It was odd. None of the other passengers turned to look at her. These people were completely different from the people from her home town who would pry until they had enough information to write a biography about you. Her business was hers and their business was their own. Karin briefly glanced at the unexpectedly empty seat next to her before looking out the window.
The train had just stopped at some dingy station in a random small town. There weren't any people waiting for the train, but she supposed the conductor had stopped out of protocol. The station, if you could call it that, was basically a concrete slab with a dirt road leading up to it. There weren't any walls and there was a single rusted bench with peeling green paint for potential passengers to rest on. It was in such dire need of maintenance that there were plants growing out of the cracks in the concrete. Karin could only imagine that it would be completely covered in a few months, once spring was over and summer was in full force.
There was a distinctive sound before she felt the train begin to crawl forward. It was at that moment that she saw a desperate girl running toward the train with all of her might. The girl had pink hair and a large duffel bag that looked as if it had belonged to an older man, probably her father, in her arms. If that didn't scream "teenage runaway" she didn't know what possibly could. She would know.
Karin watched curiously as the girl managed to throw the duffel bag inside the train before taking a leap of faith and landing knees first on the hard floor. The passengers barely gave her a second glance before going back to their own business: reading the paper, staring out the window, sleeping. etc.
Karin kept her eyes on the girl as she walked up to the last empty seat on the train. The one next to her. The girl had her finger pointed towards the seat while looking like she wanted to flee, "Um, is this seat taken?"
Karin barely stopped herself from scowling. She wasn't that hard to approach. How did this girl intend to survive being so timid? Karin sighed before shrugging, "The seat's empty."
"Oh, ok." The girl sat down and lent the duffel bag against herself. Now that she was close, Karin could see that the girl's dye job was a lot worse than she thought. The dye was completely uneven and she clearly didn't have enough dye. The girl's hair was pretty long. She probably needed two boxes to cover it, but only bought one.
It was at that moment that Karin realized that she was acting as nosy as those people, and she promptly shifted her gaze out the window. She would not analyze other people by their looks and judge. Even if she was probably right.
Nodding to herself in her newfound resolve, Karin vowed to leave the girl alone and simply sit in silence as they both contemplated their places in life on this, undoubtedly long, train ride.
"Oh, I'm sorry for not introducing myself earlier! My name is Sakura. I was a little nervous a second ago because I'm sure I looked like a fool jumping onto the train like that…"
Karin slowly turned to look at her. 'Seriously? The girl decides to talk after I make my awesome ego-inflating vow of truth and wisdom? I know what I just said about judging, but "Sakura" really? Is her life ambition to dance naked on a pole?'
A few silent seconds passed as Karin's eyes widened and her face inflamed before she turned back to normal and gave forth a lackluster response, "My name's Karin."
Sakura observed the girl in front of her with trepidation. She had red hair and glasses. It made her look like a spirit of fire or something. But that wasn't what put her off. The girl was emanating this aura. If she could put words to it would say, "Don't talk to me. Whatever you want to ask is none of your business."
Sakura didn't think the girl realized it, but all of the people were leaning away from the girl. People were hiding behind week-old newspapers, feigning sleep like an animal playing dead, and others were trying to will themselves away while looking out the window. Some of them were even passing notes between themselves. She got a clear look at one in front of her it said, "What do we do if she pulls out a gun?" and the answer was, "I don't know, but for the love of God and Baby Jesus do not provoke her!"
A few people were giving Sakura sympathetic looks when they thought it safe to do so. An old man dressed in an old coat wearing dirty gloves, probably a gardener or something, mouthed the words ,"Do not provoke" while pointing at the girl next to her.
Sakura waved nicely to the people surrounding her. She was perfectly content to let time pass silently so she could pass on the story of how she survived a train ride sitting next to a girl thug to her grandchildren. Besides, she didn't want to mess up her grand escape so her stupid sadistic inner had to take the stage.
"You know, it would be funny to try to talk to her and watch all of these people die of heart attacks."
"That's murder."
"Nope, it's manslaughter."
Sakura sighed before turning to the girl who was shaking her fist toward the window and muttering to herself about "Judgement" and something about one's "Place in life". If she didn't start a conversation with this girl inner would pester her for the rest of the ride. She had five hours before she would reach her destination.
Without any further thought, she introduced herself.