-Tungsten-
The streets of a Tokyo night looked a whole lot quieter and lifeless than what I imagined it to be. My friends, the brochures, and even the flight attendant all made the famous city seem like an urban paradise of fun and excitement. But I did not see that at all.
Flashes of pink and yellow lights slid across my window as I stared up into the many narrow buildings that grew shadows and were dimly-lit. And with all the people that walked the streets dressed in rich and oddly-decorative clothing, I couldn't help but wonder…why wasn't anyone smiling?
It was almost New Year's after all. Keeping that partial observation in thought, I glanced at my watch before looking around the bus I bounced along in.
11:09 p.m.
This bus was indeed a reflection of the Japanese world outside. Cold, silent and gray, only a few active cell phones managed to illuminate the darkness.
There were thirteen people on the bus besides me:
Eight females, five older and three young.
And five males, four older and only one young who particularly caught my attention.
Mm. He looked around my age but possibly younger and sat directly across from me looking just as dull and lonely as everyone else on the bus. He did seem to be calculating something though it was hard to see his face due to the blue hoody he was hiding in like a turtle. Never quite understood the popular "misfit" looked among teenagers.
The boy sighed looking down at his hands and slowly began scooping his surroundings as well. Normally at this moment, I would have turned the other way, but I couldn't as soon as his eyes caught mine.
Normally in these situations, I, like I said before, would look away. But I didn't. Instead I forced a subtle smile trying not to come across as a stalker or a flirt. In the end, he accepted it smiling much nicer and tilted his head to the side before going back to that contemplating look.
Amusing.
Refreshingly amusing.
Perhaps worrying about a test was riddling his thoughts or whether or not he would get in trouble for being out so late. Whatever it was, he was getting pretty agitated. How sweet of him to put on a mask for me, a simple stranger.
Feeling the need to remember this moment, I reached into my bag and pulled out my precious Nikon D200 and began to wait for the perfect burst of light to hit him. Maybe from a passing bar or traffic light, I didn't care.
As luck would have it, the speeding bus hit a bump causing everyone inside, including myself, to jump and two older women were tossed out of their seats landing near between the boy and I.
And being the kind of people we were, the boy and I helped each woman back into her seat and asked if they were alright. The woman that I grabbed first had a small bump on her elbow but repeatedly assured us she would be okay. I could accept it but for some reason Hoody-boy could not, even though in the end we were sent back to our seats.
The ride once again became silent and my interest went back to the boy whose hoody was now slid off exposing the loveliest color of hair. Was it blue? Was it silver? In the darkness of the bus who knows what it could be? I pondered the simple mystery as I lifted my camera and selected my target.
Tungsten would be the title of this piece. It was obvious I would never see this boy again and decided to make this shot as intimate as possible.
Just as a streetlight aligned with the two of us, the boy turned to look at me and I took the shot. No flash necessary as the camera clicked.
An all too innocent expression graced his soft face and he appeared very surprised. I slowly placed the camera down in my lap and watched him with a smile.
Overall, I felt rather confident with the shot, knowning all too well that it would come out phenomenal. I snapped out of my egotistical praise when the cushions of my seat shifted. It was the boy…who sat a little to close and was currently manhandling my camera.
"Hey, don't play with that! It's not a toy!" I reached for it but he was faster.
"You shouldn't have been stalking me."
"I wasn't stalking you! Now give me back my camera!"
"You don't work for Anko, do you?"
"Who the heck is that? Just give me back my camera okay? It cost a lot of money-"
"I've never seen you at school before. What's your name?"
Finally I managed to grab my camera and tuck it back into my bag before giving the boy an irritated look. It amazed me how lighthearted he was being compared to all the dullness surrounding us. For awhile we just stared at one another perhaps trying to figure out each other….or maybe I was giving this boy took much credit for not so solid reasons. I sighed looking back out the window keeping in mind the boy was still sitting next to me.
"So if you're not a stalker, why did you take a picture of me?"
"Because I'm a photographer. Capturing art is what I do." I spoke with confidence turning back to him.
"Capturing art. You find me inspiring?"
"Yes. Yes I do."
"That's quite the complement." He smiled.
"Well you're very welcome." I copied the smile. I hoped he wasn't reading too much into it.
"You still haven't told me your name."
"Why do you need to know?" I defended.
"Well I would like to remember this little encounter. I never met a photographer before."
I thought about my decision for a brief second. "No. I will not reveal my name."
"Oh.Why not?"
"Don't you think mystery is a little more interesting than facts?"
The boy looked ahead of us and looked back at me. "I never thought of that before." Reaching into his hoody for God knows what, he pulled out a small box of what I recalled was named "pocky". I could tell it was recently bought as he opened it with ease and pulled out two pink-coated sticks.
Keeping the box in his right hand, he raised the two pocky sticks to my face. "Here. But don't ask for anymore. You are a stranger after all and I don't want a stranger eating all of my pocky."
He said it so matter-of-factly, I stifled a giggle. "You are so amusing." I shook my head accepting his small "gift".
Our conversation continued in a satisfying direction and remained interesting without anyone revealing any kind of personal information. The bus ride came to its final destination, and I was happy to see the hotel was not a far walking distance.
As I rose from my seat, I stretched feeling overly exhausted all of a sudden.
"So I guess this is where we say goodbye." I slid in front of him and into the aisle.
"I guess so." The boy smiled and glance ahead looking suddenly disturbed.
"What is it?" I followed the stare. He was observing our bus driver who was coughing. "Poor guy. The weather's getting to him. He's been coughing all night."
"I think you need to sit back down."
"Excuse me?"
Feeling a strong whip of momentum, I stumbled to the back of the bus as it suddenly jerked forward. I thoughts went quickly to my camera and I held on to a seat to visually searched for it. That camera held a month's worth of art within its black casing and I was not about to lose it due to a fatigued bus driver. All Hoody Boy would have to do is take the large man's foot off the gas pedal and everything would be alright.
Wanting to call out to the boy whose name I wished I knew, I braced myself as I fought to reclaim my footing having spotted my bag and camera.
At this point, the narrow buildings and flashy lights of the city outside were zipping by in blurs and the bus screeched and moaned as it swerved in and out of traffic pulverizing anything that came in its path.
Reaching the middle of the bus, I stretched for my bag that managed to tangle around the bars of the seats. The bus continued to tug at such an unearthly speed that was nearly unbearable and I felt my skin was going to be stripped from my body. I wondered how long it was going to take my acquaintance to stop the bus.
Inch by inch my fingers stretched under the seat until finally I reached my bag…only then I kept moving forward. Unexpectedly, I found myself in the air and I appeared to be flying.
But when I saw that I wasn't controlling my flight and that everything else in the bus was not moving…only then did I realize that the bus had somehow reached a halt.
In a matter of milliseconds, my body was hurled from the back of the bus, through the windshield and out into the cold, urban night of Tokyo, Japan. Frozen in shock, I landed in a bed of broken glass and slid several feet until I struck a parked Mercedes.
Having just enough energy to roll over, I looked into the vacant night sky that was unusually foggy but beautiful nevertheless. It would have made a magnificent picture.
I heard footsteps coming in my direction and instantly I was reunited with my "bus-mate's" worrisome face. I tried to think of my final words to say to him as he looked for a way to help me. But as I opened my mouth to speak…
-The End-