Absent lights

2

It's now 5:00 pm.

I got up from my office chair and stretched. After piles and piles of paraphrased paper work and approved articles, my shift was finished and I can finally go home. I organized all of my paper work in a neat file and passed by my boss' office to drop them off. After bidding goodbye to my coworkers and picking up my stuff along with my mask from the rest area, I made a beeline for the elevator and left.

*The sun was already setting and it was still raining outside though not as strong as earlier. I struggled to open my umbrella again. Not only is the mask making it more difficult to do this simple task but it's also night time. Despite there being lamp posts and lights from nearby buildings illuminating the streets, it's not much help since my vision is still limited by this mask and the light is slightly blinding when seen through the slits. The only good thing I can say about this mask during night time is that it hides your identity so you remain anonymous among the crowd. It's like a disguise or so.*

I was about to go through the train station when I heard a familiar voice, "Hey! it's you from earlier. Arthur yes?". I turned around and saw the guy I bumped into on my way to work. I noticed that he has changed clothes and was no longer carrying any luggage but was instead holding a bunch of papers, maps and tourist destinations probably. 

"Uh, hello. Francis is it?" I replied uncertainly, wondering how we managed to meet again so coincidentally, "Is there something you want to talk about?".

■"Oui, I hope you don't mind. It's not much but I'm still not too familiar with this city so I'm kind of lost. Do you know which station should I go to get to this place?" He pointed to a picture in one of the flyers. I glanced at it and noticed that the place where he's going to was St. John's Gate in Clerkenwell, Islington, which is only a few roads away from the apartment I live in. It won't be much trouble for me to help him find the way since I'm familiar with the district So I started dictating him the directions.■

***"Oh, you should go through the central line to Bank," I said as I traced at the red line to the black line on his map of the Underground, "and get off at Bank station, then you should switch to the Northern line to Angel station.". I continued on as I traced the map on his phone, "After that, you can go through Islington High Street. When you reach the crossroads, should head straight through St. John Street. Keep walking until you reach Albemarle way and turn left until you get to St. John's square. Along that road is St. John's gate. Walking there would take 16 minutes but you can also take the taxi if you want to get there faster.".***

After I finished, I waited for him to respond. Hopefully my directions weren't too complex. "Would you like me to start again?" I asked.

"Oh no, I understood. No problem." He said though I can tell that he's slightly confused due to his tone of voice.

"If you would like, I could accompany you. I live near Clerkenwell so I'm familiar with the area there." I offered. Yes, it is an odd thing to do, accompanying this complete stranger through the Underground all the way to St. John's. Who knows if this guy has a motive, a harmful one or worst? Yet, I feel like it's something I should do in return after running into him and getting him soaked in the rain earlier.

Despite the fact that we're wearing masks, I felt his eyes bore through me, as if he's studying me. "Is it okay? You're probably on your way home and I don't want to be a bother." He said. Partially, It's true that I was in a rush to go home but that's only because I just wanted go to my bed and sleep but I guess that can wait as well as dinner.

••• "It's fine really. It's still quite early and I don't really do much at home." I insisted, "I can help you around there so that you don't end up spending too much or getting to lost. It's the best I can do to apologize for the incident earlier.". He looked away in a moment of thought, "There are also some landmarks that I know of that aren't really that well known. Some of them are still open I believe." I continued, "And your travelling alone in an unfamiliar place, aren't you?".•••