Bridge To Eternity

CHAPTER ONE | October – the previous year

CHAPTER ONE October – the previous year

Audrey Willatt crossed her legs and smoothed the skirt of her dress. The view out of the carriage window was exquisite but with every passing mile, the knot she felt in her gut grew tighter. She was leaving her home in the south of England and heading north to a Victorian pile she had bought a few months after her husband died, situated on the fringes of a bleak moor.

‘The next station is Hawksmead,’ stated the recorded voice from train’s speakers. Audrey stood and pulled down her folded coat from the rack above her seat and slipped it on. She picked up her handbag and followed a few passengers down the carriage to her two large and way too heavy suitcases. She felt the train slow as she lifted the heavier of the two from the rack and placed it down by the doors. She went to collect the second case and was momentarily taken aback to see it within the firm grip of a tall, well-dressed, elderly gentleman. She had spotted him when she had changed trains in Derby, and wondered whether there would be an opportunity to make his acquaintance. There was something about his posture, the way he carried himself, that appealed to her.

‘May I help you get your bags off the train?’ he asked.

‘That’s very kind of you. My mother drilled it into me never to pack more than I can easily carry. She would not have been impressed.’

The train slowed and came to a gentle stop. The door adjacent to the platform was opened by a fellow passenger pressing the illuminated button, and Audrey took her first breath of fresh moorland air.

‘You get off and I’ll carry the cases to the platform,’ the Good Samaritan said.

Audrey didn’t argue and stepped from the carriage. The stranger followed her and placed the first suitcase at her feet.

Towards the rear of the train, the guard blew his whistle. Audrey felt tense as she watched her helper climb back into the carriage to retrieve the second case. She knew this was the really heavy one.

The guard blew his whistle again.

The man held onto the door frame as he eased his way off the train and with some relief on his face placed the suitcase at her feet.

There was another long blast of the whistle and warning beeps as the door began to close. The stranger turned and almost leapt through the narrowing gap. The door slid shut and Audrey waited, expecting to see the man’s face at the window, but the train moved, gathered speed and soon she was standing alone with her suitcases on the empty platform.