The Pen

A story about a pen and its story.

Daniel couldn’t find his pen and that had the potential of ruining his day. Dan had been travelling on the 8:12 from Bristol to Swindon every day for the last 11 years.  The trip lasted 42 minutes which gave him enough time to fold his newspaper just right and do the 10-minute Quickie and the 30-minute Cryptic.

Dan was a creature of habit and if he didn’t do his crosswords, his whole day would be out of kilter. He spotted something under the bench in front of him. He leaned forward to get a better look and got an equally sharp look from “Old Four Eyes” who had been sitting in the same seat opposite him in the same compartment for the last 5 years and had never so much as greeted him. He had the thickest glasses Dan had ever seen. “Gotta have good eyes to see through those,” he always thought, and chucked at his own joke.

He gave all his travel mates nicknames. There was “Bert Biceps”, the youngster who obviously went to gym before he got on the train as his biceps were always pumped full of blood. Then there was “Shy Sally” who never made eye contact or greeted anyone and read a different book every day.  “She must be a very fast reader,” he thought. There was also “Sniffing Simon” who couldn’t stop sniffing. Dan was sure he was on drugs; his eyes were always red and stiff in his head, and he looked paranoid.

He bent down and picked up the object. It was a pen! A cheap blue plastic job, unlike the nice Parker that he always had in his inside left jacket pocket, but it would have to do as time was running out. “Pens are all the same,” some people said, but Dan knew that wasn’t true!

One across...”Front coach of a train” - 10 letters. L-O-C-O �"I need to get a bit closer, I can’t see. Dan quickly lifted the pen, “not again!” he groaned to himself. He didn’t want to go through this again but his curiosity got the better of him and he got a piece of letter writing paper from his briefcase.

He put pen to paper and it started writing again...I think she is going to take off her clothes, gotta clean my glasses and get inside somehow...maybe the front door...s**t it’s locked...the back door...hah, silly girl, left  it open...please don’t squeak door...thanks...damn, wooden floors...gotta be careful...her room should be up on the left...stay calm Frank, just look, no touching his time...

Dan lifted the pen, he didn’t want to know more, but he had to try and help the girl. He was sweating, Four Eyes was looking at him funny, he had to go on, he started writing again...ooh that’s pretty...she’s a fit girl...come on, just a little more, take off that bra...

“What the f**k, who are you?”...damn, she saw me, now I have to hurt her...”Shh, keep quiet and I won’t hurt you, I just want to touch, just once then I’ll go, promise...”get out you pervert or I’ll scream!”...I wish she didn’t do that, now I have to make her quiet...

Dan felt a warm wetness on his neck. He put his hand up, there was something sticking out of his neck. He looked down at his right hand...the pen was gone.  He looked around the compartment but it was empty except for him and Four Eyes, and Four Eyes was smiling at him, an evil smile. “Should’ve left the pen on the floor” he said and got up and walked out.

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[Patrick Kimera]

Am not the best reader, but honestly... I don't see your point much...