I had just gotten off work and, phone in hand, I sat down on one of the benches at the station.Ready to go home. And still unsure if I'd be fired next week.
A notification popped up.Another quiz promising to reveal my romantic success level for the next few months.Not that I needed it—this was more of a… curiosity thing.Yeah, sure. Ahem.Anyway, the result showed a dancing potato holding a bouquet of flowers with the message:"You'll live underground, alone and hidden, until someone digs you up and eats you alive. Congratulations: you're a potato."
These quizzes were starting to chip away at my self-esteem.I shook my head and raised my fist with determination."I'm not gonna let this get to me. This is my year for love!" I declared as I stood up, practically on fire.
Suddenly, I heard moaning.I looked to my right and saw a couple sitting right next to me.
"Darling, do you like it?" the guy asked, with the voice and accent straight out of a Spanish soap opera.
Maybe I misheard. I scratched my ear with a finger.
"Yes, daddy," she replied, nibbling on his ear like it was a piece of steak.
Please, let me at least finish my existential crisis first.
This felt like a bad omen… This couldn't be happening to me.I was about to throw up when, out of nowhere, a dangerous aura began to sweep through the station.
The pressure of the wind hit my face before I even realized a hurricane was approaching.A girl.The hurricane girl. And she looked like she was looking for someone.
She had a beautiful face, and her short black hair floated wildly in the wind as she ran.Like dominoes falling one by one, people were shoved down the stairs as she charged past them.Someone almost went flying down the steps!
Was this a joke? She was like 4'7" and couldn't have weighed more than 110 pounds.How could she be this strong?
Suddenly, she ran straight toward me.I flinched as I saw her coming.
Her bangs covered her eyes, but something about her gaze unsettled me—as if she wasn't looking at me, but straight through me.I had never felt anything like it.
Before I could react, the hurricane girl stopped right in front of me.I swallowed hard.
She took off her jacket and bag and threw them to the ground with fury.For a moment, everything froze.
She spun around on her heels and marched straight to the couple still making out on the bench.
She stood there, stiff like a stone statue, staring at them.But the tremble in her arms gave her away. She looked ready to explode.
The couple, oblivious, kept going like she wasn't even there…
Until—WOOOSH!—the hurricane girl's hand swung at them.
Her arm cut through the air like a whip."HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME?!" she shouted, her voice cracking with rage, a little string of spit flying through the air like a dinosaur.
Everyone froze.I laughed.
Was she actually trying to hit him? What a ridiculous show.
Her hand had missed his head by a mile.Physically, the damage was 0%.But emotionally? That blow hadn't even been measured on the public humiliation scale of human history.
The poor guy looked stunned, while his girlfriend stared at him, demanding answers.
"This isn't what it looks like. She's confused," he said, bright red."That's not what you told me in our chats, Fernando!" snapped the hurricane girl, pointing at him with a trembling finger.
Damn.
"Girl, what are you talking about?! My name's not even Fernando!"
This was better than a Netflix movie.This was CINEMA.
"Is that true, baby? You don't know her?" asked the woman next to him, clearly about to join the public execution.
"Of course not! I've never seen her in my life. Let's go."He grabbed her hand tightly.
Just then, the train arrived and the couple jumped into the car.
The hurricane girl didn't say a word.She just stood there, frozen, as tears slowly rolled down her cheeks and hit the floor.
Well… I should probably get going too, hurricane girl. Hope you figure that out.Right at that moment, the subway doors shut in my face.
Left outside.For being nosy.
Then, a soft voice echoed through the silence of the now-empty station:
"Could you tell me if there's a bag and a jacket around here?"
I looked over.It was the hurricane girl, now on all fours, searching for her things.They were maybe 10 feet away… but she didn't seem to see them. Weird.
"Behind you!" I shouted, pointing directly at them.
She looked at me, confused."Could you walk me over there?" she asked, giving me a sweet smile—one still touched by the sting of what had just happened.
"Of course… but they're so close even a blind person could see them," I joked.
A long, awkward silence followed as I walked up to her.
"Thanks, and sorry to bother you. I'm visually impaired, and sometimes it's hard to find my stuff," she said as she stood up and brushed herself off.
"Sure," I replied automatically… then froze as I processed what she'd just said.
Visually impaired? Visually impaired!? VISUALLY IMPAIRED!?
That completely threw me off.Wait… I'd seen her running through the station, turning corners, going down stairs, chasing a couple, and throwing a punch at a guy…
And she said she was visually impaired?
Before I could finish processing, she interrupted my thoughts:
"So… are you gonna walk me over to my stuff or what?" she said, gently taking my arm.