Strangers on a Train

I got on this train at half past two without telling a soul.  My family never could have let me go if they had known.  But this was something I had to do; I really had no choice.

The people gazed politely out the tinted windows, or on the floor, or at their own pale hands folded neatly in their laps.  But never at me or anyone else.  The car I was in was dimly lit, small, cold, with orange plastic seats lined up on either side of the center aisle.  I stood in the middle, one arm hooked around the metal pole near the door for balance and the other buried deep in my pocket.  There was no luggage at the feet of the other passengers, nor was there a man to check tickets.  

I sighed, letting out a plume of chilled air, and gripped the pole more tightly as the train ground to a halt at the next station, a dark mausoleum, where a passenger waited.  He glanced down at the worn leather suitcase in his hand then back up before discarding his luggage and climbing aboard.

He regarded me with faint interest as he grasped my pole and raised his eyebrows.  I blinked and couldn't help but stare back.  He was probably around my age, young but hardened.  His hair was as dark as his eyes and ragged, unkempt and cut just a bit too short.  He wore black, and the piercing in one eyebrow was connected to the stud in his lip by a minute chain.

"Hey."

The sound of a human voice amongst the wailing of the car seemed flat, colorless.

"Hey," I answered back, not surprised to find that my own voice, as faint as it was, sounded pretty much the same.

"You know where this train is going?" I think I could detect a faint Southern drawl in his voice now.

I shook my head.  "No idea.  Hopefully somewhere sunny."

He laughed.  The train pulled up in another station and a few people wandered into our car and clung to poles nearby.  The train departed again, sending the dirty newspapers and Styrofoam cups into a frenzy.

"I don't really know either.  I thought I knew before I left.  At least my older brother had told me before he went.  But now I'm not so sure."  He glanced around with a shrug.  "Not a very lively bunch of people, are they?"

I shook my head.  "I don't blame them."

Our car swayed around us, creaking against the chains which bound it to other cars on either side.  The lights flickered and I could feel a sudden drop of temperature.  My acquaintance didn't seem to notice.

"So…how did you die?" he finally asked me.  I could tell the people around were straining their ears for my answer.

"Car wreck.  You?"  

"Suicide…"