Loops on a train

He sat down, his legs still sore from a week of intense exercise. It was a necessity these days, to remove the rust from the bones and muscles. He knew this bench well and had previously sat there, waiting for his transport of choice. At 12:34 sharp, the train arrived, and he stood and boarded. Leaning against the wall, he glanced over at the people on the train. Some were alone, some were in small groups. A pretty standard sight he thought, now habituated to seeing these other masked humans. He grabbed his phone, a reflex of the modern-day that he could no longer avoid… The phone was dead. He cursed his past self for being forgetful but at the same time, he could have sworn that the phone was on just before.

He noticed a subtle flickering in the light of the train but quickly brushed it off, absorbed in this unexpected development. He glanced at the people again. Somehow the view was identical as if they had not moved at all; frozen in time and space. He blinked and rubbed his eyes and the scene became organic again. What had just happened? Had his brain just short-circuited for a brief moment?

The train journey continued with the machine stopping diligently at its destinations. The crazy wonders man has created. To think that our own brains have been unable to adapt their wiring to the modern world. The idea caught his attention for a bit. The same light he had noticed before was now flickering again. This time he could see it clearly, just the machine malfunctioning probably… He wondered whether this conclusion had brought him some sort of relief. But from what exactly?

The destination, if you could call it that, was not very far. He had been lost in his thoughts and his imagination was traveling to all sorts of places. He focussed again on the people, with more intent than before. They were still the same people! So many stops had gone by, was everyone going to the same location? Was there an event that he was unaware of?

Suddenly, the train stopped again. He was sure he had been subconsciously counting the stations along the way. He looked out of the window. He was back home, the bench where he previously sat, still there, still offering a seat. He could not comprehend what had happened, there seemed to be no rational explanation. He stepped out and waited for the train to leave. As it started moving again, he watched it from the platform and suddenly felt cold. He put his jacket on. The train was long gone, now further than the eye could see. “I need to check the time!” - he thought. Rather than actually checking his watch, the phone habit kicked in and he pulled the mobile device out. It was on, displaying the same sequence of numbers: 12:34. How strange? Had he not moved this whole time?

He waited for the next train and smoothly arrived where intended. He could not make sense of the episode and as life continued, it was buried in his brain. Nothing but a blurry memory of a story that was, but only maybe.