Train

It had been an eternity since a man had touched her. Two strangers and a crowded train were enough for her body to betray her without permission.

I saw her when I boarded and knew I wouldn’t sleep. I never imagined I’d spy from the shadows as another man took her against the window.

I started dancing just to entertain my husband, but the nervous look on the young man across from us made it clear that night wasn’t going to end with a dance.

I worked while the city slept locked away, and the only time that was mine was that empty train car. Until he stopped asking for the permit and started asking for something else.

I boarded the last car expecting a quiet trip. I never imagined the woman in the green dress would invite me to watch what her partner was about to do to her.

I was only going to have a beer with her while waiting for the couple she’d arranged to meet. I’d never been to a club like that, and curiosity got the better of me.

She crossed her legs, looked at me over the book, and I knew that woman hadn’t asked permission for anything in years. The dead hour of the metro turned into something else.

I told you the trip began at four in the morning. I didn’t tell you that half the pleasure would come from those watching us along the way.

She was hunting young flesh on the platform, and the three boys with the beach backpack had no idea the prey was the one hunting them.

I felt her hand slide up my thigh in the packed subway, and even though I couldn’t move an inch, I didn’t want her to stop.

I used to avoid him because he was quiet and weird. Then a shove on the subway made me discover what he’d been hiding under all those huge clothes, and I couldn’t think about anything else.

She boarded the carriage after midnight, sat across from me, and began telling me things no stranger should ever confess in the dark.

The carriage was empty that late at night. When that man sat almost across from me and started looking at me without hiding it, I knew the ride would be different.

I felt his large body pressing against my back whenever the train braked, and when he whispered, “We’re getting off at the next stop,” I knew I wouldn’t be able to say no.

Clinging to the handrail in the car, all I could do was glance at him and imagine everything that would never happen between us.

I sat between an older man and a guy who was to die for. Then the train braked hard, the lights went out, and a hand found mine.

When the train left without me, I thought the night was lost. Then I saw him at the other end of the platform, motionless, looking at me as if he’d always been waiting.

She ordered me to wait for her in the compartment, naked, with the ruler on my lap. I knew she would come; what I didn’t know was how long she’d make me suffer.

I know I should feel ashamed, but at that hour, pressed against bodies I don’t know, I stop pretending the touch is an accident.

I had spent thirty years closing projects for the company. On my farewell trip, I never imagined the woman traveling beside me would be the one to say goodbye to me in a different way.