Metro

When I got to the Beloruskaya station it was already getting late. I looked at the time. It was 11.45pm. By 10pm most people are gone home and the only people you will find are the night dwellers, long journey completers and couples who like to enjoy the night breeze. I wasn’t in any hurry to go home since I had already done what I wanted to do that day. However I missed my bed and like every other human, I wanted to rest my bed on the divine comfort of my pillow. I took out my phone and checked for any messages or calls. It was about 12C and I was wearing my jacket. I started ransacking the pockets to find my earphones because the sound of the metro wagons screeching on the tracks was not my favorite music to listen. Finally I found the earphones and they were all tangled up as usual in their natural habitat. I started to untangle them carefully and I was almost done when I heard the screeches of an arriving metro train. I put the earphones back into my pocket and walked closer to the platform edge. There were some handful of people who were also waiting for the metro. When the wagons held still, the electronic doors were opened. I stepped into the wagon and there were so many seats free. Night time metros are always free with crowd and you never have to stand till your destination. Of course even during the day time you don’t have to stand because every minute there’s a new metro and most of the time people would get off and there would be free seats.

                                                            I positioned myself on a seat where there was no one else on the side. I was glad that I could spread my wings and commute in freedom but I had to apostrophe that thought because another guy came and sat beside me. He didn’t look like a Russian. More like a Tajikistan guy and he was wearing a black leather jacket and a scarf. I was surprised to see a single leather glove on his left hand yet the other hand didn’t have any gloves. His face was well shaved and I saw a slight seriousness in his face. He had one little bag beside him and he kept it on his lap and started going through his pockets. He found a phone and started tapping on it like any other person on the metro who had nothing to do during their rides. Mobile Networks usually goes out of services inside the metro so everybody would just connect to the MT_FREE wifi network which was dedicated to the metro commuters. I could see the man using his phone and with sitting inches beside him I could see his activities and taps on the phone so well. Of course the metro is not a place where you’d do your online banking and top secret stuff. Because everyone could have a glimpse of your phone. Sometimes you could see the screen of the person sitting in front of you because there is a thick window behind the seats and due to the darkness of the subways you can always see the reflection of the bright phone screen. Works very well during the night. However with this guy sitting right beside me, I didn’t need any reflections to observe his activities. He was scrolling his gallery and there were a few photos of an Asian guy. I was snoopy and I wanted to see why he was pinching the screen, zooming the photo and doing all kinds of things. It appeared as if the guy was in love with this photos. The photo always included the same Asian guy, individually or with another person. He appeared to be Chinese or Vietnamese yet it was hard to tell because I wasn’t any social science student. The guy looked well dressed and appeared to be wealthy throughout each photo. I didn’t dared to keep snooping at his phone so I took intervals to look at other people. As mentioned, Night Metros are almost empty but still it would be rare for a wagon to be totally empty at 12am. A well-dressed man in his mid-40s got into the wagon in the next station. Then another man wearing a worn out jacket and worn out boots got in too. He didn’t appear as a totally respectable guy due to his clothing. He had a cheese packet on his hand.  He had already eaten half of the pack and he was nibbling on one while leaning over to the door. The “Do not lean on the door” sign never bothered anyone to lean over it. There were plenty of seats for him to sit but it appeared as if he is going to get off in the next station or he just preferred standing over seating. Now the well-dressed older man who just got in had seated himself comfortable on the empty wagon seat and the haggard guy eating the cheese was no further than a few inches from where he was. The old man striked me as a businessman with the look on him. Like every 21^st century human on a metro he took out his Iphone X and started scrolling down whatever he was reading or watching. This was not much of a view for anyone yet the cheese eater was now staring at the old gentleman. He still had half on his nibbled cheese on his one hand and he was staring at the gentleman while chewing on the pieces that were left in his mouth. Nobody likes it when someone stares at someone… especially during a night metro. It appeared that the gentleman saw the cheese eater staring at him from the corner of his eye. I knew something interesting would happen when the old gentleman finally put down his phone.

“What are you looking at?” The gentleman rumbled at the cheese eater in Russian. The voice wasn’t much loud but it certainly had a sense of disgust and anger blended with it.

