"M" Train

April 17th is an exceedingly average day of the year. No holidays are celebrated on this day. No festivals are held. No momentous occasions of note save for the founding of the country of Bangladesh, which is certainly a big deal to the Bangladeshis. But this story takes place in the United States, specifically in the great city of New York. Even if April 17th were a date of significance, it still wouldn’t matter much to New Yorkers. 

For Patsy Novack, April 17th was also an exceedingly average day. She spent most of it sound asleep, blackout blinds drawn and the songs of whales serenading her from the bedside noise machine. As the city buzzed and blared outside, she was inside, disconnected from the world in her Harlem apartment. The chirping of the alarm roused her around 4 p.m. and after showering and dressing, she was ready as Lou Novack came through the door. Her husband of fifteen years kept a soft smile masked the weight of the long day he carried on his broad shoulders. They sat together and chatted over an herb roasted chicken. She asked about his day, he asked about her dreams. After the dinner plates were cleared, she rubbed his shoulders while they watched an episode of “Criminal Minds.” This was their routine. One arrived home just as the other was preparing to leave. One was off to work while the other was off to bed. They treasured their brief intersections of time. They missed each other terribly, but each took a small consolation in having the whole bed to themselves. Today’s episode concluded, she kissed him goodnight, and was off to work the graveyard shift. Lou’s day had drawn to a close while Patsy’s was just beginning.

The sun had dipped below the skyline, and for a singular moment, the bricks were painted in such a golden hue that one would swear they had found El Dorado. Patsy looked out the bus window at gilded grates and window bars rushing past her gaze. Store owners were caging their fronts and locking their treasures away. Streetlights blinked and neon flashed, fighting back the encroaching night. The sky turned first to inky blue and then solemn black. To Patsy, it appeared the stars had been plucked from the sky and placed on display on the facades of nearby buildings. The bus was crowded with an eclectic blend of passengers, each making their daily trek home. Tired businessmen, salesgirls with aching feet, and disappointed servers/actors were packed together, quaking and leaning with the motion of the uneven road. Finally, the bus reached Patsy’s stop. Brushing past the drowsy and indifferent crowd, she stepped out into the crisp night air. She travelled two more blocks down the avenue and made her descent into the underground. She paused at the entrance and took one more long, deep breath of outside air before heading down the steps into the metro.

Once at the station, she commenced her nightly routine. She clocked in, brewed a cup of strong, black coffee, and placed her coat and purse into her locker. She enjoyed the last few minutes of quiet time while she waited for her shift to begin. Many of her fellow conductors were just getting off, slowly collecting their belongings and heading home to their families. A few stopped and chatted, talking about the delays at one stop or the detours at another. The clock struck nine and Patsy met the M train at the end of the station. She waved to Glenn and Marco, the conductors whose shift was ending as they got out of the driver’s car. They let her know about some ongoing maintenance happening at the sixth stop and asked about Lou briefly before she boarded the train. After completing her check in protocol and making sure the operating systems were all in order, she started the train and began her first run for the night. 

Patsy enjoyed her job as an engineer. She liked the quick pace and watching the world fly by in a blur. Born and raised in Brooklyn, she grew up on subway cars. She rode the subway to school, to stores, and to see her relatives. She knew the web-like network of train tunnels like the back of her hand. Every twist and turn of the underground maze lived in her body as muscle memory. She had decided she wanted to drive trains when she was just a little girl and had stuck to that dream as she got older. By now, she’d been doing it for about over a decade. She had recently switched to the night shift as engineer for the M train. The pay was much better, and she and Lou had worked out the details. She didn’t mind working at night. It was peaceful. People think the city gets crazier late at night, and that’s partly true, but no worse than it could be in broad daylight. There’s less pushing, shoving, and confrontations as most people just sit thoughtfully, letting the train carry them home. She liked carrying people home and she often let her mind wander, creating imagined stories about her passenger’s lives after they departed her train for the night.

She had completed her route twice by the time the clock read 11:55. Five minutes until April 18th. It had been an easy night except for a minor adjustment for maintenance. Almost three hours had passed, but there were still several hours to go before she got off. Nothing unusual or strange had happened. She let the train do most of the work, keeping her eye on the tracks and on the mostly empty cars that trailed behind her. She was happy for an uneventful night like this one. Except for a few lonely stragglers, there weren’t a lot of travelers on the M train. 

She had just started her third round of the M train route when a clump of people came out of nowhere and rushed through the doors seconds before they closed. Patsy didn’t notice where they came from, it was like they had just appeared. She was a little surprised to see a crowd of this size at this hour. And what a crowd it was. People of all shapes and shades and sizes, wearing costumes glistening with rhinestones and glitter and sequins. Hair and makeup done up in fantastical ways. Bright colors and flowing fabrics suddenly filled the cars with whimsy and magic. They all beamed and blushed, chatting excitedly amongst themselves. Patsy assumed they had all come from some festival or party, perhaps a drag show, but each also carried a suitcase, which she found odd. The previously boarded passengers stared briefly but were unphased. This was certainly not the strangest thing they’d ever seen on the subway. Once everyone in the boisterous crowd was settled in, Patsy started the train.

