Subway

Luke is a journalist, 36 years old, 6 feet 5”, fit, dark hair, dark eyebrows, black eyes, charming smile. Handsome.

He would make a good TV anchor but he is working as a foreign correspondent for a News Agency from Europe and is always behind the cameras. And his accent would be awkward in TV. He comes  from Zagreb, Croatia. Loves casual clothing and sports. Plays violin. Lives alone in an apartment in Manhattan where he has his home office.

He is a perfectionist and that brings him a lot of problems at his job. His boss, based in Germany, wants fast reports. But he’s always spending time editing and editing until he sees perfection in his writing to his boss desperation. Because his reports are good he’s keeping his job.

He has little social life. He works alone, spends too much time working and uses to run alone or play his violin in his free time. He has a good friend, Mike, another journalist, an American, who is trying to introduce him to other people and some girls but without success.

Luke is longing to know somebody, the perfect woman, have a serious relationship, get married and have a family.

Too much time alone is not good and Luke is getting depressed little by little without noticing it.

Today he is going to meet his friend Mike who works Downtown, so he is taking the subway. It’s a rush hour. The station is full. The train arrives. He suddenly feels unable to push his way to the door and stays back. The train parts without him.

A young man is playing violin. The sound fills the tunnel for a while. New people arrive. The music fades. The noise of a new train and people invades everything. Luke tries to enter the train but fails again. The violin comes back. He sits down in a bench and left a third train pass by making no effort this time.

He suddenly feels so tired he cannot move a muscle. When his cell phone rings he realises, embarrassed, that he’s in tears. It’s Mike. He’s concerned. He want’s to know where his friend is. Trapped in a subway station. Paralysed. Listening to a street violin player. Defeated. Broken. No strength left. How to explain? No need. Mike is coming to the rescue. He noticed. He’s really a good friend.

Weekly Writing Challenge: Characters that Haunt You.

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