Midnight Murder on the Subway by Grace Thomas ’23
Lyla sat at her desk, staring at the clock, which read 10:57 p.m. Three minutes to go, she thought to herself. It had been a long day of going on coffee runs and delivering paperwork to different desks. When she started this summer internship at Gold Coast Magazine, she thought she would at least be given some sort of opportunity to write; however, it had been almost six weeks and she still had not gotten a chance. Finally, the clock struck 11 p.m. and she got up and made her way out of the building. As she walked out onto the crowded sidewalks of New York, Lyla began to hear thunder and it started to pour. She quickly made her way to the subway station and sat down on a bench waiting for the subway to arrive. As she sat waiting for the subway, Lyla took out her notebook and began to write about the people and things around her. She often used this technique when out in public with the intention of bettering her writing. One of her professors often said that writing down observations and paying attention to the small details can determine the difference between a good writer and a great one. Most writers often miss the small details because they seem insignificant; yet, the smallest detail can end up being the most important. There weren’t many people out at this hour so it was easy to find things to focus on to write. Lyla came across a small group of friends, two boys and a girl, so she decided to start writing. They looked about 17-18 years old and were laughing. The girl had blonde hair and was wearing a cropped shirt and some jeans. The two boys were wearing football sweatshirts and shorts. One boy was taller than the other and seemed more confident. He was holding hands with the blonde girl and had light brown hair. The shorter boy had dark hair and was wearing a green band around his wrist. The taller boy said something to the girl and began to laugh, but the other boy looked a little upset and uncomfortable. Before Lyla could write anything else down she heard the subway coming, so she gathered up her stuff and
started walking. A few minutes after she got on the subway, the lights began to flicker and the subway started to come to a stop. There was an announcement over the speaker that said the city was losing power and the subway might be stalled for a few minutes. Right as the announcement ended, the lights went off. After about two minutes of sitting in darkness the backup lights turned on and everything seemed fine, until a loud scream came from the far end of the subway. “Someone help! Please!” Lyla turned her attention to the screams. It was the blonde girl from the station and on the floor next to her laid the taller boy, blood coming from his head. He was dead, murdered. Nobody knew what to do and the subway still wasn’t moving. There were people screaming and crying, and trying to call 911, but there was no service and their calls were not going through. This can’t be happening, Lyla thought to herself. If this boy was truly murdered, then the killer was still on the train and who knows what they might do next. Then, all of a sudden, she got up without thinking and walked over to the body. Lyla began to take charge and started talking to the other people on the train. She figured that she could not only solve this mystery but also write a great first-hand article about this event. She figured that if the Gold Coast Magazine would not give her a story to write, she would find her own, and this was it. Lyla made her way around the train asking everyone what they saw or if they heard anything. Most of them responded saying they knew nothing, but a few of them claimed to hear a lot of restless movement and a loud bang coming from the back train while the lights were off. Lyla then began to look at the body. The boy looked as though he had been hit in the back of the head, which caused all of the bleeding. There were also scratch marks across his hand and leg. Lyla recorded her observations in her notebook and Magnificat Literary and Art Magazine | 17
