The Zombie on the Train

They crossed paths on a train. Meet would be a kind word. Crossed path it is.

"Please don't molest me! Sorry, I'm so tired!"

A pale girl screams before sprawling on the empty seats in the train she was in. Her bag slumping beside her. It wasn’t a packed night. It was also late but seemingly few are still on and about.

Sana along with her friends Jeongyeon and Jihyo were made to look. Even stared. For the girl decided to fall asleep right there.

Many really were made to stare at the girl’s antics. But they eventually went back to their phones and on the conversations that were suddenly put on hold.

The passed out girl was wearing a pair of leggings and a skirt. Her cream long sleeves were loose on her. Her cheeks were tinged with a shade of pink.

Jeongyeon chuckles at the sight. 

“Poor thing” Jihyo utters as she massages her shoulders from the cold. She can sympathize with the kid. 

Sana was perplexed and worried.

The train had stopped and the doors opened. Sana decided to threw caution into the wind. She stood and sat at the foot of the passed out girl. She tried to smell alcohol from her but wasn’t sure of her own sense of smell. Seemingly there's none. She let it be before fixing the girl’s skirt.

Jeongyeon had fished out her phone to take a picture of Sana at that moment. 

Sana was grateful of Jihyo for pinching Jeongyeon’s side. Stopping her from taking pictures. Jihyo was mad proud for Sana’s initiative albeit creeped out just a little. Well, if she saw a stranger do that. That’s a different story.

Then Jeongyeon's eyebrows raised as Sana began shaking the girl awake.

“Hey, hey” Sana called out.

The body groaned at the disruption. 

“Hm, what?” Dahyun opened her eyes and remembered where she was at the very view that greeted her. The whiteness and passengers of the train.

“Sorry, but you might miss your stop so I woke you up” Sana was quick to laid out her reason of action.

Dahyun hummed and quickly inspected if her phone is still with her. Sleeping like that was so reckless of her. But, dear god, she was so tired that words can not begin to measure her situation. Or was she proving everyone right with this attitude of hers? 

Dahyun sighed. The movement of the one sitting beside her about to leave, made her realize she was still about to give her a proper response.

She held onto the girl’s arm. Her hand enough to wrap around the girl’s covered wrist. She checked the screen and was glad that she hadn’t passed by her stop yet.

Sana had to resume on sitting as the train was still moving.

“Hey, sorry. I’m just, my mind these days and so tired. I’m poor at being a decent conversation. But thank you so much for waking me up.”

Sana had finds it a little rude but saw the girl’s state more than evident of her action being understandable. Who is she to add more to this girl’s burden?

“It’s nothing. I just got worried of you missing your stop. You were pretty quick to fall asleep” Sana knew she should not have let her smile shine through and a chuckle escape. It can be seen as mocking of her.

But Dahyun leaned on to the lighter side of things.

“My bad, I’m just in that zone right now. Sorry to trouble you..-“

The train had come to a stop.

“Really, it's amazing of you to wake me. And this is my stop” Dahyun gave a tight lipped smile. The doors opened.

“Oh no, its nothing” Sana spoke and she felt Dahyun’s warm hands lightly pat her shoulder in another form of gratitude.

“Nope. Thank you for your worry, stranger” A cheeky smile was etched on Dahyun’s face as she walked towards the platform.

Sana grabbed the chance to return to her friend’s side as few passengers flocked in. Jeongyeon has this unimpressed smile on her face that got Sana wanting to be defensive without provocation. 

But Jihyo leaning over to stare outside made Sana look at the same direction.

It was the girl. She was seemingly blocking a drunk man from boarding the train.

The door eventually closed. Sana stares and her eyebrows furrow at the girl managing to calm the guy to take a seat. Quick to offer a bottle of water and a station staff was seemingly called over.

“She handled that pretty well” Jihyo took out the words from Sana’s mouth.

“What?” Jeongyeon raised as she detaches her attention from her mobile device. She looked out the window to see what was Jihyo commenting about.

But the train had began to move.

“Nothing” Sana stated as she too brought out her phone.

Jihyo nodded in accordance.

“Come on, fill me in. What did the girl do?” Jeongyeon begs for any crumbs but the two was in the mood to .

Jeongyeon craned her head trying to see but the train had completely left the station platform. She bumped her shoulders at the two girls beside her in annoyance.

It was such a simple occurrence. Why was she so thirsty of anything akin to romance these days? Is that why that train incident didn’t quietly leave her memory.

Sana paused from studying the report uploaded by a classmate covering the coming quiz in one of her masteral classes.

She put down her pen. And automatically her fingers grasped for her phone. The brain has a way of protecting itself from overthinking, distractions. 

Then she found herself nodding, Jihyo was right. The girl despite her tired state handled the guy way better than expected. Or maybe its just something normal, not all drunk people causes ruckus. Some people are also better at pacifying tension than others.

And that’s when Sana had to sit up and grab something to eat because her mind is failing her from overthinking a very simple incident. Albeit strange in a good way.

Dahyun was sat down properly this time at the vacant seat she was offered on the train.

She could not help but remember her recklessness from the other day. Sprawling like she owned the place but given that she had checked that the train has plenty of free seats. So she took the liberty to finally grant her body its well deserved rest. But she had disregarded the potential of her missing her stop. Lucky for her, some strangers are kinder than others.

It took Dahyun meeting a child’s gaze and smile, sat on his father’s lap to realize that she was mirroring the child. Smiling without knowing. Dahyun was quick to wink at the child before shifting her gaze. And fixing her face.

She stares at the screen above. One more stop and she can rest. Her bed is the most wonderful thing these days.

Jihyo and Sana frowned when Jeongyeon began to chuckle by herself. It was the suddenness of her laugh that caught them by surprise. They were on the train, standing since it was packed.

Jeongyeon eyed the two before showing an image on her phone.

“Shall I post this on my Insta?” She teased ad Sana’s face shifted in an instant.

“Don’t you dare” She warned eyes far from letting Jeongyeon go.

“I’m just joking. But you can’t say this wasn’t a funny day. That girl had lost care and just plopped down on the seats” Jeongyeon expressed her sentiment on the image of Sana sat awkwardly beside a sprawled girl on the train.

Jihyo chuckled lightly at the memory. “Right, and our Sana came to the rescue” She smiled at Sana.

“She was ...” Sana began.

“Cute? We know.”
 

The two laughed making Sana whine and blush.

“No. She was strange but the good kind.”

“Yeah, yeah. In other words, cute in your vocabulary” Jeongyeon teased.

Jihyo contained her smile as not to further piss off Sana.

In a way to distract herself, Sana opted to ignore Jeongyeon for the duration of the trip by placing her earphones on.

Then her eyes wandered at the array of people kept together by this train. And she could not help herself. She began to look and soon would wish she hadn’t.

She was quick to look away and fixed her gaze at the window. Offering an escape in the cramped space.

“Hey, you good?” Jih