The Girl on the Train

"I ran away too."

The girl stares at me as she says that, and I wonder why she had.

"I understand."

How could she? I had never seen her before.

"I know why."

I was on the verge of asking why she thought she knew everything about me.

The girl's pretty green eyes meet mine and she continues.

"You want to clear your head. To leave your past life behind. You want a fresh start, short of yelling parents and stuck-up friends. You need someone that knows. That someone is me."

"You don't know me." The words slip past my lips, and I look away.

"You-"

"I do know you. I just told you the story of your own life, a story that you did not want to face."

I feel her gaze, and I turn back to look at her. "You are right. But how?"

The train sways to a stop as the girl says, "I can read the faces of people and know their story. If I meet their eyes, I know what they dearly want. You just have to watch."

She starts to the door, but I stop her. "Can I come?"

She meets my gaze once again. "But that is not how your story will go."

The girl hops off the train, and I know that I will never see her again.

But she had helped me start my new life.