Half a day

Half a day

By Hywel Latimyr

Tsmugi wanders around the streets surrounding Paddington station, a ritual she seems all so complacent with in recent weeks. She likes to watch as the strange people who also seem to just wander the streets on London like herself potter around with their lives. She notices the man on his phone, with his hands-free device of course, waffling something or rather about plans for a party, with a coffee in had as you do. The old lady across the street, lecturing who Tsmugi assumed was her grandson, about how he should not forget about his studies just because this English woman took his heart. She spoke with a strong accent, which Tsmugi assumed was from somewhere in the West Indies. The lad, however, spoke like how you would hear Londoners speak in American movies. Then there was the little girl and her mother, the girl excited to be getting on a train. She could not have been any older than four, maybe five years old. Her mother just looked tired, as most mothers to young children do.

Tsmugi walked past them all, and as soon as their brief appearance in Tsmugi’s life ended, there where more people who would make their brief appearance. But before she could take a quick glance at their direction, her phone vibrated. She took it out of her bag. Messuage sent from Ryan. Tsmugi rolled her eyes, she knew but acted like she didn’t. It was 11:30 on a Friday. Everyone in the office had gone out for a pub lunch, But Tsmugi instead decided to have a little wander around, something she seemed to be doing a lot more regularly recently. She pondered about if she should read the message at all. Ryan was a nice guy, she thought, I can just scroll the message down, it won’t come down as read. She did find it annoying that Ryan used messenger rather than just texting, as messenger displayed if you had read the message or not. But she could just scroll from the top, and it wouldn’t come up as read.

‘Hey Mugi, was just wondering if you wherever going to come to the pub later? There’s always a seat for you’

Tsmugi had a brief smile at the message but did not respond. She was walking whilst reading the message, and as she was walking, she didn’t notice a brown paper box on the floor. She walked right into it, kicking it as she did. She looked around briefly, looking for someone to apologise to. But, seemingly out of the blue, there was no one around anymore. The street was empty. A street this close to a train station, and not just any train station but Paddington train station, should not be completely empty at 11:30. But wait a moment, where is the sunlight? It is June, and even if it were winter the sun would still be around at 11:30. Wait, the phone’s on the floor? The screen is also cracked. And where did that box go?

Tsmugi picks up her phone, and she as she turns it on, she is bombarded with too much information at once. Too many missed calls to count, multiple messages and, the thing that takes her attention the most, the time. It was now 23:30. Tsmugi soon realised that she needs time to process everything, finding a nearby step to sit on and question what was going on. The street had not changed for a start, so Tsmugi believed herself to still be alive, with her also checking her pulse just to be sure. A high heartbeat, which was expected all things considered. She also couldn’t find her own body laying on the floor which helped ease her anxiety somewhat.

She then checked her phone. It was what she had expected, just everyone asking where she was. What she did not expect was to be reading Kanji. Her mother had also messaged her, also asking where she was and if she was ok. Ryan must have spoken to her mother, Tsmugi assumed. He cared too much about her, Tsmugi though to herself. How did he even get her mother’s contact? She lives in Nisshin, what time is it even in Nisshin right now?

Tsmugi’s thoughts where then interrupted by the sound of a drunken man wailing down the street. She squinted for a moment, just to check if she was sure of what she was seeing. It was that guy from earlier, the young guy who was with a woman who must have been his grandmother. But he seemed so happy earlier, like a young man filled with life, and right now he only looked deflated. It seemed just a moment ago, but then again, 12 hours had passed. He was crying too. Walking down the street crying, bottle of drink in hand. She watched him pass her by once again. He never looked her way, as if to be ashamed to be experiencing such sadness. He then passed by as Tsmugi just sat on that step, trying not to stare to much, but it didn’t seem to matter, and he would eventually fade away as he walked too far away for the streetlights to keep him illuminated.

