Acid Rain by R.D Rhodes (ebook reader txt) 📕

went in through the entrance and up the stairs under the domed roof. It was busy. I went up to the electric boards and scanned my eyes along each one.

Glasgow. Stance 3. 3.35.

Twenty minutes to wait.

The masses around me stormed the station, running to catch trains or running away from them. All the hundred or so seats had been taken. People were sitting on them sipping coffee, or holding newspapers up that covered their faces as they were fed their opinions. I walked over to the waiting room hidden away next to Starbucks and pulled open the door. I went to a seat at the back and sat down.

Ten minutes later I saw Harry standing outside. He slyly glanced me side-on then walked past. I stood up and left the waiting area and followed his back as he wandered into the large crowd assembling at the gate. There was the hiss and grind of steel on the tracks, and I looked up to see our train coming in. This is it. Here we go, I thought.

The train stopped. The doors opened, and flumes of people poured out towards us. There was four ticket barriers, two for coming in, two for going out, and the folk getting off the train started to exit through the latter. The two ticket-checkers in luminous orange jackets stepped across and fiddled about with the machines. The light on our gates went from red to green and they stepped away to the side, chatting to each other.

The first woman from our crowd stepped forward. I watched like a hawk as she inserted her ticket in the slot, retrieved it again when it popped out the top of the machine, then the gate swung open and she walked out the other side. The gate closed behind her and the next man stepped forward.

I had almost three seconds.

Further up the queue, Harry stood in his blue jumper and black scarf, positioned between two men. He snuck a glance at me and stepped further forward. He was almost at the front. The tall suited man before him reached the gate. My heart pounded and I looked quickly at the ticket guys- still they were talking and looking away. I held my breath. The man inserted his ticket, the gate swung open and, in the split second that followed, Harry stepped through.

Phew! It had been close, he had basically rammed the guy’s ass he was glued so close behind him.

But nobody said a word. The line kept moving.

Now it was my turn. The queue edged forward. Harry glanced nervously back at me as he walked up the platform at the side of the train. In front of me was a peroxide-blonde girl not much older than myself. I looked her up and down and prayed God she wouldn’t let me down. She had her ticket pursed between her lips. She swayed her body slightly and I noticed her handbag emerge from her side. Fuck, I thought.

She was next in line. I snatched a look at the old man behind me. He had warm kind eyes that were buried in The Daily Record. He didn’t look up. The girl stepped forward. Now was my chance. I fixed my eyes on her back and tried to keep as calm as possible. She took the ticket out of her mouth, stuck it in the machine, pulled it out and I darted in behind her. She lifted the bag. The gates swung open and I pushed through as fast as I could. I waited for them to close on me. But they didn’t. Fuck. I was in.

I kept walking. The call I kept expecting never came. Harry was heading towards the front of the train. He slowed his pace and bent down to tie his laces.

“Brilliant.” he said discreetly, as I drew near. “Keep calm, we’re almost half-way there. Try and get a window seat. And remember to stay asleep.”

I walked past him and stood on the platform before one of the doors. They swung open and I stepped on board. The carriage was almost empty, only a few people sitting down. I roved my eyes up and down the aisles and went to take a seat by the window in the forward-facing position.

A few minutes later, from the corner of my eye, a man stepped through the door and Harry appeared behind him. He looked at me and sat down about seven rows ahead. More people followed and the carriage filled up till it was almost full. A family sat at the table in the row in front. I pressed my face to the window and closed my eyes. The noise picked up. I heard the doors rolling shut and felt the train begin to move.

Chapter 30

I  relaxed my face muscles against the window and partly opened my mouth, letting a slight drool wet the corner of my lips. My ears were like sonar systems and every decibel of noise seemed to increase five-fold as I waited for him or her to come. The family at the table in front started talking very loudly. Then they started munching on something. One of them pulled out a phone and shouted his conversation across the carriage.

The tannoy crackled over him, “THIS TRAIN IS NOW APPROACHING GREENSBOROUGH. NEXT STOP GREENSBOROUGH.”

The train slowed down. The doors beeped and I heard more people scuffle onto the carriage. Then a grinding, mechanical moan and the train started off again. I got a whiff of perfume and felt someone sit down next to me.

“TICKETS PLEASE!”

Shit. I kept my eyes closed. I breathed deep through my open mouth.

“THANK YOU.” Click.

“THANK YOU.” Click.

“ALRITE! CHEERS! THANK YOU!”

His voice got louder. I was sure I could hear the jangle of his bag. “THAT’S FINE. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.”

I felt him close. His voice was right beside my