The last train leaving the station

A young womans last thougts and actions in the minutes before leaving her hometown for good.

She looked at her watch again just to be sure. There was 21 minutes until the next train was supposed to arrive. She walked towards one of the platform's many empty benches and sat down. She was all alone.

The platform was dark except for one single strip light that was blinking very persistently. It was fighting for its life with everything it had. It was the last light at the entire station that still had some light shining from it. All the others had either burned out or had been smashed to pieces. It was the last " a lonely soldier that single-handedly was trying to win the war against darkness, even though the battle had been lost long ago. She sat starring mesmerized at the strip lights irregular blinking. Between each flash of light the darkness of the night took over and that was all there was. She had been sitting on the bench, not moving, for maybe 6 minutes when the light suddenly gave up. The war had been lost and there was now complete and impervious darkness on the platform.    

      

Normally it would not have bothered her to sit alone in the dark. She knew the platform. She knew the station. She knew the city and the people who lived in it, but now she could feel the chills came back, and she knew she had to get away. The faster she got away from the city and him, the sooner she would feel better. That was one thing she was sure of.

She looked at her watch again. Now, the hand had passed twelve. It was now officially not the 15th of November any longer. It was a new day. A day on which things would be different. Everything was planned, and there was nothing that could ruin her plan. It was another thing she was sure of.

There was still plenty of time for the train to arrive. She opened her purse and took out her wallet. She put the bag down on the bench and went out into the darkness towards the ticket machine. Even without her sight, she knew exactly where it was.

As she stood there right in front of the machine, it dawned on her that she did not know how far she wanted to go " or where she was going for that matter. This part of the plan she had not given a thought until now. She had been so sure that everything would be all right if she got this far, standing here at the station. But what would the next part of the plan be? She pushed the button four times. She did not know why, but it felt like the right number when she did it.

She could suddenly hear something moving behind her - something other than just branches of the trees in the autumn wind. She turned around but could of cause not see anything in the darkness. "Hello?" She said with a cautious voice, but no one responded. "Hello," she said again a little louder and with more force behind the words, and then one last time "Hello". The last time her voice broke. She felt that her hands were starting to shake. Suddenly it hit her how cold it was and she tricked herself into thinking that it might be the reason to why she was shaking. She stuck a hand in each of her coat's big pockets and walked with determined steps towards the place where she thought she had put her purse down.

She reached the bench, but her bag was not there. She fumbled in the dark and under the bench, but found nothing. She went to the other side of the bench, got down on all four to feel the ground, but again without luck. She took out her phone and turned on the display. She spotted her bag three benches down from where she stood. It had been knocked over, and all her stuff was spread out on the large concrete floor. She hurried towards it, illuminating the ground in front of her with the phone and trying to gather all of her stuff. "Nothing seems to be missing" she said to herself. She looked at the contents of the bag and picked up a small spray bottle. She had been strongly opposed to getting such a thing. She had protested so much that her brother nearly had given up, but right now was so relieved to have it with her that it was almost too overwhelming. She clenched her hand around it, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

She opened her eyes as she heard the sound of a train in the distance. She put the shoulder strap over her shoulder and moved toward the rails. The light from the phone display had gone out, and she could not see anything again.

Before her eyes could readjust to the darkness, she felt an arm gripping her waist and held her so tight that she could not move. The person leaned closer and whispered into her ear: "Do you really think that you can get away that easily?" She knew immediately who it was. She could recognize his voice. He tightened his grip, and she could feel that it was harder to breathe. It wasn’t the first time this had happened and she knew it would end for her if she did not do something to stop it. "Did you seriously think that I would not find out that you were gone?" he whispered with a hissing voice. She kept her lips tightly pressed together not avoid screaming. She was determined not say anything. She wanted wait for the right moment.

The train came roaring onto the platform a few seconds later. It arrived right on time and just in time. The train’s sudden arrival took him by surprise. He loosened his grip a bit, and she saw her chance. She grabbed him by the wrist and with all her strength she twisted herself out from his grasp. She reached into her purse and fumbled frantically with the little bottle. She managed to turn the bottle the right way, placed her finger on the top and then she pressed down.

She was not sure how much it would take, so she just kept pressing down on the button until the bottle was empty. She saw him double up in pain as he moaned loudly. She picked up her bag off the ground and rushed into the train that was still at the platform. He yelled and screamed after her, but she did not go back. Never again would she go back. She was finished with this town - finished with him. She stood a few steps away from him inside the train, staring at him, the doors closed in front of her, and the train started to accelerate.

She sat down crouching on a seat. She was still squeezing the pepper spray in her hand. It was empty, but she still felt a certain peace of mind keeping it close to the body. She sat alone in the empty carriage. She stared out the window. She saw her childhood hometown disappear further and further away. She knew it would be the last time she would see the station and the tattered sign with the word “Station".

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think about it. And be brutally honest :)

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

A very good story. I like the description of location the young girl thoughts. I like how she react to the attack. Hard to write a complete story in so few words. You did. Thank you for the outstanding story.
Coyote

[A|c|B]

You created a vivid sequence here.

[Melissa Hoover]

You need to keep going! You've got your readers hooked. You've got a few grammatical errors here and there, but so do we all. More show, less tell. Have you heard that yet? I hated hearing that one because I thought I was showing but life's a lesson.
I.e. He grabbed her by the waist - becomes - his meaty fingers dug into her rib cage as he secured her by the waist. I want to read more. Keep it coming :D

[Cassie]

nice story that has kept me intrigued. keep going

[Helene K. S. Jensen]

Thank you for reading my story, I appreciate it :)

[Eve Marie]

Oh wow. This is amazing. Love your writing skills! Do more (:

[Helene K. S. Jensen]

Thanks so much :)