Up Towards The Light

Heliocentric IV

When they built these subway stations, dug seemingly miles into the center of the earth, had they thoroughly considered escalator failure?

He certainly could have waited for one of the three elevators, but the large crowd, waiting and madly nudging, didn’t seem worth the aggravation at the time.

Half way up and he wasn’t so sure about his decision to walk, trudging on, step by step—the destination still fathoms above.
Walking up on dead escalators makes feet feel heavy somehow, and yet people were zipping up past him, some taking two steps at a time. Suddenly made aware of his age, he recalled when he was able to fly up stairs like that.

He made it to the top, through the turnstiles, and after another short flight of stairs he emerged onto the street, a bit out of breath. It was a beautiful bright day, the streets bustling with people going in all directions.

Looking up, he thought how lucky he was, no chores today; just like the source of that glow, he had nothing to do but roll around town all day.

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© AleXander Hirka 2019. All Rights Reserved.

Heliocentric Redux 2019
Heliocentric. October 2018 writing project — one short sketch a day, under 250 words each, circling like a planet around The Sun.