*A calm and reflective Juan, local business owner, looks on at the scene.It was a Monday night like any other. My friend and I were eating pan dulce from the small Mexican bakery on 2nd street in Pomona. The only thing out of the norm was that we could not step into our usual independently owned hooka cafe Zamir's for some tea. For this reason we were sipping on some tea from the Starbucks chain. Buying from this mainstream giant may have just allowed us to peek into the devastating last moments of a woman's life.
Sitting at these benches across from The Glasshouse went hand in hand with another routine: watching the Union Pacific train go by. We heard it off in the distance. Maybe it was the monotony of seeing the I don't know how many dirty box cars go by with the faded white letters spread across. It might have been wanting to observe the eerie ghost like emptiness of the usually overcrowded 2nd street center.Whatever the reason, we both looked north with curiosity.
At that moment, we saw a young female with the dangerously close speed of Usain Bold darting across about 30 yards away from where we were sitting...toward the train. Now, there are about three yellow caution signs clearly stating that trains are not to sound their horns under any circumstance, I would think for the abundant businesses and amount of people that reside within the area. That was disregarded as the conductor surely saw the girl running toward. My boyfriend was sure that he saw the lights of the train flash upon her. Just as quickly as it takes for a ray of light to reach an object, she was gone. I was positive that I had s
een her reach the other side. Now, I know that it was only my mind wanting so badly for that to have been the outcome. Right:The train comes to
a halt.
After I sat down for a few minutes with the mentality that she had survived, I cursed this "stupid young girl" for playing chicken, and how all of our thrill seeking generation was the same, playing with their lives one way or another, this being uttered not completely knowing what the result had been. My friend had said something about the whole scene being out of an action movie, a "kamikaze" scene. "Want to go look?" was the next thing asked. With hesitance, I said yes.
We made our way across the abandoned and low lit parking lot. As we approached the gate that separated us from this immense transportation giant, we smelled what had been the result of the train's wheels coming to a terribly noisy halt, a burnt and ghostly scent. As we looked to our left,the police had arrived which brought uncontrollable tears to my eyes. Then, we heard them:the ambulance sirens.I was still in denial.We ran down to the next street behind the seemingly abandoned buildings and pieces of this bleak puzzle were coming together.Two fire engines were in front of the scene, accompanied by 3 police cars. A business owner by the name of Juan soon after came along and asked us what had been happening. At that moment I realized that my boyfriend and I and those driving the train were the only ones who saw what happened. We saw what would be her last steps on this Earth.Juan commented that in his 20 years he had never witnessed caution tape covering those tracks.
What my eyes absorbed that night I cannot deny. She ran...ran to the train. I try to justify this by saying that she may have been running to her car which might have been located at the Pomona Transit station, just on the other side of the tracks. There is no way. There is no way that at the precise moment that the train was in full speed she decided that she needed, more than anything, more than her life,even,to get to her vehicle. I only remember her silhouette surrounded by street lamps looking as if they were taken out of the darkest Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde chapter. When I read on thedailybreeze.com that she was reported as "walking across a stretch of railroad tracks," I could not feel more saddened. This was premeditated. To think that she did it with a purpose to put an end to her life is somewhere I don't want to reach.Maybe I am assuming too much. Maybe I'm thinking too much about her life.What she was running to, I cannot say that I truly know what it was to. With her speed it was evident that she was determined to get to her destination.I would like to think that by analyzing, I am keeping some kind of memory of her alive. I have searched and there is no additional information written on this. Whether you all agree with it or not, I went to the police and will report what I witnessed to them tomorrow. It would be great if we could all keep her in mind, no matter what the reasoning for this to happen was.
*Seeing these images would surprise anyone, for it is as if you were in her head,on the way to your demise.It just gives one deeper perspective and hopefully adds for reflection.
*Where,as we know it, she began running.
Photos by "...je suis l'art..."
