You 're a subway conductor and one day you realize no one has been riding your train for years . ( WP )

4 a.m., night shift. 
 I feel the rails humming beneath my feet as the subway rushes through the tunnels. Slowly I walk through the empty coaches. 
 65 steps for a coach. 
 6 Coaches. 
 390 steps for the entire train. 
 11,5 minutes. 
 Then stop at each end, breathe two times, turn left and walk the way back. 
 Rinse an repeat. 
 Every night. 
 Every night since they put me on the night shift 5 years ago. *Too mentally unstable for day shift* they said. *Too unreliable*. 
 It took me some time to actually understand the greater scheme here and that there's always more than meets the eye. 
 `` Next stop: Cathedral'' the soothing voice says through the loudspeaker. 
 Cathedral. Yeah, I know. Next will be Old Bridge. Then King's Square. 
 I know where we're going, I know the future and the past... it's all the same to me down here. 
 I finish my 65th step at the end of the empty coach and take another breath. 
 It's a metaphysical thing, hard to understand. Putting me on the night shift has been a promotion, of the transcendental kind. 
 I'm here, deep below the city, dwelling in darkness. 
 I'm in the darkness so that you can be in the light. You need me, the world needs me. 
 The train stops at the deserted Cathedral station, doors open and close again and we dive back into darkness. 
 Fondly I look through the empty train as I continue my watch. 
 *My realm, my kingdom*. 
 Devoid of humans, but I already told you, it's a metaphysical thing, there's more than meets the eye. 
 I'm here to guard this realm and keep the sleeping city safe. Those voices in my head... they are your prayers, I can hear them every night. 
 The city prays to me. 
 `` Next stop: Old Bridge.'' 
 Old Bridge station. Sometimes I see this young girl standing on the platform there, all alone. 
 The stench of her sinfulness penetrates the walls and windows of the train, but I know that she just wants to be saved, redeemed. 
 For my subterranean kingdom has redemption for all sinners. 
 I can take the pain away. 
 I can make it all good again. 

