The Forest

-2-

Lucius and Avery sat side by side on the fraying blue seats. That they even had a seat, let alone two next to each other, was a miracle as far as Lucius was concerned. He supposed that they had just been lucky with the timing— Trains were his only mode of transportation to and from London and he had learned that no matter what day he tried to make the trip, as soon as the train sped past a certain station and crossed into the threshold of 'the City', the concept of personal space went out the window. People would be packed into every carriage like sardines, all pressed up against each other in their work clothes, the air a mix of perfumes and deodorant that made him feel lightheaded. It didn't matter how many bodies filtered out through the electronic doors, the double would cram back in.
Being squashed up among so many strangers gave him a horrible squirmy feeling in his guts, and he ended up passing each journey by straining to think up some other way of getting to and from London. Simply, there was none. He had no car and no license, not a penny to use for bus fares, and even if he stooped to stealing someone's bike he wouldn't know how to ride it.

As much as he hated being stuffed into a crowd of pompous commuters, there was one advantage to the mob. More people made it easier to hide from the police officers.

There was one station in particular that was always heaving with people, named after some old Queen. Everyone on tiptoes hanging off the rims of the platforms, it was a wonder nobody was ever pushed onto the tracks. Therefore, that was Lucius' favourite station. Jumping the ticket barriers was still a pain in the arse, but there were solutions. Getting out was the easiest part; he usually just pulled up his hood and got on with it, zipped between the little electronic gates before they could lock shut, then barrelled to the exit. He almost always got chased by some idiot guard who thought they could be a hero and tackle him to the ground, but none of them could run for shit, usually ended up bowling into the crowds and causing a big ruckus. That always cheered him up.

Getting in was harder. Trying to barrier-skip in any station inside the city was asking to be arrested, once inside the building there was nowhere to run to, and even if he did manage to get onto the train, officers would simply follow. But he had found the solution to that too. Fire doors.

The emergency exit doors in his favourite station opened out into some alley that no passersby seemed to realise was there. He had found out entirely by accident that these doors were broken. Didn't lock properly, opened if he kicked them hard enough, and most importantly never produced that screaming alarm they were supposed to emit when opened. It was his own secrete passage between the outside and inside of the station. So Lucius usually slipped in through there and scurried down onto the platforms, scrunched himself up in the furthest corner of the crowd until he could duck into the train and disappear among the masses. Risky, yeah, but it hadn't failed him yet.

Today, things were good. Better than usual. No heavy crowd— probably about twenty people in their carriage and plenty of seats to spare. Must be the timing, he supposed. It was the middle of the day, the work commuters that usually clogged up the trains were all still sealed in their offices and meeting rooms. He guessed. He didn't actually know for certain where everyone was, or particularly give a shit. Lucius had no idea what he wanted to do when he got to Mike's age and became 'an adult', but he would sooner throw himself in front of a train than join the crowds of people that filtered in and out of them everyday. What a boring life.

Thankfully the clatter and jolt of the carriage as it sped along the rails distracted from the silence between him and Ave. The journey would be feeling a lot more awkward if not for the background noise. For two people that hadn't seen each other in forever, they could strangely think of nothing to say.