Friends to the end

The Old streets of London were always lively around spring.

through the hustle and bustle you could still hear birds sing.

The frost was still present with a feather dusting of snow,

and every store front felt welcome with an amber lit glow.

Every inch was packed tightly with tall umbrellas held tight,

for the rain drizzled daily, the absent sun out of sight.

There were puddles extending from every car that rushed by,

The clouds so distressed, they couldn’t help but just cry.

I paused there, hypnotic, the tapping rain as it fell,

The entrancing little capture and the earth cleansing smell.

My socks felt quite damp, and my clothes were soaked through,

the warm coffee was thawing, my preserved fingers withdrew.

I carried onto the station, the squeak of shoes on the slabs,

the half-awake strangers, alarmed screams from the cabs.

The quickened footsteps of travellers racing frantic in search,

the announcements surrounding like an echoed choir in church.

My thoughts were on Rosie with her train which was due,

searching each board for info, almost pushed my way through.

Rosie was my best friend since before I was three,

we shared every single moment when the world felt so free.

The lengthy stairs leading down to the station were damp,

The smell was unbearable, the blinding glare from each lamp.

Distant sounds almost thundering, instant, rapid momentum,

There was only one person and one reasoned agendum.

The waiting felt like a lifetime, seven years now in fact,

When she moved out of London for her placement contract.

She was finishing her masters in Parapsychology and dreams,

learning histories and hauntings, nothing quite what it seems.

I wandered onto the platform, calmer and spacious by far,

The squeal of trains now departing, a distant busker’s guitar.

Although it was just a station, it held a certain grandeur.

Like a whole other world that everyone must endure.

I stood impatiently longing for Rosie’s train to arrive,

I remembered our first train together when we were just five.

There were two far misty lights through the whispering rain,

my breathing felt lighter, intense excitement contain.

The coaches speed had diminished, slowing to a clean stop

There were raindrops surrounding, cascading off the rooftops.

The doors opened briskly with an abundant flood of light feet.

I seeked out poor Rosie and prayed the crowds would deplete.

I saw not one person with baggage, no one my height or size,

I realised my friend wasn’t on board as the tears filled my eyes.

I pursued every lost individual, every chair, every face,

I searched around the whole station covering every blank space.

Where was my Rosie? Had I missed her somehow?

Such an illusion of forethought was taking over me now.

Every encompassed situation with something terrible or dire,

I could feel my chest heaving with every muscle on fire.

I hurtled back to the platform, my slowing heartbeat afraid,

Watching her train withdraw slowly, to the whistle obeyed.

I found an unwelcomed, damp seat, it was the only one free,

This entrancing moment perplexing, one I could not foresee.

Did something terrible happen before she got on the train?

Maybe severely injured? Maybe coiled up in pain?

Was she taken, or kidnapped? Was she still warm in her bed?

These thoughts and much more kept going round in my head.

I perched there slowly numbing, watching every train vanish,

All these deplorable thoughts in my mind gradually banished.

I watched individuals briskly passing, people hugging with joy,

a reminiscent, new memory for these loving souls to enjoy.

My phone started buzzing in my jacket side pocket,

I stroked away my last tear from slightly swollen eye sockets.

The number unknown plagued my phone through each call,

On the last I picked up to sounds that made my skin crawl.

“Get away from the tracks!” someone shrieked down the phone,

I had the strangest of feelings I was no longer alone.

“Rosie? Is that you?” I questioned holding each breath,

“Something evil is with you and they’re surrounded in death!”

I focused my eyesight on everyone now surrounding,

I observed every face, but this mindless call was confounding.

“Something is with you!”, I listened, impossible now to relax.

“And it’s going to drag you straight onto those tracks!”

My mobile went static, no more voices came through,

I examined my surroundings, but no one stood out of view.

Who or what were these warnings? Why was I to be prey?

It was supposed to be a quick visit and such an untroubled day.

I tried to call Rosie, the repeating voicemail succession,

Why would someone attack me with such homicidal aggression?

Was someone testing me from afar? A prank caller gone wrong?

I couldn’t let this all get to me, I tried remaining headstrong.

Rosie was still out there, unquestionable beyond doubt,

And I was going to stay strong for her and wait this thing out.

The rainfall had concluded, the tragic skies looked so grim,

The next train would be welcomed before this darkness drew in.

