The Grid

 

Maybe he had slept. He couldn’t say. All he knew was that he had woken up at around noon, and everything he had seen the night before was blurred with images of the confusing, stimulating dreams he had had. He groaned when he realized he was in his bed, staring at his computer, and quickly closed his eyes again.

‘Guy-Manuel,’ he mumbled. The name brought him back to where he had been all night, and the rainbow on the golden helmet was flashing before his eyes. He turned around and rolled on his back as a warm, agitated feeling spread from his stomach to his fingertips. It had really happened, and Guy-Manuel was real. He was out there somewhere. Did he realize how quick his heartbeat got at that thought? Thomas sighed in frustrated loneliness. He didn’t even know what he looked like. But he missed him so much.

Suddenly awake, he sat up straight, his eyes fixated on the numbers shining on his digital alarm clock. 12.11. He had to get up as quick as possible. He had to be somewhere in three hours.

Logically, the first thing he had done was go below the city, into the subway network. He thought he had seen the station Guy-Manuel had shown him once, but it must be somewhere he normally didn’t go, if it even was in this city. Trying to take in the sight of each subway station he passed, he hoped it wouldn’t turn out to be a waste of time. Leaning his head on the glass of the window he was sitting by, he felt pressed down by the hopelessness of it all. He wasn’t even sure he would ever see him on the Grid again. Finding him would be impossible, especially in his own hometown, especially on the first day.

For a moment, Thomas’s eyes shut. Rainbow, places, flowers, shells, stars, they were all he could dream about, but his memory was fading already, the colours were less bright, and the scenery less clear. He was finally fully awake, and the dreamscapes he had seen would disappear altogether, if he wouldn’t find him.

He opened his eyes. He knew where he had to be. He checked his watch. 14.42.

He waited impatiently for the train to stop, and the moment the doors opened, he ran through them, and up the stairs because the escalators were too busy. He didn’t know the exact route to his destination. It would be a gamble, and everything depended on it.

Rushing down the stairs, he almost tripped and fell four metres, but he managed to hold on to something just in time. In a faster pace than ever, because of the marathon he had just run, and the spark of hope that he might be able to make it after all, his heart was racing in his chest. Out of breath, he checked the clock on the platform. It looked exactly like the clock in the program, but so did all of the clocks at the subway stations around here. What was more important was the time it indicated: 15.08.

Two minutes. Two damn minutes. Thomas thought he was going to black out and miss the moment, and kneeled down for a second, just to cool down. It didn’t work. When a train stopped in front of where he was, he seriously believed he would be unable to get up. He lifted his head, but he couldn’t make out most of the faces at the front, because the train had not slowed down yet. He tried to check everything, but found it to be impossible. Trains only stopped for about fifteen seconds at every subway station, so even if Guy-Manuel was in here somewhere, even if he knew what he looked like, he would never have enough time to find him. The only thing that might work was stepping on, so with immense effort, he stood up straight and reached for the handle. He looked up to see where he was going.

A pair of bright blue eyes was looking at him, and Thomas forgot how to move altogether. There was no question about it. Saying or asking anything would be unnecessary. He understood there was no way this could really be happening. He guessed there had been an enormous amount of pure, stupid luck involved. But he was sure. He knew what he knew.

He looked so real, his image so bright against the bleak background. He didn’t move either. Thomas knew he was just as surprised- and overjoyed- that he had been found as he was. He could tell by the way his blue eyes became bigger, and the way his skin gained colour, and the way his lips formed his name without a sound.

The lights above the doors started to blink, and a beeping sound went on. I’m still dreaming, Thomas thought quietly, as he saw Guy-Manuel walking towards him. When he grabbed his hand and pulled him to the inside of the train, Thomas followed his directions without a thought or worry on his mind. The doors closed behind him, but he didn’t notice. Everything was so slow. Guy-Manuel smiled at him for the first time after they had almost fallen over because of the accelerating train. Thomas smiled back. This train could go on forever for all he cared.

Wednesday the 24th of August, 2011

2.17 AM

Fueled by EDM