Ravi boarded the 6:15 PM local, as he had every evening for the past eleven years. The train's metallic groan and the sharp whistle no longer stirred anything in him. Life was a cycle—home, work, debt, repeat. His mind swirled with unpaid rent, his daughter’s pending school fees, and the ever-growing stack of electricity bills on the table near the leaking window. Unusually, the seat beside him was empty. Ravi didn’t remember the last time he had a whole berth to himself in this suffocating city. He loosened his collar and stared blankly outside the window. His eyelids grew heavy