An old lady had been standing by a fragile heat lamp,

She looked frightened by surroundings and cold from the damp.

She noticed me studying, as I looked away in dismay,

The old lady glared forward, such an unwelcomed shadow play.

I still felt her eyes leering as if fixated or frozen,

I couldn’t shake this vile feeling that only I had been chosen.

Trains were still drifting, people still travelling from their day,

But this old lady was preserved, in such a sinister way.

I inspected my phone distracting my mind from her glare,

I looked up every so often and detected the lady still there.

I sent a message to Rosie in case her signal had vanished,

I told her of the old lady, the way she glared almost famished.

I tilted my phone slightly to discreetly capture her vision,

I succeeded without alarm and with such astounding precision.

I gazed up, for a second, towards the lady without thought,

She was no longer sitting from where my camera just caught.

I heard my phone humming as I seized it briefly to check,

There was a one word reply that sent chills down my neck.

Rosie had tried to warn me from something or someone

I felt my eyes scan it over, the message simply said ‘Run!’

The whole platform was deserted, not a lifeline observed,

I focused on the stations exit, but felt extremely unnerved,

The old lady wasn’t with me, she had vanished without trace,

My insides were flaring and my panicked heart at full pace.

I made a sprint for the gates, forewarned from the received,

The word echoed in my mind too unexpected to be believed.

I was certain if I was noticed I would look bizarre and untamed,

but I would soon be forgotten, so misplaced, so unclaimed.

I was momentarily interrupted, the distant sound of small feet,

this over frightful emergence, a heinous laughter to greet.

Her cackle grimly echoed down the darkened tunnel, so horrid,

I knew it was the old lady, creeping towards me, so torrid.

“She’s not coming dear”, the decrepit, sinister voice spoke,

“She’s already burning!”, She ridiculed firm with a croak.

I backed away steadily from her chilling presence in the light,

Her body somewhat contorted, a shocking, nightmarish sight.

She kept on walking towards me, eyes as black as the night,

She was drooling, convulsing, her skin a deathly, iced white.

One foot was just dragging as if fragmented or fractured,

Her smile, still horrific, her snigger rang as she swaggered.

“Your friend is burning!” She howled, her voice deeper this time,

Then she attached herself to the wall and eerily started to climb.

A petrifying old spider, her gaze forever unmoving,

observing my traumatised face, my whole body kept moving.

“What do you want?” I cried, breaking down with such fear,

She was lurking towards me, advancing ever so near.

“Your soul dear”, she howled, as she pounced into a dash,

The platform lights all around us started to flicker and flash.

I couldn’t make out her presence, a silhouette or her guise,

just her tormenting old giggle, the hidden gaze of those eyes.

The wind suddenly picked up, I thought a train had dashed by,

Was my friend truly dead? Or was this all just a lie?

The lights settled and glowed, revealing the platform once more,

The old lady had vanished, anticipating the revealing encore.

The exit was vacant, no one preventing my escape,

I charged myself forward, towards the wide-open gates.

I almost reached the first stair, looking so dirty and damp,

When her piercingly numb hand decided harshly to clamp.

It seized my left ankle with the force of a raging mad bull,

before I could react sprightly, I felt myself starting to fall.

I turned my head viewing the hand that gripped me so tight,

She had gripped me securely I needn’t put up a fight.

The old woman just laid there, holding on with such force,

Her eyes ghastly, her smile spectral, without any remorse.

 She started to move, her bones cracked and deranged,

She stood tall once again, her eerie expression unchanged.

“You have a train to catch!” She chuckled, amused by her wit,

her hold grew much stronger, watching her arm muscles split.

She dragged me with ease, supported by an invisible force,

She pulled my body towards the tracks, never leaving her course

I struggled and scuffled attempting a release of some kind,

but her hold was too sturdy, there was no escape now to find.

I felt the frosty, dense pavement scrape against my soft skin,

It was soggy and doused, I contended hard now to win.

I screamed and yelped for survival, but no one came to my aid,

My aspiration for a rescue was briskly starting to fade.

The woman heaved my whole body into the air trouble free,

It seemed impossible for certain as she leered up at me,

“Your soul reeks of transgression, selfish acts and wrong doing,

You will surrender your spirit, for your death is renewing.”

As she executed her warning she snarled and threw me away,

The scene slowed momentarily, the terror foreboding display.

