Contact

Contact - Chapter One


Sitting tentatively on the edge of the seat, the woman peered out of the half pulled down window. She could smell the remnants of the coal fire that powered the train through thick, white plumes of steam, but observed that the platform was empty. Surely someone should be awaiting the arrival; be it for the return of a passenger, or even a special delivery. But no, everything was deathly quiet on the dull grey platform.

After sitting for a moment, the woman was disrupted from her thoughts by a gruff old station guard.

“Time to get off, madam!” he shouted through the small window. Startled, the woman started to gather her belongings and moved towards the door, which the guard had opened for her, showing the manners with which she had been brought up with.

Stepping down from the carriage, she put her bags down and pondered; what was she going to do now? Surely she was expected, and surely someone should be there to meet her. She gazed over at the smart wooden bench, half expecting to see a smiling, welcoming face greeting her warmly; the same face that she remembered so fondly in years gone by, as they baked together, read books together and enjoyed being in each other’s company. It was this point that reality began to fade into view; what if the worst had happened, and the only way that she would see the comforting face again would be to close her eyes. No-one had been in contact for a long time, and this brought back to mind the purpose of the journey.

It was twenty years ago that she had last been on the platform, alongside many others, each undertaking the same journey as one other, but each with different final destinations. She had desperately wanted to stay with her family, but it was impossible. The war effort had made this impossible and the ever growing threat had made each and every families decision easy; the young ones must go; be sent away from the squeals and flames of war and out to the fresh air and countryside of the United Kingdom and continue peacefully into adulthood, blissfully unaware of the atrocities that they were to leave behind them in the industrial heartland of the country.

Spending the last 20 years apart had made the woman’s heartache to return to her home; to see her family once again. Right at this moment, she had no idea whether anyone remained to see how she had grown up, losing contact, no replies from letters contributing to a growing concern, and deep felt worry that she just had to find out where her future lies, be it in the Welsh countryside, or back amongst the hard working people of the rest of the industrial world; the salt of the earth workforce who work every day to put food on the table, and to buy the odd pint down the pub on the corner of the street. A simple, yet pleasurable life, and something that she remembered so strongly, wondering where her father disappeared to so soon after tea, and always reappearing happy, often with a huge fish supper on a Friday which she always waited up for, along with her two sisters, having pretended to be asleep. It was so big that everyone was fed plentifully and no-one went without.

With purpose, the woman picked up her luggage and strode towards the exit of the station. She had to move, and taking a piece of paper from her pocket, she was able to visualise the street on which the house was set on.  It was 2pm, and the streets were quiet. The children were in school, and the men were at work.  She could hear women chattering to each other, talking about the latest washing detergent and how clean it made their clothes, to what the woman at number 12 was doing with the window cleaner; everyone knew each other’s business, it was impossible to keep secrets from the streets.  At last she reached the top of Guest Street. It was just as remembered, the back to back houses, front doors that opened onto the pavements. She walked slowly down the street, turning her head and taking everything in, remembering, reminiscing, reminding...

As she approached the bottom of the street her pace slowed down. With a perplexed look on her face, she turned her head left and right. This was different to what she had left. There was now a huge pile of rubble where houses had once stood; this is not what she had expected. There had been a large factory at the end of the road, employing most of the neighbourhood and most of the men in Guest Street. She stared at what remained of the factory’ a couple of broken bits of wall, sticking out of the ground and twisted pieces of metal from the machinery and fittings that had once graced the large structure.But what took her breath away was the house that she had grown up in was no more; as if it had been erased from reality. Her face dropped as reality came ever closer.

Sinful Secret

I didn't mean to do it. I am not sure why I did, thinking about it now. Perhaps it was for pure self gratification. Perhaps it was the opportunity that lured me to sin. I feel guilty; blood on my hands, pulse racing like a hundred metre runner. I don't know how I am going to explain my behaviour. It felt so good to take advantage. Maybe once more. I don't think it will be noticed. Guilty until proven, that's what they say. I can always explain later or even after I return home. I must close the biscuit tin lid now.

A Four Lettered Word

Sitting at the computer, Lucy found herself staring at 5 letters; X, J, V, Z and Y. Letting out a sigh, Lucy clicked the button on her monitor and gazed into the reflection of herself in the dark shadow. This was the third loss in a week for her. The letters never came out right for Lucy, and another negative was marked against her Scrabulous score.

