I was staring out the window of the train, looking at the starry night sky. I was thinking about how I'd respond if someone asked me where I was going.
And somebody did.
"I don't know," I said. I know how strange it sounded.
We were at a stop and he had just gotten on. Him and many others, actually. I guess he saw an empty seat by someone who looked close enough in age for it to be the least amount of awkward. I might've, too. Seemed like a safer bet than sitting next to an adult you don't know, too.
"Just anywhere?" he asked.
His large blue eyes looked curious.
"Yeah... anywhere." I said.
(Anywhere but where I was, I thought to myself.)
"Me too!" he exclaimed.
"Oh?"
I am generally a bit guarded, and maybe I should be more wary of a stranger, but this did have me intrigued.
What could he be running away from?
I hope it's not too bad, whatever it is.
"How old are you?" I asked him.
"Thirteen. How old are you?"
"Sixteen."
"You don't look sixteen."
"I don't feel sixteen," I sighed.
He didn't say anything for a moment.
Then, he looked thoughtful.
A shorter moment passed, and suddenly a smile spread across his face.
He finally says something.
"So, no destination? Then where are we getting off at?"
I looked at him with a 'the audacity' kind of look, one I think an older teen should give to a younger teen. But in a some-what kind way. Not the way an adult looks at a teen when they're about to scold them. I don't want to be like them.
"What do you mean, 'we'?" I said, through my what-are-you-on-about look.
"Just what I said!" he went, a little too confidently for my comfort, "Where are we getting off at? I've decided we're a team now. You and I. So where are we getting off at?"
"You've decided? How did you decide? Don't I get a say in this? You don't even know my first name!"
He looked at me blankly, and waited all of four seconds for comedic timing, "What's your first name?"
"Jinx."
"Cool. I'm Nathan."
"Great!" I said, with a hint of sarcasm.
"So, Jinx, we're a team now, I decided, no you don't get a say in it, where we off to?"
"I do get a say in it!" I protested.
He sighed, as if I had known him for five years, and I was his dear friend trying his patience.
"Alright Jinx," he said, finding some of said patience, but not completely. "What do you say? Teammates?" he asked sincerely.
I looked at him and he seemed harmless enough, but I wanted to be so much more cautious than he seemed to want to allow me to be. I wanted to worry that any given passerby could be a killer. I wondered if he thought any given passerby could be a friend. Where did this kid come off inviting me to team up with him? Didn't he worry about such things? Maybe boys didn't. Maybe just he didn't.
Maybe it was out of character of me. Maybe I was growing into a new one. Or, at least, maybe I wanted to.
"Teammates." I agreed.
(I would put a chapter break here, start a new chapter.)
And we teammate-d all the way to the police station that night.
See, we did eventually get off the train. I did manage to come up with a loose plan. Not a long-term one, but a plan none-the-less. Though the money I had on me was limited, I did have enough to get us a hotel room.
Well, in theory.
How should I have known they were going to ask for ID?
I showed the person at the desk my school ID from the school year that just passed (it was summer at the time).
They scoffed.