2 A Dream

Mae opened her eyes and began breathing heavily. She looked around and noticed that she was in her bedroom.

"Oh...thank god. It was all a dream," she said. She turned her head and looked at her alarm clock. The bright green lights on the clock displayed - 7:45 A.M.

"That was a weird dream, and who was the man?" She could not remember his face. Whenever she tried to remember, she would always see a blurry image.

"Mae!" shouted a voice outside her door. Her door knob began to turn slowly. Her mother entered her room with a confused look on her face.

"Aren't you supposed to be getting ready for work? You usually leave around this time," said her mother.

"Oh no…" Mae palmed her face with both of her hands. She then quickly pulled herself up and out of bed.

"The alarm was ringing for twenty minutes. When it stopped I thought you had already woke up." Her mother backed out of the room and closed the door.

She walked to her closet and looked at herself in the mirror.

"You look like a mess Mae," she said to herself. "No wonder you haven't had a boyfriend." Her hair was all tangled up and her face was pale as a ghost.

Mae opened her closet and began to look through her clothes. She looked at the clock again and five minutes had passed.

"I really have no time for this…" She grabbed a random white shirt, a black sweater, and regular jeans. After she put on her pants and shirt, she looked at herself in the mirror again. Her white shirt had a sentence that said, The future depends on the present.

"You are such an awkward woman.." she laughed. Mae then went to the bathroom and cleaned herself up. She put on her sweater and walked back to the bedroom for her bag.

"When you get home, can you get some milk?" asked her mother, who was grooming Melk, their cat.

"Okay mom," said Mae.

"There's a piece of toast on the table. Grab it before you go."

Mae grabbed the toast and held it in her mouth. She left the house and walked to the train station near her home. When she got there, it was crowded like always. Mae could use the bus, but she sometimes end up late for work because of traffic. That is why most people prefer to use the train in the morning.

While Mae was walking to one of the seats near the wall, a woman bumped into her. She had short dark hair and was wearing round glasses.

"Come on," said the woman. She was in a hurry and continued to walk quickly, pushing and squeezing through the crowd.

"She didn't even say sorry…" Mae said to herself as she stared at the woman with a disgusted look.

"Next train will arrive in five minutes," said the automatic announcer. Mae looked at one of the clocks displaying on the wall. It was 8:10 A.M.

She tried to remove the boredom by playing with her phone. Suddenly, her phone vibrated. A message appeared on top of her screen. It was her friend.

"Are you free to continue our game tonight?" said the message.

"Yeah, of course. I can't wait to win!" Mae replied.

"Don't get too confident, hahaha."

The rumbling sound of the train echoed through the station. There was a metal squeaking sound as the train slowed down to a complete stop.

Mae got up from her seat and started to head towards the crowd in front of the train door.

"I'm getting in the train now," she texted.

"Ok, I will see you soon!"

Everyone crammed into the train and took a seat. There were some people who prefer to stand. She could not see any empty seats or anything at all since people were blocking her view.

Mae was surrounded by people who were taller than her. A man in front of her stepped to the right and held onto one of the safety handles. She spotted an empty seat next to a mother and her kids.

"I think I rather sit than stand for thirty minutes," she thought. She squeezed past the man in order to get to the seat.

"Sit in your seat and behave yourself please," said the mother to her kids.

"But I don't like sitting," said one of the kid. Next to the mother was an elderly man who was reading the paper. On the other side of the train, there were teenage students sitting and playing with their phone.

"I miss the days where I was also careless like them..," Mae said to herself.

"Excuse me," said a woman as she moved through the crowd. Mae switched her attention to the woman. Her stomach looked round, like she had swallowed a ball. She grabbed onto one of the safety handles.

The old man who was reading the newspaper looked at the woman.

"Kids these days have no respect," he said as he stared at the teenagers. "Can't they see a pregnant woman and care to offer her a seat?"

"Did you say something old man?" said one of the teens.

"Hey! Watch your mouth kid!" said a man who was standing beside the old man.

"I'm not a kid. You should watch your back mister."

"Pathetic.." said the man under his breath. He ignored them and looked out the window.

The train started to slow down as they were getting close to the next station. People were getting ready to leave by packing their stuff. The mother held her kids hands and the old man folded up his paper. The train stopped and a low beep came from the speakers.

Mae stood up and began to huddle near the door with a crowd that was anxious to leave. The doors slid open and the cool air from outside rushed in. The man who confronted the teens earlier was walking in front of her. He was also walking in the same direction.

She heard fast tapping coming from behind. Mae turned her head slightly and saw that it was the group of teenagers from the train. They were running in her direction. The teens brushed past her and towards the man.

They bumped into the man on purpose and made him spill coffee on himself. They ran off laughing and made faces at the man as they made their way across the street.

"Damn kids! How could my day get any worse!" He patted himself and continued to walk away frustrated.

"Good thing did not act like that when I was their age..," Mae said to herself. She pulled out her earphones and plugged them into her ears.

"Maybe some music to cheer myself up," she said as she turned on her favorite music. She checked the time on her phone before putting it back into her bag. It was 8:50 A.M.

The city was alive and moving today. Sidewalks were full of people who are either walking to work or school and the streets were jammed pack with cars.

The walk light turned green and people from both sides of the street started to cross the road. Mae began to pace herself faster as she was crossing the street. "I have to walk faster or I will be late for work."