taxi

Men, per se, did not scare her. But when she rides a taxi, front seat out of habit and she smiles at the driver, politely out of habit, converses with them because they have a rough, repetitive job and a little conversation can't hurt her --

that she finds herself, going home hyperventilating. Her brain trying to process what happened, her brain running a million miles about what could have happened, what 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 happen.

Because f**k, men did not scare her. But when they barely knew her and they were only about a meter apart controlling the wheel and all they talked about was how good of a lover they'd be, all hypothetical as if she can't see then they take out their phone and ask for her number --

"To get to know me better."

As if picking up your ride from the front seat of your car at night was a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

"Will anyone be angry if you do?"

As if the only reason she has the right to say no was if another man would be angry if she didn't.

"Is your boyfriend a foreigner?"

As if the stereotype of women her age marrying old men from other countries for money was still a thing and that was somehow a factor in all this.

"Is your boyfriend a call center agent too?"

Why?

Why did you need to know?

Why won't you take no for an answer?

If she got off at her stop, would he come back for her? If she rode at this stop again, one night after work -- because damn was she naive enough to tell the driver her actual work hours, thinking it was a little kindness to talk to someone who had to work behind the wheel all day. 𝘍𝘶𝘤𝘬--

Author's Note

Hello! Sorry if the format was a little inaccessible this time, I used an italic font generator to format some of the words.

The first one is "what [could] happen."
The next one is the word fuck.

Thank you for reading!

Reviews

[Stu. T.H.]

Quite a read, author zeronineight. If I have to describe it, I would it's quite a relatable and realistic thing to bring up as a topic. Oh, and the storytelling was very well-paced, well written and the ideas presented are translated well into a reader's mind such as I. And despite the topic presented are quite unpleasant, the tone of read can be seen as quite lighthearted to a degree, making it easier to listen to.
On a side note trangely, this site has double standard. You can f**k but not bass-tard (censored), apprently. Bloody weird.
Anyhow, a great read, author Zeronineight.
Despite my lazy nature to read most stories, your works are always comfortable to read, from poems to works. Thus is why I usually pay a visit to your page and choose a random work to read, I believe any of your works could soothe me. Again, thank you for a lovely read.