Hell in the Air

The first hour of the morning began status quo. She hit the snooze three times before finally rising from her bed. Then, she spent twenty fruitless minutes tearing apart her bedroom in search of undergarments she swore she had owned at one point. After brushing teeth, petting cats and frowning at her uncooperative hairdo, she started her drive to the train station. As usual, the radio station that she, for some reason, remained faithful to played only two songs during the 15 minute drive. The rest of the time she tried to tune out a series of especially irritating ads.

After she'd parked, heaved her school bag onto her shoulder, and locked the vehicle, she crossed the enormous (but somehow never big enough) parking lot in order to wait for her train. When she crossed the bridge to the station, there was an unusually large crowd. She weaved her way past the various bodies and finally settled on a line to follow. Several minutes went by. Looking over her surroundings, she recognized the greasy looking cop that took her train sometimes. The guy standing in front of him had his headphones up so loud, that everyone in a 20 foot radius must have been able to hear his poor taste in music.

With the number of people waiting at the station, she figured that one of the regular trains hadn't come by. When a train finally pulled up to the station, it was coming from the wrong direction and riding on the wrong set of tracks. Another woman around her age gave her a puzzled look and asked to confirm the weird arrival of the train. She nodded.

After hooking up her own headphones, and blasting the Fratellis at what was probably a discourteous volume, she tried to play solitaire, squinting at the miniature cards on her iPod. A couple of times, the train stopped at places that were not stations. It seemed to take forever to get downtown. After another brief conversation with the girl she'd spoken to earlier, she was lugging her baggage down the ped mall. A security guard passed her, walking the opposite direction. As she was pondering the reasons why security guards don those stupid looking hats, she noticed another one. He was stationed outside the Nike store.

All along her journey this morning, she could sense something strange. Something was just a little off, as if there was a serious problem that no one was talking about. Rather than being afraid, this put her on her guard and peaked her curiosity. She boarded the elevator at work, wondering if she'd ever find out what was going on.