In front of the trains window the hills are lighting in the rays of the rising sun and the Rolling Stones start playing.
"She would never say where she came from
Yesterday dont matter if its gone
While the sun is bright
Or in the darkest night
No one knows
She comes and goes"
My gaze switches to the four seats across the gangway. There he sat till last year. I never talked to him, he just boarded in the same village as I, which led me to the conclusion we lived in the same village and he deboarded in the same town as I, so I think he was pupil there.
"Dont question why she needs to be so free
Shell tell you its the only way to be
She just cant be chained
To a life where nothings gained
And nothings lost
At such a cost"
I allways looked at him, when he did not see. Hiden behind a book or the homework, I admired his long curles and his beautiful hands which allways carried a book. I still know, I started reading because of him. The Lord of the Rings, Narnia, Harry Potter, even Romeo and Juliett. I also started listening to the Stones because of him. He had the cover of "Flashpoint" attached on his bag. I would even have started hearing Brittney Spears or Modern Talking to understand him, to be clos to him.
"Theres no time to lose, I heard her say
Catch your dreams before they slip away
Dying all the time
Lose your dreams
And you will lose your mind.
Aint life unkind?"
After the Summer Hollidays last year he did not sit in the train. The first days I thought he would just be ill or still on vacation. But he did not come. Anytime I stopped waiting for him and concentrated on school again, completed year ten, prepared for high school. Now I just take the early train three times a week, that's as it came, and I'm not waiting for him. I do not even search for him in the station, I just look at his regular seat.
"Goodbye, ruby tuesday
Who could hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still Im gonna miss you..."
Somebody asks me something. I turn down my headphones and while looking I ask "Sorry?" In the back light of the Neon glow lamp I recognize slight fingers holding a book and shifting long curls. "Anybody sitting here?"

(©The Rolling Stones, Ruby Tuesday)