Change In Pace

• Diya Anoop, Grade 10, Sacre Coeur College -
• Short Story
• 2022

Excellence Award in the 'Summertime Fun ONLINE' competition

Time wilts.
I watch as the rain softens the paint on the station, its withering walls already succumbing to age, regardless of being etched with heritage.
I watch as the people rush along the streets, huddled warm into their long coats and umbrellas clutched to their bodies, the black and white stripes barely visible from scuffling feet. Their faces were red, their breath coming out in clouds of fog, their eyes boring into me with expectation as they pause. Stern men and women with briefcases and backpacks shift their weight as they try to juggle their umbrellas. Cars move painfully slow, their drivers rubbing their faces in frustration. The air is filled with the tolling of trams and train announcements and the soft patter of rain into puddles. The people filter into the station in rivers, forming well-versed lines as they scan themselves through. The system is one beating heart.
I watch and time wilts.
The paint grows greyer. The streets are atypically clean, the inanimate sounds are clearer. The train station is dotted with people, like a drought in contrast with the flooding river I was so used to. Street lights blink alive but this time, no headlights join them. I blink.
I watch and time wilts.
The food vans parked on the streets start to drive off. Shutters fall in defeat and owners whisper a farewell. The heart loses its drive, its power, and the beating rhythm of its people. The next day, only the birds come to keep me company. The streets are now parched. I sleep.
Time wilts.
And in trickles, the city reanimates. Excitement bustles through the people, like a contagion. Sheets of cloth cover their faces, but their eyes say everything. I would smile too, if I could, awakened from a deep slumber.
The briefcases return but no one shifts their weight, content, in a way, for the feeling. The chaos of cars returns but no horns sound.
I watch as the heart comes back to life, but this time stronger than ever, knowing that its beating was vital for the city, vital for them. And as time wilts and the seasons change, I watch the heart grow stronger and stronger. Time and time again.
I see my people raising their voice, flags waving proud and true, as one steady system, many rivers that flow into one ocean. The heart has changed its rhythm but it still beats steadily. The river has veered but it still flows. The people have changed and learned and grown. I watch them as they wait on the side of the road, once again watching me with anticipation.
I change from my resting red state to the display of the green man, guiding the crowd to Flinders Street Station.
Time thrives.