It was an especially cold and dark night, yet Kastor was wide awake. Were it not for the seemingly endless toil of the day, he might have had a restful night. Once he got home, he could finally get some sleep. The train was late, as usual, so Kastor sat himself down on one of the station’s thin metal benches.
They seemed almost designed to leech warmth from their users. Kastor just sat there, staring at the faintly buzzing lights as they gently flickered. He clutched a small package under his arm, slightly shoving it into his coat. It wasn’t long before another man sat on the bench next to him, obscured by thick shadows under his yellow raincoat.
“Certainly late for someone like you to be here,” the man said, his voice strangely hard to place. Kastor looked over. The man's face was completely hidden under the hood of his raincoat, and he sat almost preternaturally still.
“...Yeah,” Kastor responded, just barely shuffling away from the man sitting beside him. “Train’s late.” He didn’t know why, but it almost felt like the man was staring at the package cradled in his arms, despite his hood obscuring his eyes. “Do I… know you?” Kastor asked, turning to look up into the dark void of the man’s hood.
“You did,” the man replied. Kastor just stared, confused and a little alarmed. Kastor felt the sensation of that burning glare even more now, like the man's eyes were burning holes in the paper covering that package.
“It’s… just a package,” he said, shuffling right to the edge of the bench. It’s not like he was lying. It was just a book. An old book, yes, but a regular book nonetheless.
“Yes, it is. But that book, oh, that book. Truly marvellous,” the man said, his voice dripping with a strange sense of satisfaction. Kastor nearly dropped it in shock at what the man had said. How did he know?
“Who are you?” Kastor asked, readying himself to stand up and leave at a moment's notice. The man still didn’t move, rainwater dripping from the hem of his raincoat.
The screeching of a train against the tracks rang out, startling Kastor. When he looked down the tunnel, he saw a pinprick of light approaching. But when he looked back, the man was gone. Not even a single droplet of rainwater sat in his place.
The train settled to a halt at the station with a sigh. Kastor wasted no time boarding it. He didn’t know who that strange man was, but he did not want to risk finding out something he shouldn’t. He kept a careful eye all the way home that night.
