Broken Trains And Exposed Veins

1 | Popsongs And Paracetamol

After ten minutes of listening to cheesy popsongs and scrolling through my social media feeds, I decide it's time for a snack. Unfortunately I don't find anything eatable in my bag and remember I accidentally ate the chocolate bar I was supposed to keep for the train ride earlier that day. I heave a sigh and look out the window. Snow has started to fall and the trees are starting to get covered in white flakes. Winter has never been my favorite season. I never get how people could enjoy making snowmen in the freezing cold and get all excited when they are finally able to have snowball fights. Even when I was younger I never enjoyed the snow. It was way too cold for my liking and in the end you'd just get wet and end up with a cold. Doesn't exactly sound that appealing to me.

Another few minutes have passed - and some rumbles have escaped from my stomach - as the boy with the oversized sweater in front of me turns around. It takes a few seconds to realize he's asking me something seeing his mouth movements, so I fastly put out my earphones and apologize for the late reaction.

"Have you perhaps gotten any paracetamol? Suffering a bit from car sickness - or rather train sickness," he speaks softly, as if he's confessing something he's ashamed from. He sends me a sheepish smile as he scratches behind his ear. The previous redness on his nose reduces considerably and I can't help but notice how green his eyes are, contrasting with his pale skin.

"Sorry, I don't," I whisper back, actually feeling a bit sorry for him.

"It's okay," he then says and turns back around, so I'm facing the back of his head again.

"Wait," I fastly whisper, making the boy turn around once again to look at me with his stunningly green eyes. "Have you gotten any food on you?" At the mention of food, he lets out a chuckle.

"Of course, do you want something?" He says, before lifting up his bag so I can see the content it holds. The bag is practically stuffed with snacks you could survive on at least two weeks. There are bags with potato chips, candy bars, chocolate, various kinds of sweets; as if he's running a small candy store from his backpack.

"The chocolate bar?" I point at one of the chocolate bars with a red wrapper and golden letters.

"Sure, but only if I can sit next to you," he smirks, shaking the backpack with his hand as if he's trying to make it more enticing to me.

"Are you trying to flirt with me?" I let out a laugh, but secretly am a bit flattered he wants to sit next to me for the next fourty-five minutes.

"No, of course not! I mean - not like you're ugly or anything. It's just that I'm, uh, I mean - I'm just bored, okay?" He breaks out in an awkward smile, and I sense a bit of redness appearing on his cheeks. Nonetheless, he stands up, grabs his stuff and plumps down next to me. Almost immediately the smell of coffee and cigarette smoke fills my nose, making me shiver a bit.

Trying not to seem obvious, I examine the boy, who's now searching through his backpack for a reason I don't know yet. His fingers are long and bony. His limbs are slim and on his hands you can see a lot of veins. The oversized burgundy sweater seems warm and for some reason I have the urge to crawl up against the boy, just to feel the warmth of his sweater against me. His black jeans and shoes seem to fit him perfectly. His dark green beanie is now laying between us, on the hideous blue chairs. After around a minute of searching, the boy triumphantly holds out another chocolate bar, one with a blue wrapper. He hands the one with the red wrapper to me, before unwrapping his and taking a big bite of it.

"Why don't you eat it in squared pieces?" I say as I break off one of the dices of the bar. He looks at me with furrowed brows, before averting his eyes between me and his chocolate bar.

"It's easier this way," he simply says, before shrugging and continues to eat. I let out a muffled 'oh' and then break off another piece and put it in my mouth. Whilst slowly chewing on the hazelnut-flavoured piece, I look out the window. It has started to snow even harder and I can barely make out what is water and what is solid ground - especially since it's becoming dark now. And now that we're riding through the forest, it's hard to look any further than ten meters.

"It's getting dark," he suddenly states, his low voice making me jump out of my thoughts. I nod as a reply. I'm not even sure whether he sees it or not. My eyes stay fixed on the outside world; the sweeping trees in the middle of a blizzard of white flakes and icy droplets. The hail starts to get worse and soon the only thing I hear is the tickling of the frozen drops against the window.

Suddenly the train jolts to a stop.

"To all passengers; we will be stopping for a couple of minutes, to wait for the storm to pass. This won't take longer than ten minutes. Our apologies for the inconvenience," a creaky voice sounds from the small speakers placed in the upper corners of the train cabins. I let out a deep sigh. This has never happened before, in all the years I've traveled by train. This must be one hell of a snowstorm.

"Well, guess we're gonna have to wait a couple of minutes," I turn to look at the boy next to me.

"Yeah," he replies, before adding, "you know, I've never gotten your name."

"Lily," I smile.

"Logan," He smiles back.