The train arrived at the next stop and another group of colorful people were waiting to board. Wearing the same dazzling costumes of feathers and fringe, they quickly joined their compatriots. Jewelry dripped from their necks and glinted on their fingers. Men and women were dressed in equally exciting outfits, all carrying suitcases. The passengers already on board greeted them rapturously, giggling and squealing as if they were long lost friends. The train went on to the next stop and still more shiny people boarded. The scene was repeated at the fourth and the fifth stops. It remained the same colorful parade of characters as Patsy moved through her scheduled stops until she arrived at the last.  No one ever got off, save for the grey riders that seemed indifferent to the party, and more and more festive revelers packed themselves into the cars. Patsy began to get concerned they were over capacity. Everyone on board was having the time of their lives. Excited voices rang out, barely perceptible over the music and singing as it echoed through the tunnels and floated between cars. Patsy couldn’t imagine where these people had come from or where they were going. 

As the last few piled in and the doors slid shut the train lurched forward suddenly, disturbingly without Patsy’s commands. It accelerated quickly and reached full speed in seconds. Instantly, Patsy acted. Grabbing the emergency break, she yanked it back as hard as she could, yet the train continued accelerating forward at a frightening speed. She frantically pulled every lever and pressed every button trying to get it to slow down. Even after every emergency protocol had been performed, the train raced on. The radio was silent as she tried to contact the control room. Staring ahead she could see the approaching bend in the tunnel she was supposed to take but knew the train would never be able to stay on track at this rate of speed. She clutched the controls and prepared to steer the train around the curve, but they were frozen in place. Nothing would budge no matter how much she pleaded and heaved and jerked. The train was a runaway and she was certain that she and all the passengers on board would soon meet an undesirable end.

Bracing for impact, she held her breath and kept her eyes forward. Suddenly, in a blink, another track appeared. The wall that Patsy thought would be her death had dissolved and the train zoomed forward into another tunnel, one she had never seen in all her years riding or driving the subway. Patsy exhaled with relief but couldn’t believe her eyes. She knew this route so well she could drive it blindfolded and this other tunnel wasn’t supposed to be here. Her mind raced with a myriad of questions. Where did it lead? Why had she never seen it before tonight? She realized that they were nearing the end of the island and the flying train would hit water if it went much further.

Without warning, the train lurched forward at an even greater speed. It was moving now at a rate that Patsy knew was impossible to achieve, barreling further into this mysterious tunnel. Patsy grasped the railing in her compartment to keep herself steady. The passengers in their cars seemed unaffected, blissfully chittering and dancing on. Their laughter and music continued even as the train moved faster and faster. Patsy had never gone this fast. She looked out the window and saw oddly green glowing lights pass by in a blur. It felt like the train was diving deeper into the ground. The farther into the earth it went, the faster the train moved, pulled downward by some unseen force. To Patsy, it seemed the train was burrowing right to the earth’s core. She held on for dear life. She felt her organs begin to flatten against her spine. She caught herself imagining this is what an astronaut felt like as their rocket ascends into the sky after launch. She tried to scream but it was choked back into her throat by the sheer force from the descent. 

And then, as quickly as it started to accelerate, the train leveled out and began to slow. Unbelievably, the metal monster went from lightning speed to a leisurely roll in mere seconds. Patsy released her white-knuckled grip and stood up on shaky legs. She began to catch glimpses of the surrounding tunnel now. An emerald glow cast light on blooming flowers made of iridescent blue and green tiles. The walls were immaculate, as though the tunnel was brand new, but there was a quality about the space that told you it was ancient. Patsy marveled at the beautiful ornamentation. Mosaics of stories long forgotten were inlaid into the wall. Fables of mythic races and animals were sprawled across the tunnel, weaving between illuminated tree branches and flowers. Forgotten words in a language only known by the most studious of scholars sang praises to old gods and seemingly beckoned travelers onwards.

The train finally reached its destination, an enormous station with ceilings vaulted so high they seemed to scrape the heavens. It was pulsing with more people dressed in over-the-top costumes, sparkling and bright. As the train came into view, the waiting crowd cheered. Dozens of people gathered in anticipation of the riders’ arrival. Massive chandeliers hung from the ceiling, emitting the emerald light that Patsy had seen as they had arrived in the station. The crowd looked as though they were carved in jade. Immense staircases leading off to other mystical places could be seen in the back of the station. The departing passengers began searching the crowd and waving, barely able to contain their excitement.

The train slowed to a halt with a low screech, and as soon as the doors slid open, the eager passengers rushed into the crowd like water overflowing a dam. The people were running to each other with open arms, hugging tightly and smiling wide. Many cried tears of joy as they united, clutching each other so close they appeared to morph into one being. Patsy heard “Welcome home” and “I missed you so much” and many, many “I love you.” She wondered, “What was this place?” She desperately wanted to find out more about this strange destination, but she dared not step off the train. She instinctively knew she wasn’t mean to go out there.

When all the passengers had exited the cars and the doors had closed, the train started up again. Every car was now empty except for Patsy, sitting in the front. She looked out the window and the joyous crowd waved to her as she rode away. They all looked so grateful to be home. She waved back until their faces were blocked by the dark tunnel walls. The train turned around and she was back in New York in mere minutes. As she arrived onto more familiar tracks and tunnels, she realized her shift was over. There was no way of knowing what happened while she was gone, but strangely no one asked where she had been. There were no delays, and everything appeared to be on schedule. She knew no one would believe her and there was no telling where she really travelled. She had some theories and she would perhaps discuss them with Lou when the time was right, but she also understood that she may never know where she went last night.  

She quietly gathered her things from her locker, clocked herself out, exchanged pleasantries with her arriving co-workers, and walked up the stairs to see a budding morning. The sun peaked out over the horizon and she could hear the familiar sounds of the city beginning to wake. Patsy Novack wondered if any day would ever be average again.