The ride

Endless stagnant rows of crops, she stared unseeing through the brown tinted windows of the train. Her companion sits facing the lit up face of his computer screen, steadily chewing on a small piece of graying gum. Another train ride, more foreign lands. Dull thin droplets rolled down her cheeks, vacant and passionless.

She started off searching for adventure, success and the promise of love. She found all but lacked the ability to attain it. Weakling, the word thuds dully in her head. She is tired, she wants to rest but she does not know where. Having abandoned everything and found nothing she has nowhere to go. The train ride will end and a plane will take her to interim. A dull blue car, battered sits by the side of the tracks.

She gets up and makes her way to the toilet. Looking at the ground she avoids the lazy gazes alighting upon her. The sound of her urine hitting the metallic seat startles her. She stands up and feels a warm droplet trickle into her jeans. Sitting back in her seat she stares at the darker blue spot by the seam. Her companion lifts up his hand to scratch his head.

After a long slowly drawn circle, she is going back to China. She dimly remembers the stories her Grandmother told of the horrific place she escaped from. She cannot remember the exact details. Silent images of dull red people with open mouths and raised fists flashed in her head. She didn’t fit in where her grandmother escaped. She went back to find what she assumed she had lost, only to realize that she did not understand what was lost. Her companion came along and offered an escape. A bus, train and plane ride took her further and further away. Love became a diversion; it confounded her, she forgot what she left and what she came for.

The sun rises in the East her grandmother told her. Her teachers at school reminded her that the sun sets in the west. She thought that was where her journey would end. But she is 19 her life stretches ahead. She can’t stay in the west anymore the train takes her back, back to the home that exists no longer.