Tomtord oneshot thingies i guess

Blink and you'll miss it

Tom's pov

The first time I saw him, was the morning when I decided to take the subway to my new job. I had recently moved to London, getting away from my old home. I had gotten a job as a salesman, my work being around 20 minutes away from my apartment. The subway station was around the corner of my house, being perfect for my situation.

It was a Monday morning, 7:25am. I sat down on a seat, holding my bag to my body closely and making sure I wasn't going to miss my stop.

My eyes darted around the car as I spotted a man standing a few meters away from me, scrolling through something on his phone. His hair stood out first to me, as it was shaped like horns. Though strangely enough, it fit his look. He wore a red hoodie and black jeans, having a piercing in his ear. His appearance was strangely mesmerizing. I felt somehow drawn to him.

I didn't notice I was staring until he looked up, his eyes wandering in my direction. I quickly turned away, seeming to be staring at something in the distance. After a while, I gazed back to him, my eyes widening by what I saw.
Or more like... what I didn't see.
He was gone.

'Strange...' I thought to myself.
'I didn't realize we already got to the next stop-'

I didn't think much about it for the first day. I was probably too distracted by looking away from him.

The next day though, I was beginning to get a little more concerned. I saw him again, this time reading the newspaper. He was sitting in a seat on the other side of the cart. There weren't many spaces available, so I sat facing him a few meters away. I did that same as the day before, staring at him without realizing until he tilted his head up, my eyes darting out the window again.

Once again, I turned back to look at him, and noticed he was gone. His seat was completely empty, and no one even batted an eye. My mouth hung open. I knew for a fact that the next stop was still a few minutes away. He couldn't have gotten off.

This continues for a few days.
I watched him everyday, not only because I was drawn to his appearance, but because... I had to know what I was going on. I watched him closely, day in, day out. Every morning, he'd read something, I'd stare at him until he looks up. I always looked away, and when I looked back, he was gone. No trace of him left behind.

Of course, I realized my mistake. It should've been obvious to me by then.

The next week, I went on the subway with a plan in mind. Monday morning, I walked into the car immediately seeing him reading a book. I sat on one of the empty seats. There were around 5 unoccupied spots. I sat on the one that had the best view of him. After a few stops, I saw him look up. My first instinct was to look away, but this time I didn't. I had to know what was happening to him.

This was driving me crazy. I could hardly concentrate at work, and this man was keeping me awake at night.

Our eyes met as he looked up, his silver eyes staring directly into my pitch black ones. I didn't know what to expect when he did this, but I know I was taken by complete surprise when his expression turned from relaxed to afraid.

He opened his mouth wide and screamed, eyes wide and body trembling. I covered my ears, shocked and surprised by the man's reaction. I looked behind me, thinking maybe he saw something that scared him. But there was nothing.
And that's exactly what I saw when I looked back at him again.

The man was gone. The seat was empty. And no one seemed to care.

My breathing was quick and heavy, my mouth dry as I tried to calm myself down.
What was going on?!
I kept taking in sharp breaths until the next stop, someone getting out the car, reminding me my stop was the next one. I sighed, calming myself down. This was so strange... it wasn't normal. Nothing about this made sense.

The next day, I tried again. I watched him until he looked back at me, screaming and shaking. I made the mistake of looking around again. I must be missing something! But no. Nothing. And he disappeared again. Of course.

Wednesday, I was determined. I stared at him, he glanced back. He screamed at me, I kept my eyes glued to him. He didn't stop yelling, I never stopped staring. Until another passenger got up and walked in front of me. I lost sight of the man for a second, and he disappeared.

A week went by, nothing changed. It felt like the cart was getting emptier with every day that passed, the man becoming my entire morning routine.

I always sat as close to him as possible, watching his every move. I followed how his eyes darted across the pages he was reading, sometimes from the newspaper, sometimes from a book. It always took 4 stops for him to stop reading and look up. Sometimes I wished he would just look up at me and get on with it already.

