Short Short Story: Charlie Hears

This has to be the worst way possible to be psychic, he thought. The subway screeched to a stop in the station. It didn’t matter what station it was. Charlie got off and followed the man in the black leather jacket, who was following the woman with the Bloomingdale’s shopping bag.

At the top of the stairs, the woman stopped to light a cigarette. The man in the black leather jacket hung back and waited at the foot of the stairs. Charlie leaned back against the tiled subway wall and waited too. Not here, he thought.

“Bitch doesn’t know what she’s in for,” the man in the black leather jacket thought. She’s not the only one, Charlie mused. Outside, 86th Street was dark. Streetlights reflected off the asphalt. The three of them walked down to Third Avenue single file, about 25 yards apart, and turned north.

Follow the leader, Charlie thought.

The man in the black leather jacket began to close in on the woman. “Where do you live, bitch?” he thought to himself, and Charlie heard his thoughts inside his head as clearly as if the man had spoken directly to him.

Before the man could get close enough to make his move, Charlie was on him. The element of surprise gave him an advantage. The man went down easily. Charlie landed on top of him and smashed his face into the sidewalk. He looked up and saw that the woman had kept walking.

“You are going nowhere right now,” he said.

“Hey, what the hell?” the man said. The man struggled, but Charlie had him.

“Nowhere, I said.”

“Who the hell are you?” the man asked.

“I am your conscience,” Charlie said. “Shut up and don’t give me any trouble.”

“Fuck you, man.” The man in the black leather jacket twisted and reached out with his arms. Charlie pressed his knee into the middle of his back and pushed his face back into the asphalt.

“Not tonight,” he said.

“What the fuck do you want, man?”

“Like I said,” Charlie explained, “I am your conscience.”

“But what did I do?”

“It’s what you were getting ready to do,” Charlie said.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah,” Charlie said.

“Well I didn’t do anything, man.”

“Not yet you didn’t.” Charlie looked down the street. The woman was nowhere in sight. “Okay,” he said. “You can go now.” Charlie jumped back, releasing his hold on the man, who scurried away on all fours, then rolled over and backed away, coming upright about ten feet down the sidewalk.

“Who the hell are you?” the man in the black leather jacket called back to Charlie.

Charlie didn’t answer. He turned around and walked back in the direction of the subway station. I have got to get a car, he thought. The subway is just way too noisy.