Planned to success.

21:30 PM

The protagonist stood, his head bowed, his feet beating a steady rhythm to the tune thumping in his ears. The cord of his iPod snaked down into his back pocket, his face emotionless as a million things  raged through his mind. His thoughts turned to previous failed missions, as butterflies fluttered incessantly in his stomach. The Boss wouldn’t be so forgiving this time around, well, sometimes the Boss made the slender-man seem like a homely guy. The Boss was definitely not someone to cross. This time was different, he would redeem himself, because today he had a plan.

 Standing amidst a throng of non-descript, bordering on boring, people, he felt the strong common purpose, underlying in their emotions. He stood under a cavernous roof, the air-conditioning insufficient as droves of people continued to pour down the narrow staircases. If front of him lay an enormous blackness, stretching infinitely to both sides, as far his vision allowed. The air was thick with worry, as people anxiously looked at their watches.  Our teen protagonist could do nothing but bide his time….

21:35 PM

And then suddenly, the air was electric with excitement. He could feel it right down to his bones. This was it. The time had come. He heard a distant voice replaying a message, but his mind was busy going through his plan. A plan which could mean the end of a hundred careers, friendships and in some cases, even lives. But he was desperate, he had go through with this. His life hung in the balance. His face was still a mask, betraying not a hint of emotion, as his feet beat a faster rhythm in anticipation of what was to be.

21:40 PM

The tunnel in front of him burst into light, as a deep grating sound was heard, and a sleek monster of a machine came into view. People glanced at each other with smiles of sheer happiness, as the deadline was upon them. As the magnificent beast screeched to a halt in front of them, the crowd moved as one towards it, crushing all those unwary. But our protagonist, with the practiced ease of a pro, was already moving toward one of the many openings running along the side of the machine. He surged on relentlessly, knowing that the slightest delay could prove fatal. Knocking over a veteran, clearly worn out by some infinite such missions, he paused just enough to give her an apologetic smile, she was unfortunately, one of the many casualties in this mission.

As the end seemed near, a huge shape filled his view. He deftly sidestepped, preventing himself from being run-over by an enormous woman with a pram. Her large pram blocked his only means of passage, and well the flashing, warning orange lights, only compounded his problems. Vaulting over small babies was definitely, not part of his job description. But desperate times called for desperate measures. As the woman’s eyes widened with unmitigated surprise, he sailed over the small blond child, landing with a thump on his brand new Converse.  He turned around, bending down to give the child, the sweetest of smiles. Brushing down his shirt, he squeezed in through the narrowing gap between the closing doors.

21:43 PM

He sat back on the blue and white upholstery, glancing around at his fellow victors. The protagonist was surprised to see the old woman, aka the veteran, smiling at him from the corner, well, experience does count. As his watch ticked away the seconds, he looked down to see the time was only 21:45 PM. The Boss was going to be pleased. Now his mom was definitely not going to kill him for coming late. His plan had been a success. As he rested his head on the darkened window of the Dubai Metro, he watched as the city flashed by, bringing him closer to home.