Confused atoms

- "So, why do you want to work with us?” Oh, for fucks sake, not again. Amina had spent the previous night huddled inside an overly cold train wagon to get here. She had the precious company of a middle aged man with a snoring problem, a young man who made himself too comfortable on his seat, showing off his mismatched (and not exactly pleasantly perfumed) socks, and the train steward who would show up every half hour to make sure their tickets didn’t magically disappear. Needless to say, she didn’t get an ounce of sleep last night. Her mood was therefore, slightly irritable. She found herself very short of patience, especially since this was, after all, a minimum wage job. - “A crippling fear of homelessness. - I beg your pardon? - Money. I need money.” The person sitting in front of her was an aging lady, maybe in her late fifties. She wore huge reading glasses, a light blue headscarf, and a courteous half smile. Upon hearing her answer, she shifted into her se...

I recently came across a funny looking time machine. One of my old music playlists. .. I’m so sorry, that was very corny.  You know I can see you rolling your eyes, right?   Give me a second to explain myself. Or rather, why don’t you explain something to me? How is it that, after opening said playlist and the first song started playing, I felt the hairs of my body standing up ? And why is it that at the same moment, I had flashes of memories I didn’t even know I had ? I saw myself clearly, on a late summer night, sitting on top of the refrigerator next to the kitchen window (it was the only way to catch glimpses of the neighbor’s wi-fi. I tried everything, believe me). It was like a snapshot from a previous life. An out of body experience if you will, where I’m looking at this kid smiling like an idiot. He is listening to something and texting someone. Next thing I knew, he looked a tiny bit older now. He had hints of what would become his firs...