or guessing the amount of them between the stations. For some reason they would hypnotize me, as if I was moving towards space, in a great speed. All this staring made my eyes dry, as I finally blink, and realised where I was. I look around and no one is paying attention, many of my friends told me that the face I have, while being in a daze is not a good one, and that always made me laugh. Once, while being on vacation, I was far off in my thoughts and my best friends boyfriend got really affected by my expression, it really got him mad seeing me so neutral. Since that day, I knew that even if you don’t look for attention, while being in your little world, others notice.

I suddenly remembered that my brother was supposed to send me some information about the new apartment I wanted to rent. I take out my cell phone and look threw my missed calls or messages. As always, I missed quite a few. This work really keeps me busy; sometimes I don’t even have time to take my lunch. I look and see that my father called, probably looking to chat a little and get some news about the new job, and of course, my brother did send me a message. The apartment sounds good, but is a little too expensive for me, I will have to go and visit it once more before I give them my decision.

I look around and see the mother with her baby, it’s a little boy, his eyes are almost black and he looks really cute in his little navy uniform.  The woman holding him is really beautiful; her red hair shines with the lights as she makes a few funny faces as the baby giggles and claps his little fragile hands. Our eyes meet for a second as I smile to her.

Sitting down, the air doesn’t circulate much, and the heat gets to me. I had many problems with my blood pressure in the heat, last summer I almost fainted in the middle of the street while going to work. Once I forced myself and finally reached the restaurant, my brother caught me and told me I looked practically green. As I rested to a couple of minutes and tried to get my blood circulating in my legs, I knew that the hot weather, especially on a humid day was my enemy and I really didn’t enjoy the feeling of being powerless. At that moment I remembered seeing a show, where a woman said that the temperature is 15 degrees higher on our neck when having long hair. To cool down, I take my clip and tie my hair. I sit, motionless for a moment, feeling the gentle breeze on my back. Finally some air, the lights flicker once more before we hit the next stop. The door opens and I feel the cool air hit my face, it feels really great and I close my eyes. I concentrate only on the noises I hear, the footsteps going and coming, the news papers gliding on the floor, the whispers and laughs, the rhythm of music nearby.

I can hear the melody of a guitar echoing through the walls and tunnels of the metro, I always admired those people, who took the time to come and entertain us, the ones rushing, by playing great songs, old favourites and sharing their musical talents. I will have to admit, I am one of those who take them for granted and I rarely give them a quarter or dollar for this amazing gift. I love music and I sometimes feel ashamed that I don’t contribute or encourage those who don’t simply are able to play it, but those who embrace it to the fullest.

I open my eyes as we leave the last station, in a minute, it will be my turn to come out and leave this train, soon enough I will be taking my last steps before getting home. I prepare myself, put my bag over my shoulder and sit up straight. My left foot still hurts a little and I can’t wait to remove my shoes and see the damage, if any.

The metro slows down, as I get up, at the same time, I see the baby, looking at me, he waves and giggles, lifts his left  arm just a little as he holds the teddy bear, I knew what came next, so I got closer as he threw it. I thought to myself, what a déjà vu...and smiled, I gave the teddy back to the mother as I got closer the door.
She turned towards me and whispered...

“Thank you, but I’m sure it will happen again.”

I finally came out, the familiar surrounding greeted me with the same yellow and blue walls, the high ceiling and the red seats, it felt great to be so close to home.

But for some reason, something wasn’t right, it suddenly hit me...

The black hair, the brown eyes, the small pink lips, the phone, the hair, the teddy bear...That was me, it was me...

The words echoed in my mind...

“Thank you, but I’m sure it will happen again.”

“Thank you, but I’m sure it will happen again.”

I turned around and I was shocked at what I saw...my eyes opened wider in disbelief as I hit the door that closed two inched from my face.

There I was...I’m not talking about my reflection in the glass, but the girl, who just took my seat. Looking back at me...

I scream...

“What?”

As the image send shivers down my spine, I was looking at myself, but how could that be...

I scream...

“Wait!”

Buts it’s too late, the metro is gone...leaving me behind. Standing, in one place, my blood rushing through my body, my mind paralysed and confused.