At this point, Tsmugi decided to get her bearing straight. She got up and started to wander toward where she lived. It was a 15-minute walk to her flat. What was in that box? She thought to herself as she walked around the corner of the street. As She turned the corner, she then noticed someone else vaguely familiar, that little girl. Where was her mother? She was with a man now, who must have been around the same age as her mother. The young girl was quiet, she did look very tired after all. Almost as soon as Tsmugi noticed, the man picked up the girl, and started to carry her. Must be her father, Tsmugi thought to herself. They then carried on their way, taking a different turn down a different street in a different direction to where Tsmugi was going. Tsmugi then noticed that the man was still in his work uniform, but before she could notice anything more about them, they had vanished. Continuing her walk home, Tsmugi contemplated what she just saw, the man seemed to be staring forward a lot, almost as if he did not want to notice the world around him, or so she assumed with the little time she got to clearly analyse the situation.

Tsmugi was now walking down the Paddington basin, and of course there was the other guy. Tsmugi was sort of expecting to see him now, as she had seen the other two people and was starting to question if fate was playing any role today. She looked again, yes it was him. This time with no phone, but he did have a coffee in his hand. He was by himself, looking into the canal. He took something out his pocket, dropped it into the canal and then just walked off in the opposite direction. He did not look sad, just sort of disappointed. Tsmugi did not see what he dropped into the canal, only that he dropped something. It was too dark to see if whatever it was floated or sunk to the bottom. She wondered if the man even noticed her, or if either of the past three people had noticed her.

Tsmugi was now home, or what she had called home for the past two years. Just a small place, one bedroom and very much overpriced. She quickly had a shower, got changed into her night clothing, and prepared herself to make a post on social media trying to explain where she was. Before this, she realised that she should let her mother know she was ok, so she called her quickly.

After the phone call, she noticed a few voicemails, she decided to listen to them.

“Hey Mugi, Ryan here, lunch break ended twelve, its now half two, where are you? Evelyn is just wondering, no one Is angry at you. Ok please call me back, bye”

The second voice mail

“Mugi, Ryan again, its five and you never came back to work. I am sorry but Evelyn is gonna have a word with you Monday. I tried to cover for you, but she was not having it, at least answer someone. Bye”

“Mugi, I’m at your door right now. Its nine o’clock. Where are you? No one has seen or heard from you. Please please tell me you’re ok. I’m really worried now. I… I love you. Aww shi…”

Tsmugi sat there, white faced and just staring into seemingly nothing. What did he just say? And hang on a Moment, why did why did time jump forwards by 12 hours anyhow? What happened today?

She contemplated all those thoughts for around 5 minutes, thinking hard about everything. Dazed and confused, Tsmugi was all over the place. Getting leapt forward 12 hours in time which leads to a co-worker confessing his love to you. Of course, there was the other matter at hand – why did she see those 3 people again? The young lad, The little girl and the busy man. Maybe it all had a meaning? Maybe some higher power wanted her to see these people again? Or maybe they wanted Ryan to confess his love to her? Or maybe it just happened… and that’s all there is to it? If there is such a thing as fate, why would it care for Tsmugi? There was no point to everything that happened. Was this opinion just easier to digest? Perhaps, but Tsmugi decided to settle with it.

Whatever the cause and reason, Tsmugi would still have to face the wrath of all her co-workers on Monday morning either way. Evelyn was gonna go ballistic, she could just see it coming. Oh no she of course also had to deal with Ryan in a respectful but firm way. That may be harder than the talking to from Evelyn. You can’t just start the day with a presentation, it’s going to have to be one by one she deals with her co-workers, and she had no justification for basically bunking off work. She had no excuse lined up as she could hardly say ‘oh sorry some box maybe pushed me forward 12 hours’

“Yare yare” Tsmugi said out loud “It might be easier to just move back to Nisshin City”

Glossary

Tsmugi pronounced TSU-moo-gi

Author – Hywel Latimyr