500 words a day

540 words 30th july 2009

She didn’t know it yesterday and this morning she still wasn’t sure, but when she saw him walking towards her along the platform she knew it. His hair was flapping around and he pushed it back the way he always did, holding his hand in it for a moment before releasing it. It always fell straight back down flopping over his face. As he got closer he tossed his head from side to side moving the hair unsuccessfully away from his face. She knew he’d be chewing he always chewed gum though it hadn’t improved his breath much last time she got close enough to notice. It had been at the meeting, last week, he was waiting outside when she came out and he pulled her into the alley moving right up close so his nose almost touched hers. She felt the heat of his breath on her face and smelt his stale tobacco tainted breath.





Small sprays of spittle flecked her face as he emphasised his words, insisting, threatening until she’d agreed to meet him. She was frightened, no question, but something else too, a new feeling for her – determination, absolute steel resolve. She would not let him win. She would not let him walk away from this without any consequences.





Only when she saw him step off the train and swagger towards her did she decide what she would do. He reached her quickly and without stopping walked past her nodding his head for her to follow. She knew where they were going, the old Grafton place, it was boarded up and disused but she knew he took people there. Everyone knew, but no one said anything obviously, not to him. When they got there he went round the back looking round to make sure she followed. He climbed up onto the lower windowsill and put his hand through a small hole in the wooden boarding, unhooking it and sliding it to one side. He held out a hand to lift her up and she noticed how hot and fat his hands were, huge too, engulfing her small hand. He had to jump down into the room and immediately noticed the stench of something rotting. She saw the stains, dark and splattered on the floor and the wall at the back and lost a bit of her nerve.





She heard him jump down into the room and turned sharply as he re-fixed the window cover, which left the room in virtual darkness, only a few chinks of light slipping through from the other rooms and from a hole in the board.





He stood there, just looking at her then and a sneer grew on his face and his fat hands unfurled by his side. His eyes, still obscured by the wayward hair, seemed narrow and animal like. They flickered over her, starting at her face, lingering on her breasts, down slowly across her midriff and then licked across her bare legs before flicking straight up again to fix onto her yes. She tried not to look away, staring defiantly, but when this produced a smile and a step in her direction she turned her head to the door, watching him now, carefully from the corner of her eye.








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Steve Wybourn





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