The cheese eater didn’t reply. He just walked away from the man and finally sat on a seat further away from the gentleman and continued his quest on eating the cheese. I was now alone on studying the guy next to me and the old gentleman. The Tajikistan was still busy looking at the photos and the old gentleman seemed to lost interest in his phone. He was now staring at the cheese eater. He didn’t seemed to give up the beef he had with the cheese eater staring at him.

“Why aren’t people like you locked up in a special facility?” The gentleman started rumbling at him who was about 10 feet away from him. “Staring at people, making them uncomfortable… Who knows maybe you will stalk me and strangle me to death.”

Most people in the wagon including the guy who was swiping the photos were now looking at this scene. The cheese eater didn’t seem to fight back as he had started nibbling on the last piece of cheese in the box.

“I bet you are a junkie. A low class peasant who keeps nagging important people. Oh how I wish there was a cop here to lock you up.” The old man was getting louder yet the cheese eater didn’t reply. He kept going as further away from the gentleman.

Finally the old gentleman got down from the next station and he didn’t forget to say good bye to his travelling companion.

“Next time I see you. You will be in jail, you low class peasant.”

                                                            When the metro started moving again. It was calm and quiet. It seemed that the old gentleman’s voice was coarser than the screeching sound of the wagons.

 “I am not sure if that guy is dangerous or not…” I said to the Tajikistan guy swiping the photos in hope of striking a conversation. “He doesn’t look so good to me.”

“Mhmm” The guy replied without even looking at me.

“I mean look at him. It’s autumn and he is wearing sandals. I don’t think he is here looking for a job. Maybe to drain a few wallets?”

“So you got into the conclusion he is a pick pocketing lunatic murderer just because of the way he is dressed?” The photo swiper finally raised his voice at me.

“What..? err… No” I was looking for justification of my statement.

“Basically the man in the 20000 ruble suit is correct and the sandal wearing, worn out jacket guy is the culprit?”

“Well I didn’t mean to say….”

“What did you mean then?” The photo swiper didn’t sounded hostile but he was trying to make me look like a bad guy now. “That’s exactly what you and 90% of our population means. They judge the person on the cash, dress, and appearance. If one is dressed out of the socially accepted dress code he or she is the mysterious robber/murderer/rapist. That’s how people now think. When the powerful man accuses the innocent low class man. All his sins are forgiven and transferred to the innocent person. There’s no justice anymore until the cash, suit and power is in control…”

The wagons started screeching its brake and it was going to stop in the station soon. The guy put his phone back in the pocket and stood up. It was clear he was going to get down from the station.

“Oh just in case if you are wondering about that cheese eating guy over there… He’s no weirdo. His father was run over by a metro and ever since he had going a little stray from his mind. That’s why he was staring at the old gentleman because he looked like his father. The metro officials are soft on him and allows him to ride the metro because that seems to calm him down”

The guy disappeared from the station and I was left alone in the wagon with the cheese eater and another lady. When I arrived to my station I looked at the cheese eater who was getting ready for a good night nap on the empty seat.  

The next morning I woke up a little late than usual. I wanted to check my phone for any calls or texts but was too bored to reach for it because it was on the table. I was about to get ready to get up when my wife, Nastya came into the room.

“I realize you won’t wake up till 12 today so I made you some tea.” She handed over my mug and sat beside my bed.

I started sipping on the tea slowly.

“Did you see the murder of Lin Chu? It looks terrible.” Nastya said while unpacking a pack of biscuits for me.

“Who’s Lin Chu?”

“Seriously honey? He is like a billionaire in the garment industry and he has over 20 charities all around the world. He was accusing this porter who had stolen a crate of imported garments and that case was huge because some people thought he knew some darks secrets of Lin so Lin wanted him locked up or killed. But some say the porter did actually stole from Lin. I mean the porter looks like a hobo all the time.”

“So who is really the bad guy?” I was intrigued by this story.

“Well after the murder of Lin. They caught the porter who was the killer and the  cops discovered a huge chain of prostitution in Russia, Ukraine, and even in Philippines that was under the control of Lin. Turns out Lin is not the good guy he appears to be.”

“Well that is some good morning news.” I said with a chuckle while sipping the last drop from my tea. “Will you get my phone honey?”
There were no calls but my news feed was full with the murder of Lin Chu. And that’s when it hit me. There were two photos of the murderer and the victim. The murderer looked 100% similar to the Tajikistan I was sitting with last night and the Chu Lin was the Asian who was in his phone.