I landed so abruptly on the tracks, severely grazing my side,

My breath escaped my aching lungs, I felt the bruising inside.

I felt the vibration beneath me before I noticed the light,

a trembled plague of emotions, the approaching danger in sight.

Her tormented old cackle just above me grew louder,

The rain cleansed my face lightly like a fine dusting of powder.

The darting train now approached me, escape was long overdue,

I tried forcing myself upwards, but I kind of already knew,

I wasn’t going to escape her, I couldn’t run now or flee,

This train was approaching quick, heading straight towards me.

I heaved myself upwards, on my hands and my knees,

The pain surrounding was throbbing, this was no time to freeze.

I leaped up to the platform, but was met with such haste,

The woman’s deceased scent lingered strong with grim taste.

She prised me up by my neck, gruelling pain with each breath,

I lashed out with such malice, I wasn’t prepared for my death.

I attacked her secure hold with all the strength I had stored,

Surprisingly it worked and the old hag was now floored,

I caught her square in the face with my foot striking down,

She withered and suffered, as my eyes darted around.

I backed away from the edge of the platform now free,

The train approaching so promptly at such a beckoning speed.

The old lady was persistent, blood engulfed her whole face,

She looked demolished and shattered, a lifeless soul out of place

She looked different and exhausted, so confused and derailed,

she inspected her surroundings, shaking weary and frail.

An unknown pressure exerted behind the distressed dame,

and she was forced onto the tracks, like I was the same.

Like her worth was expired, so unwanted and redundant,

The deafening approach now awaited, resound so abundant.

The old woman came to, like hypnotised back in trance,

And she became so more lively before her final hostile glance.

“You’ll burn dear I promise, I’ll see you quite soon!”

then the train hurtled past me with an ear-splitting boom.

The old woman had perished, her torment cursed me no more,

It had felt like the worst dreaming, filled with darkness and gore.

I took a second to catch my breath, it was missed and forgotten,

This stay had been bleak, so horrendous and rotten.

There was no evidence of sacrifice, no bloodstains or spite,

it was peaceful once again for this drizzled, cold night.

The train doors opened gently with a sudden pause to reflect,

once again, found myself wandering with my eyes to inspect.

There was a girl, around my age, my size and my height.

She had blonde curls like pasta, with eyes loud and so bright,

She wore cut styled blue denim and a grey hoodie too large,

And before I truly noticed, the young girl started to charge.

She screeched with such radiance at such happiness met,

Like an owner reunited with their most favoured, lost pet.

Rosie hugged me so fiercely, we both cried overjoyed,

All the hurt I encompassed beforehand destroyed.

She held on for so long as if time stopped for just us,

I wasn’t used to many people fawning over me with fuss.

Rosie eventually recoiled, with such a smile on her face,

Everything seemed much more wholesome within her embrace.

“I received your text message, and your phone call alert,

There was an old lady attacking, dragging me all through the dirt

She threw me onto the tracks but I escaped by pure chance,

Then she died or just vanished”, I explained in a trance.

Rosie looked befuddled, was I unclear as I spoke?

She must’ve thought I was lying or played some nasty, poor joke.

“I never sent you a message, I had no signal the whole way.”

She explained so perplexed, hesitantly looking away.

I remembered I took a photo of the old lady prior,

This would prove I wasn’t joking, or some crazy, mad liar.

I unlocked my phone quickly and got the pictures app loaded,

I felt my whole body break, shut down so corroded.

When I loaded the image of the old lady before,

She was replaced by a figure standing close to the door.

It was Rosie somehow, a malevolent look on her face,

She was covered in blood fixed precisely in place.

How was this possible? she wasn’t there, I’m confused,

I looked back up at Rosie, who looked horrifyingly amused.

She had a smile on her face, never flinching, preserved.

Her eyes looked so fearsome, I tried to focus, reserved.

“Rosie?” I questioned, my voice choked on each note,

like something was stopping every word from my throat.

She grabbed me with compulsion, such intent to impede.

I struggled hopelessly watching as her eyes start to bleed.

I was disturbed and distressed, why’s this happening to me?

I endeavoured for freedom, my nulled attempt to break free.

Her forceful vigour was crushing, she focused on me so stern.

Her screaming echoed around us, “Jess, you’re going to burn!”

THE END.