Still looking out of the window, Tina noticed that it had started to rain, the heavy grey clouds that had been clogging up the skies all day finally opened. With the rain came the wind and the chill of it came in through an open window. Tina got up to shut it and stood in some chewing gum. Exasperatedly, she hopped over to the window and shut it and sat back down again, and began the long and boring process of picking off the gum with her nail file. Just as she had started doing this, another three people entered the room. The first was a young woman, around 30 pushing a pushchair with a toddler inside it. The third person was an older woman, and Tina suspected, from the way she was chastising the parental skills of her companion, her mother. Hearing the harsh blows of abuse come pounding out of the elderly lady’s mouth brought her back to her own home in Bristol, with her mother shouting at her all the time, the world Nicky had saved her from, and she was seriously considering going back to all this? But then she thought of the life she had had in London. The violence and the fear. Why did she have to make this decision?
Tina could hear the voices of the two women on the opposite side of the room. They were arguing about something but Tina was not really listening. She looked at the baby and he smiled at her. Wow, she thought, that’s the first person to smile at me all day. She smiled back and gave the baby a little wave. He was wearing a blue baby grow with green and yellow trucks and cars on. Over that he was wearing a navy coat, and black shoes, and he was holding a navy hat in his lap. His green eyes were wide, and contrasted vividly with the shock of bright red hair that sprouted out of the top of his head at all angles. His delicate skin was a pale creamy white colour, with a pinker look on his cheeks, after the biting cold of outside.
Tina looked round the room, taking in the peeling paint on the walls and the neon light strips. The windows were dirty, and one was cracked, taped up with brown tape. The curtains were a dirty orange, with cigarette burns and all sorts of stains scattered randomly over the mucky fabric. The brown sponge seats had probably looked unclean even when they were brand new, and they looked filthy now. The wooden tables that held the obligatory three year old woman’s weekly’s and overflowing ashtrays were creaky and aged, and had obviously seen better days. The vending machine in the corner had a “TEMPORARILY OUT OF ORDER” sign that Tina suspected had been there for a very long time, considering that the machine was still advertising Aztec bars! The walls were covered in graffiti and there was a notice board containing posters of how British Rail is cheap and convenient and other such rubbish. The whole place smelt of sweat, smoke, alcohol and urine, and it was entirely unpleasant.
Looking back out of the window, Tina saw that the rain had ceased. The clouds were parting and blue sky was peeping through. Without warning, bright sun flooded the damp platform and within minutes the puddles were beginning to steam. The platform was completely empty and looking down at the track Tina saw a mouse dart across. She kept looking, and soon saw it run back, this time followed by a troop of smaller mice. They scurried up onto the platform and looked for crumbs. One mouse found a whole crust of bread, and ran off to inform the others of it. Tina chuckled quietly to herself at the comic nature of the rodents and sat back in her seat. She picked up one of the magazines and pretended to busy herself in it whilst she thought over her situation again. If she got onto the next train, she could either get off at Bristol or carry on all the way to London.
Tina heard a crackling sound and a voice came over the tannoy system, announcing that the 6:03 to London via Bristol was going to be 20 minutes late. Great thought Tina, more time to think. The woman and her mother and child got up and left the room. She watched them get onto the train that had just pulled up and waved goodbye to the baby. When they had gone, she heard a shout. Just as she thought she was going to get some peace, a group of teenagers came blundering up the platform, holding cigarettes and bottles of vodka in their hands. Please, please don’t come into the waiting room, she prayed. It wasn’t that she went looking for trouble, but trouble seemed to find her. If she was alone somewhere, and a gang of people came up, they were almost sure to start on her. It was something to do with her looks. She had black dreadlocks, wore heavy kohl eyeliner round her almost black eyes, and had her lip, nose, tongue, and ears pierced, several times, and wore baggy jeans and hoodies all the time. Luckily, the gang walked past and Tina breathed a sigh of relief. She heard a distant rumbling sound, and looked out of the window just in time to see the silver and blue train shoot out of the tunnel like a bullet. It slowed to a halt and she picked up her rucksack. As she went out onto the platform she ran the decision through her head one more time and firmly made up her mind. With a hand on the rail, she swung herself onto the train. She sat in the seat with a smile playing on her lips. Tina knew she had made the right decision.
