Micaela hates the subway but if she wants to keep her new job, she figures she’ll have to submit to this ritual every day from now on. Everything about this mode of transportation displeases her. The foul stench, overwhelming humidity, unbearable heat, thundering noises surrounding her and even the ghostly silence the other passengers keep makes her bowels twitch. How dare they remain silent here and not have the decency of doing it at the movie theatre? Come to think about it, the worst in all of this, it must be the other people. To her left, an Asian teenager with a CD player, listening to crappy commercial rap, and with the power of his headphones, everyone in the subway car can understand what the lyrics are. Near him, an old lady showing signs of an imminent heart attack, like a timed bomb for a general panic crisis. In front of the lady, a white toddler sleeping in the arms of a black woman, rocking her seemingly adopted son with all the love of a real mother. Micaela notices a tall Latin man trying to sneak his eyes up the aquamarine dress she’s wearing, and crosses her legs, her only mean of defence.
Berri-UQAM. A torrent of teenage schoolgirls, all as indecent as a Britney Spears video, enter the car laughing like a flock of geese. The Latin man can’t control himself anymore, seeing all the naked juvenile flesh surrounding him. Micaela looks across the car and spots a man she didn’t see earlier. He mumbles to himself as he shuffles a deck of large cards.
Champ-de-Mars. Micaela takes a book out of her bag and dives right into it, trying to forget about the idiot who just sat right next to her, faking a fall to grab one of her breasts. The Asian kid turns the volume setting of his CD player even higher, surely damaging his ears, trying to cover the blabbering of the girls, about their next sleepover party. Suddenly, the man with the cards drops a part of his deck on the ground. A second later, the train stops. The man gathers back his cards and starts to shuffle the pack once more as the train resumes his travel. Micaela can’t keep reading…too much silence around her.
Place d’Armes. The sound comes back in her universe but she can’t take her eyes off the card handling man. He’s tall, handsome, as thin as a toothpick, each and every of his gestures is imbued with grace and sensuality. His visage seems to have been drawn by the devil himself, to tempt the girls of the earth. In his leather trench coat, he appears to hide a terrible secred which Micaela dares herself to discover.
Square-Victoria. The nymphets leave the subway and are quickly replaced by a pack of males in heat, speaking of the abundant cleavage of one of the young girls. The card-man stops shuffling his deck, draws a card, give it a quick glance and puts it back with her sisters amongst the pack. A smile appears on his face.
Bonaventure. Two men enter the car, the first one move towards the mysterious men and ask him for a match. The card dealer answers something back that Micaela cannot understand. The two men leave the subway before the door close. Micaela is speechless seeing something so strange happening. Her handsome gambler continues his shuffling, draws once more, takes a look at his catch, seems to think a moment and puts the card back in the deck.
Georges-Vanier. One of the males that entered two stations ago falls on the ground and starts crying like a little kid. His friends wonder what’s wrong. He answers that he doesn’t know. They grab him and bring him outside of the subway. A new flock of girls enter, as indecent as the first herd
Lionel-Groulx. The man draws a new card from his deck. Micaela takes a new dive in her book but cannot concentrate, too much noise. The Latin man can’t control himself once more and starts fondling one of the school girls, happy as ever as she does not protest.
Place Saint-Henri. The Latin man disembarks with one of the girls and the man sitting by Micaela grabs another of the nymphets by the waist and takes her with him. As the two girls leave,
Unknown "Sugar-Cat" Neglected - 17 years, 8 days ago

obviously the object of jealousy of their other friends, who hide it by wishing them a good evening, Micaela wonders if she’s the only one to have noticed they were not even of legal age. Everyone in the car saw it…but no one hinted a reaction…neither did she. She could have stopped an awful rape happening but didn’t move a finger for it. The rachitic gambler resumes his shuffling.
Vendôme. No one gets in, no one gets off except the rest of the flock. Micaela eyes her handsome card player, concentrate on him, hears nothing but the sound of the cards scratching each other as he shuffles them. Bewitched. The man takes another card out of his pack, looks at it and turns white for a short moment before nodding in a clear desolation that Micaela can easily deciphers. She gazes at the map of the subway, figures she only has two more stations to go. She breathes in relief.
Villa-Maria. A man enters the subway. Like a magnet, he draws everyone’s attention to him. He must have known that wearing a heavy black leather coat and sunglasses in mid-winter would draw attention. He walks near Micaela, who dives once more in her book to look busy. The man stops near her, to her biggest despair. She looks at him but he doesn’t look back. She understands but she can’t react. I’m no hero she thinks to herself. The man opens his coat and takes out a shotgun. Without a warning, he shoots the “Fucking nasty nigga”, killing the toddler in the same shot. None of them saw it coming, killed in their sleep. The old lady is struck down by a heart attack, dying as fast as lightning on the filthy floor of the subway car. The murderer shoots the Asian, telling him to go back to his country. The teenager’s rap is the only sound in the silent tunnel. Micaela drops to the ground, covering her face with her hands. The assassin turns to face the card shuffling man, stares at him and falls to the ground, crying, wondering what he has done. Micaela’s eyes meet the eyes of the handsome shuffler and she asks him a silent question. She finally sees the card he’s holding, turned her way so that she can see. A strange card. With a gleaming skull. And in his hands, a maze, a crying maiden and a harem. He smiles.

Unknown "Sugar-Cat" Neglected - 17 years, 8 days ago