Every day, I found a new seat closer to him. Every day, I sat down with a better sight of him. He never seemed to notice. Nor did anyone else. I honestly felt ignored by him, wishing he would pay attention to my attempts at understanding him.

I've never made it past one station of watching him stare at me, screaming and shaking. There was always something to bring my attention away from him, be it another person walking in front of me, or even the lights going out on the subway. I was never able to see what made him so afraid.

Then there was one morning. One particular morning I found interesting. I got on the subway, 7:25am per usual. But this time, there was only one person in the car with me.
Him.

He sat down, reading something on his phone. I smiled, walking up to him and sitting across from his seat. He didn't notice. I cleared my throat, wasting no time to get to the point of this little game.

"Who are you?"

He didn't look up from his book, seemingly ignoring me. I furrowed my eyebrows, getting slightly frustrated by this man. I just wanted to know once and for all what was happening.

"Who are you?"

I asked him once again, my voice raised slightly, still getting no response from him. It was only now that I was this close to him, that I started to notice some details I had not seen before.

There were scars tracing down his face and neck, possibly from heat or from being cut open. It must've happened a while back, though. The scars were almost completely healed.
He had a tan line from a ring on his hand, it was clear. The line seemed to be fading, too. He continued reading from his phone, his eyes never being taken off the screen.

I leaned in close to him, placing a hand on his thigh. He didn't notice. He didn't react in any way. I applied pressure to his leg, even shaking him.

"WHO ARE YOU?!"

My hands moved from his leg to his shoulders, violently shaking him back and forth as he simply continued reading. Then I heard the next stop being called out. It sounded familiar. Of course it was. It was the same stop when he'd looked up at me in the past.

When the subway stopped, he took his eyes off the phone, instantly staring into mine. I let go of his shoulders and stared back. For a moment, there was no movement around me. Not from him, not from myself. As the subway doors closed, the familiar fear was painted across his face again. His shrill voice screaming at me, telling me to leave him alone.

I couldn't control my actions anymore. I started screaming back.

"WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME?
DO I NOT MATTER TO YOU?
I THOUGHT YOU CARED ABOUT ME.I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME!"

The words escaped my lips without being processed through my brain first. Before I knew it, I was standing across from him in the cart, a knife in my hand. It was covered in crimson blood. I looked up, seeing the man lying on the subway floor, red liquid trickling from an open wound in his chest.

"T-om... I di-d love y-ou. W-why di-dn't you sh-ow it t-oo?"

I closed my eyes and ears after dropping the knife, shaking my head and yelling. I didn't know what was happening. I didn't know who this man was, or why he knew my name. I walked backwards until I felt a wall meet my back, my eyes shooting open at the touch.

The man was gone. The knife and blood was gone. I was standing alone in an empty subway cart.

-----

"Why'd you do it, Thomas?"

I opened my eyes, seeing a plain white wall in front of my face. A sly smile tugged at my lips, as I kept the woman waiting for an answer.

"He was ignoring me. So I made him notice me."

I heard the bland sound of a pen meeting paper, scribbling down certain words.
"And you did so by killing him?"

I let out a half-hearted chuckle, turning my head to face the woman sitting feet away from me.

"Isn't it funny? He thought he could get rid of me by leaving. But I knew he'd be there. I knew he'd pass by the same stop where we would've gotten married. They say marriage is the beginning of a new life together. I suppose it's fitting that his life ended in the same place. And with it, went my life too."

I laid on the soft ground, my jacket keeping my arms uncomfortably at my side. The woman sighed. I could hear her closing the book, muttering a final goodbye to me. I paid no attention to her as she closed the door, a faint locking sound ringing in my ears.I closed my eyes, the smile never disappearing from my face.

-----------

The next day, I walked into the subway cart, holding my bag to my side. I looked around, picking the first seat I could find. I was alone that day. No one else was in the car. It was empty. Just like me.