“I like her boots.”
“What?”
“The woman over there … she’s got cute boots.”
I can’t do this … not this … talking about a stranger’s boots
“She looks really sad.”
Everyone looks really sad … it’s a train station and there are no fuckin trains!
“He looks worse.”
He’s not going to give it up
“Who looks worse?”
“Him. The guy she’s hugging … he doesn’t look happy.”
“What a stupid thing to say.”
“It’s not stupid.”
“Course it’s stupid. He doesn’t want to be here. He wants to be going wherever he’s meant to be going.”
“Doesn’t mean you have look unhappy.”
“Doesn’t it?”
“No.”
“What would you prefer? That he act … that he pretends he’s happy?”
“If it helps her.”
“From looking sad … or feeling sad?”
“Both … I suppose.”
“And what about her? Should she pretend too?”
“If he is … yeah … she should.”
Tell him … tell him now
“What if neither pretended? … What if both were honest? Would that work?”
“Umm … I guess …”
Something’s happening … people are moving …
“THE NEXT TRAIN TO LEAVE PLATFORM TWO WILL BE THE THREE TWENTY-TWO TO CARDIFF CENTRAL CALLING AT … “
“Look at that. They’re on your train.”
She’s on my train. He’s saying goodbye. Like we need to.
“Text me when you get there.”
“Yeah.”
“We should talk later.”
Should. He said should.
“Okay … let’s talk.”
“You should go … get a seat.”
Don’t say it … don’t
“Bye.”
“Love you.”
I hate this.
“You too … bye.”
This fictional short story was written for a 50 Day Project organised by the artist Amanda Billing. I get 45 minutes to an hour (not the project’s rules, it’s just about the time I have right now) to write a story, sometime between 4.30am and 5.30am. After that, the day is no longer mine.
N.B. The sketch image for this short story was created using AI (at best, I can draw a half-decent stick man). The words are all mine.
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