Jaeden's Monologue | Teen Ink

Jaeden's Monologue

March 30, 2011
By hollynorris SILVER, North Tonawanda, New York
hollynorris SILVER, North Tonawanda, New York
9 articles 0 photos 0 comments

My reflection is staring back at me across the subway. My eyes look empty, blank. A few seats away, someone is coughing; yet I can’t break my own gaze. So many strangers with vacant eyes. I am a stranger unto myself. Who am I? The floor has begun to vibrate, the lights faintly flickering as the subway car shutters to a stop. The muted “ding” that I know so well, and the doors are opening but I’m frozen. It’s as though I’m experiencing a mild form of paralysis. People are flooding out and then in, bundled up for these brutal Manhattan winters, paying no attention to the scrawny boy, unmoving in his seat.

I need a cigarette. I need to go.

You coward. Move.

I reach my hand into the pocket of my jacket, fishing for my box of hand-rolled cigarettes and walk off as the doors are beginning to close.

Up the escalator and out into the cool air, I fumble with my lighter and wait to see the red glow on my cigarette.

Drag and exhale. The familiar burn of unfiltered tobacco fills my lungs.


Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 0 comments.