An unsuspecting dreamer saves the man of his dreams.
“Yo, Doug!” My roommate, Raphael hollers at me through the bedroom door, slamming on it loudly. I hadn’t even heard him come in. “Get your shoes on, man. C’mon, I need the place for a little while.” I hear a faint female giggle in the background, and my eyes roll skywards.
“Alright, alright, sheesh, dude, hold your hormones!” I put away my sketchbook, gather my things and open the door, eyeing the well-stacked black woman he was planning to spend the evening with. She looks me up and down and gives me a vacant smile in return, and Raphael wastes little time in shoving me along.
“I’ll see ya’ in the mornin’, a’ight?” He looks down at me, smiling broadly, as if gloating that he’ll be getting pussy and I’ll be sleeping on a park bench somewhere. The moment the bedroom is free, he takes her inside and they close and lock the door. I shake my head to myself and sigh, getting my coat, bag and Walkman, locking up the apartment as I leave. I reach into my pocket and find I have just enough to buy a few burgers and a subway token. For now, at least, the token will suffice for a warm place to sit and relax.
Once on the subway, I just zig-zag around from train to train aimlessly, intentionally trying to get myself lost. Maybe something interesting will happen and I’ll either get mugged, gang raped or witness a bum kill and eat a rat or something. Somehow, I end up at the Broadway-Lafayette station and realize I’m all alone. The place is like a maze; it’s cavernous, poorly lit and cold, and to make matters worse, there’s this faint sound of dripping water far off in the distance. The pillars make perfect hiding places for sick, twisted predators and considering the fact that I’m 5’5”, maybe a hundred and sixty pounds in the pouring rain, I wasn’t scaring anybody off. I decide to transfer. I walk under a series of lights that had gone out completely, making this portion of the platform almost completely cloaked in shadow. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a dark form sitting on the floor against one of the pillars. He reaches his hand up to me and I tear the earphones off my head.