Originally Published in Unapologetic Mag, 2026

We keep breaking up, I don’t know if it’s me or if it’s you, says a woman across from me. For a panicked second I believe she is addressing me. She is on the phone. We are passengers on the same train. We are sharing a table. She’s facing backwards and I feel slightly bad about it, but not enough to ask if she wants to swap. The logistics of actually asking her while she’s on the phone, of getting up and switching seats, it’s all a bit too awkward for me. She also has her phone on speaker in public which I abhor, especially on a train where it is impossible for me to go anywhere else. I use this as a justification for keeping my slightly better seat. She is liaising with whatever adult is in charge, trying in vain to hear a child, presumably her child, through the grainy speakers of her phone on a video call. The call keeps breaking up.

Read the complete story in Issue 5 at unapologeticmag.net