Incident at the Station by Mariss Mani

Incident at the Station
by Lisa Dorrington

A slicing cold rain tears through the evening air, blanketing all under an ocean of stray gum wrappers and losing lottery tickets. It drenches the holey socks of an aging man, resting in the train station on the corner of 23rd and 9th. A single light above illuminates the scene.

The Aging Man watches a young girl. In her right arm, she clutches a worn teddy missing an eye. In her left hand, rests the comforting grasp of an adult. Someone enters the area, looking slightly flustered. He relaxes a bit at the sight of the Young Girl but cannot keep his hands from shaking. The Aging Man sees the exchange between the Comforting Adult and the Flustered Client; the transferring of the girl for the money. He observes the effect of this trade on the girl; how her eyes seem to bulge and the small whimper that escapes from her mouth. The Flustered Client takes the arm of the Young Girl roughly and drags her off towards the back parking lot, and the Aging Man sees this, too. He sees this and does nothing. Not when he hears the screaming of the Young Girl as she is taken away in a dark sleek Cadillac with blue tinted windows. Not when the Comforting Adult is overwhelmed with a wave of guilt, a change of heart, and sprints after the car, only to have it speed around the corner and out of sight. Not even when the police, who were called in by a concerned bystander, come to investigate the scene, hoping for answers to the disappearance of a Young Girl.

Instead, he gets up from his weathered bench and pushes his heavy grocery cart the opposite way, and a sigh escapes from his weathered lips.

Author bio:

This is Lisa's first published piece.