A Sign Of Two

1 - A New Beginning

           

I squealed as I set foot on the train that was going to whisk me away to my new life in the capital city that was the beating heart of the UK. London.

Until that day, I'd spent my entire life working on a small farm in my cosy little village in North-Yorkshire. As much as I loved the agriculture and my family, I yearned for a more exciting life in the city. Ever since I was a child it had always beckoned me. I saw news stories on TV that were based in London, and I'd dream beautiful dreams about huge billboards that lit up the dark night sky and underground trains that were so fast you couldn't blink or you wouldn't catch them.

Finally after months of telling my parents "I'll be fine" I managed to save enough money through work to get me by for a while in the big city.

I hopped onto the train with a skip in my step and I found one of the only free seats next to a man who smelled like sausages and had an expression like he wanted to murder everyone on the carriage. I lugged my rucksack up onto an unstable glass shelf above me and sat myself down clumsily, immediately slouching into the chair. I tried to relax, but I was itching for the train to set off and take me to my new home.

The seats on the train were lime green and they had the ugliest yellow polka dot pattern printed onto them, not to mention the whole place had a lingering odour of body sweat and urine that just didn't seem to go away.

I smiled to myself nonetheless and took a deep breath, beginning to daydream about my new adventures in London that were closer than they ever had been before.

*6 Hours Later*

I stepped off the train after what seemed like years. As soon as my foot touched the concrete platform I took a deep breath and grinned. London.

There were people everywhere, rushing around, going to work, going to interviews and meetings, going to see family.

They didn't pay me any mind, to them I was just another tourist, an annoyance coming to the city to see the sights and buy 'I HEART LONDON' key-rings and stuff. But to me, London was my fresh start, my big break, my glorious opportunity to live a fun-filled life in the city.

I was only on the platform in the train station and the busyness of the place was already exciting me. I grabbed my backpack and hauled it onto my back before walking out of the station and into the biggest adventure I would ever embark on.

I had myself booked into a hotel temporarily, I was hoping to find a place to rent out fairly quickly. I was never really bothered with appearances or people, so long as I lived in the middle of London, right at the heart of the adventure, I was happy.

*2 Hours Later*

For my first day in London, I decided to be a bit of a tourist. I saw everything there was to see in the centre: The beautiful lights of Piccadilly circus, the statues in Trafalgar square, The Shard, The London Eye, you name it. I was loving it, the huge buildings and excitement and new people were all things that I was certainly not accustomed to. I loved the liveliness of it all.

Although I wanted to stay outside and enjoy London for much longer, my legs were tired and so was I, so I decided to get a tube and check into my hotel for the night. I made my way through the bustling rush hour crowd, towards the tube station and I was almost there when I was abruptly knocked off my feet by a dark figure wearing a hoodie moving in the opposite direction.

"Hey! Sorry-" I had started to say, but the mysterious figure that had knocked me over was nowhere to be seen. Must have just been in a rush.

I brushed myself off and carried on towards the station.

The London Underground was definitely something. It was one of the busiest places I had ever been in, and the whole atmosphere just had its own way of making you stressed out. The carriage I got on was full, although that wasn't surprising, and the smell of weak alcohol lingered around, perhaps from people on a night out the previous day. I stood next to the doors of the carriage and held onto a safety bar so that I didn't fall over, as the train jolted around and started to depart, I looked out of one of the small dusty windows onto the platform I had just come from, and I saw a figure.