Grace Thomas ’23 - Midnight Murder on the Subway

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

decided to talk to the blonde girl and see if she could find out any other clues.

“Hi, my name is Lyla and I was wondering if you could answer some questions.”

“Are you a police officer or some type of detective?”

“Not exactly, but I am just trying to figure out what happened. Could you at least tell me your name?”

“I’m Reece and my boyfriend Matt was the one that was murdered.”

“I’m so sorry for what happened, but I was wondering if you heard or saw anything that could be useful to find out what happened?”

“All I remember is that I got up and tried to find a spot with cell service so I could call my mom and tell her what was happening, and when I got back the lights turned back on and that was when I saw Matt.”

“Okay. Thank you for your time.”

Lyla began to walk away when she saw the other boy sitting on the opposite side of the train. She slowly walked over to him and asked him a few questions. The boy said his name was Ben and that Matt was his best friend. He said that Matt got up to make sure Reece was okay and never made it back to their seats. Lyla noticed that Matt was very nervous and was shaking a little. She decided it was best to leave him alone but felt that there was something off about him. She took a seat and began flipping through her notebook. While reading all the previous observations she wrote down, she realized that Matt was no longer wearing his green band on his wrist. Lyla got up and walked over towards the body. She slowly scanned the area that the body was in and out of the corner of her eye she saw it. The green band was under one of the seats, broken and covered in blood.

She walked back over to Reece and started asking her more questions; however, this time they were about Ben. Lyla learned that Matt and Ben had been best friends for years, but for the past few years, Matt began to outshine Ben in everything. Whether it was sports or school, Ben was always seen as Matt’s shadow. Ben was now Lyla's lead suspect. He had a motive and his wristband was a clue; however, she needed to find proof that it really was him.

She began to study Ben and his behavior. He was comforting Reece and seemed upset, yet there was a strange look on his face and he almost seemed relieved. Lyla slowly inched her way over to Ben and Reece and discovered a small hole in Ben's sweatshirt. She hadn’t noticed it before but he looked a little messy. His hair was ruffled and he looked as though he had been sweating. The closer Lyla got to Ben the more she discovered, until finally she saw his hands. His nails had blood on them.

A millon questions flooded Lyla’s mind: Was he really the murder? Was he actually capable of murdering his so-called best friend? What drove him to do this? Lyla had all the proof she needed, and she wasn’t going to stop until Ben confessed.

Lyla walked over to Ben and asked if she could ask him a few more questions. It took some convincing, but he finally agreed to talk to her in private. Lyla started off by asking about Matt and his friendship and slowly began to grill him with questions. Ben started to get a little flustered and Lyla knew that he was close to messing up his story. The faster she asked the questions, the more he began to stutter, until all of a sudden he cracked.

“How did it make you feel living in Matt's shadow?”

That was the last question Lyla asked him.

“I don’t understand why everyone was so obsessed with him. He got everything I wanted and everything I deserved. He took my starting position on the team away from me, took credit for all the work I helped him with, and somehow managed to become the most popular guy at school, but he would have been nothing without me. So I had to show him who the smarter, stronger, and ultimately better guy was. Me!” He screamed.

“So you killed him?”

“There was no other way to prove my superiority. I couldn’t take it anymore. Everyone looked down on me all of those years, everyone thought he was better than me. He didn’t deserve any of it.”

That was all Lyla needed to hear. Ben turned around to see everyone staring at him. His