Another Way to Look at the Day

It probably only took seconds for him to realize he'd been left behind.

The staff, too, realized only seconds after the subway door closed - one is missing. I imagine that we will never know what that young man felt as the sensation of aloneness crept over him. As a man with an intellectual disability who requires a lot of care, he's seldom, if ever, really alone.

The staff, terrified for the safety of the one left behind, gets off at the next stop.

Travels back.

He's gone.

No longer there.

Acting quickly the staff alerts security, alerts his agency, and moves to take care of the others travelling with him. Much happens quickly. The subway is soon shut down and a search is begun. It took maybe twenty minutes, a half an hour, for the search to begin in earnest.

Unaware of the fuss being caused. He thinks. He has to rely on himself. There is no one to tell him what to do or where to go. He reasons, and in doing so discovers that he can reason, he is here in the subway to take a train.

A train comes.

He takes the train.

He sits looking out the window, every few minutes the train pulls into a new stop. He looks and sees no one he recognizes. But not to worry, there will be another stop outside the window soon. So he waits. He sits alone. And waits.

Stops fly by. He is now only a traveller. He does not know that there is a storm of concern rising. Everyone now knows he is missing. There is worry that he left the station. But why would they think that. He reasoned. His reasoner worked. It will, in a couple of hours, surprise them as much as it had surprised himself.

The train now comes to a stop. A man he doesn't know identifies himself. He doesn't know this man, but he knows he has a uniform. He knows he's been found.

And he was grateful.

But oh, what a wonder it was, to be lost.

Just for a little time.