Chapter 2: Toby's eyes opened abruptly.

**IF YOU ARE A NEW READER, PLEASE CLICK ON THIS LINK TO GET A SENSE OF WHAT IS ASKED, AND WHAT YOU CAN DO TO START FROM THE BEGINNING :) http://happilyunpopular.blogspot.com/2010/07/finallly.html**


Puzzled, he eventually realized that he was no longer poised feet above a forest floor, but instead was in a plastic seat on the metro. His head had been leaning against the giant window pane, the glass revealing the rushing scenery of the neighborhoods and the freeways. Sleepily, he straightened up and began to scan his car, rubbing the crud from his eyes repeatedly. What kind of dream was that?

Toby froze at the question, the palm of his right hand still on his eye. It was a dream, to be sure, but he had never encountered anything quite like it before. His could feel where the wind coursed along his forearms. He could recall the sensation when it ran through his curls and down his scalp. He could hear the echo the crunch of the leaves beneath his feet. If it had only been a dream, it had been one of the most vivid, powerful dreams Toby had ever experienced.

Toby was still contemplating this when the attendant led a girl to the same car as him. Toby took note of the strange occurrence; weren’t attendants considered a thing of the past? He had ridden the train many times, yet had never been escorted to a seat. He usually had the freedom to sit anywhere.

The girl sat across from him, giving a polite smile as she pulled off her windbreaker. She was shorter than him, though there was little doubt in his mind of her age being at least eighteen. She wore little make up, her golden skin bare with discreet splashes of a lighter tones about her shoulder. She wore a solid color tank top and a skirt, a portion of her extended, oak-colored hair drawn back by a hairclip, the locks cascading over her shoulders. She had with her a small purse, and Toby watched as she unzipped it and pulled out a tube of lip gloss, applying it in the pane next to him.

After a moment, she stopped. “Can… I help you?” She asked behind a nervous grin. Toby, realizing how long he had been staring, simply shook his head. She continued to look at him for a while, before grinning and extending her hand. “I’m Darcy.”

“Tobias.” He took it.

Darcy nodded, then sat back. She looked out the window as the scenery passed by too quickly. Toby wanted to ask her where she was heading, as he had wondered about himself. He had only received a train ticket in the mail, and had often wondered why it only showed on destination, which was the town that he had lived in. He had chosen today, a Saturday in which he had cleared all plans with others, including his parents, to find out. He hopped on the train, and from there, and attendant [the first one he had ever seen for a metro] took him to this train.

He pulled out his train ticket. The flimsy slip read the same information it had before. METRO in bold black letters, with the date it was to be used. Toby moved to put back into his wallet--

Wait, what was that?

Toby looked back to the ticket. It looked plain enough, and after a while, he began to move it back into the wallet when he saw a flash. As he bent the ticket a certain way, the outlining of a figure reflected off of the overhead lights. Toby was once again puzzled by what was in front of him, and as he slipped the slip into his wallet, he found himself wondering what had possessed to even get on the train in the first place.

“Curiosity…” Darcy squinted. Toby turned to see her looking at his book, lying on the floor between them, its spine lying face-up. Toby must’ve dropped it when he dozed off. He bent over and picked up the book, his page disappearing in the recovery.

“Excuse me, is that seat open?”

Toby and Darcy turned to the doorway, where a man, scruffy and unkempt, leaned against the wooden apparatus of a door mantle. The comparative term “man” was used loosely, for he himself didn’t look a day over twenty. He had brick-colored, scraggly hair, and had elongated stubble, which swept about his chin, just short enough from becoming unruly. He had a vintage hat that resembled a fedora placed on the crown of his head, large rimmed sunglasses over his eyes, a gray deep v-neck tee atop his chest, slim jeans, and sandals on his feet.

Toby nodded. “Yeah.” He said.

He sat next to Toby, “Thanks.” He gave Darcy a friendly nod, who smiled politely back.

The three of them rode in silence for a long time. Darcy sat with her thighs crossed, one golden calf over the other. Both men stole small glances at her salmon colored toenails, on display from between the elaborate strapping of her sandals. Unaware, Darcy dug through her purse, pulling out her phone, in which she checked her text messages. Darcy knew it to be a nervous habit when she was alone. After her phone read “no new messages”, she leaned back into her seat, exasperated. Her vision wandered to the to the ceiling of the car, then to the hallway just outside of their carriage, and then to the boys across from her.

She uncrossed her legs and dropped the bag in front of her toes, the two boys starting with a jolt, then at her, in slight confusion, then at everything else, in avoidance and slight embarrassment in their loss of manners.

The unnamed man became pensive, and after a while, extended his hand to the recently offended lady. “My apologies, miss. I meant no disrespect.”

Darcy looked at him a moment, and extended her hand. “It s’okay” she shrugged.

The man shook it kindly, his eyes shifting to the bag at her feet. “Darcy…” He read the stitching on the lip of the tote. “That’s a nice name. I’m Hannibal.”

That’s not so nice. Darcy thought to herself. It was only a fleeting thought, one that she had quickly reprimanded herself for. Hannibal turned and shook hands with Toby, and engaged in a conversation with him. Darcy turned back to the window and continued to watch the rushing scenery, one golden calf over the other.

LINK TO SONG!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvlfB_zP6uI&feature=PlayList&p=6A453A3131D6AEC4&index=3&shuffle=196&playnext=3