The subway doors slid open, trading new passengers for old. Kenan hesitated. An electronic voice chimed.
“Doors closing.”
He boarded. Again.
He knew he was starting to look like one of the “L” crazies, but he didn’t care. He couldn’t keep his heart from racing. He was shaking, sweaty, and jumped reflexively when touched. It wasn’t normal, and he didn’t know how much more of it he could take.
The train car wasn’t even half full. He found a pair of empty seats and sat on the closest one. He kept his legs out in the aisle, one arm over the back of the seat and the other on the one in front of him. He looked ready to launch to his feet if necessary.
He sat like that for the next two stops. His eyelids kept flickering and his facial expressions flinched every now and again. In his mind, he sought desperately for some solution, but his head was like a broken record. It kept barfing up ideas he’d already tried. Wasting his time with plans he’d discarded. It made him angry. He pushed them away. They came back. He waved his hand out into the aisle, shoving. A clear head. He needed a clear head. Not this jumbled bullshit.
His stomach growled. He sprung to his feet and smacked himself in the stomach several times.
“Shut up! Shut! Up!” He shouted.
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