It was 4 weeks since Lucy had found Facebook. The twins had just started school, and she had found the new void left in her life difficult to fill. ‘You should get on that Facebook!’ Felicity had shrieked at her over a glass of Chardonnay, ‘I’ve made so many new friends, all from my own chair! It’s like going out, but without the leering men and the snide women’

‘I’ll try that!’ Lucy had replied, ‘It can’t hurt! I’m sure that Andrew has used that before’ Andrew was Lucy’s husband. At 39, he was 4 years older than her, and was the manager of a local Steel merchant. ‘I’m just relaxing, love! Winding down!’ he would pipe out from the soft leather chair that adjoined the steely computer desk. Lucy would come over to give her loving husband a steaming hot cup of tea to complete the relaxation process, and Andrew would continue to gaze at the screen, the words glowing on his face, his stare fixed on the lines that made no sense to Lucy. Andrew barely muttered ‘Thanks’, but Lucy didn’t mind. She knew that Andrew worked hard in the day, and that at the weekend he would spend time with the twins in the park, taking them to play on the swings, the slides, and everything that the boys could get their hands on! ‘Go and treat yourself!’ Andrew would say, ‘I’ll look after the kids, I’ve missed them all week! You deserve some “Lucy” time!’

Lucy didn’t go out much. She had some friends, but most of them seemed to always have ‘prior engagements’. Felicity was one such friend. Since her husband, John, had decided to work abroad, Felicity had decided that the strain on their relationship was too much, and wished him well in the future. She was ALWAYS dating. ‘He’s too tall, he was too loud, he was perfect, but WAY too young for me!’ Felicity would go on to joke with Lucy. This was a rare time that they had chance to catch up face to face; their ‘chat’ was usually conducted on the phone, or by text messages. It was extremely convenient. Felicity had made so many new friends on Facebook, and rekindled old school friendships at the same time. The school reunion party she organised was a blast! It was nice to see all those people who had made her teenage years exciting; old flames and girly pals included. Andrew hadn’t been keen on seeing some of Lucy’s old acquaintances, but he grudgingly went along to support his wife:

Andrew’s time at the same school hadn’t been that great. He had been a loner, and whilst being a prefect at school, Lucy and her friends had caused him grief during their first year there. Lucy had recognised him some years later in the local pub, but he was different; the life and soul of the party. Lucy felt obliged to talk to him, to apologise for the torment all those years ago, and the relationship flourished from there. Within 3 years, they had settled down.

Andrew’s job afforded them to be able to set up home in an old farm house in the nearby countryside. This cut Lucy off from some of her friends, but she was close enough to be able to meet people in town. When the kids came along, Lucy was cut off more, but this didn’t bother her as they kept her busy, and she enjoyed being a mum.

It had been 5 weeks since the beginning of the school term, and after Felicity had suggested Facebook, Lucy had become more and more engrossed with the social networking the site offered. She had even managed to track down some of her favourite celebrities. The feeling of power that this gave her spurred her on to do more; but it was the games that she preferred. Scrabulous was ideal for her to pass the day. She enjoyed the challenge that this gave her, and more and more she found that the day was too short, filled with taking the kids to and from school, inter-twined with the games. It was a Friday morning, and Lucy had just come back from the school run. She went into the study, and turned the monitor on. To her surprise, the computer was already logged on. ‘I must have left this on, I’m glad that Andrew didn’t find out!’ Lucy thought, as this was often the source of tension between the two, with Andrew being committed to saving the Earth’s resources (and also his money!)

Lucy struggled to find the Scrabulous application. ‘I’m sure it was here’ she puzzled, ‘maybe its just teething problems’. Lucy installed it and was soon playing her favourite past-time. In the bottom right hand corner, Lucy noticed there was a green light. She remembered that she could use Facebook to chat. Feeling lonely, she clicked on the chat application, and looked at who was online. There was one name that stuck out from the list – it was Felicity. ‘I haven’t seen Fliss for ages!’ she smiled, and then clicked on her name.

‘Hi Fliss!!!!’ she typed.

‘Hi!!!’, came back the reply.

‘Its been ages!!!!!!!’ Lucy typed

‘I know!!!’, Felicity replied, ‘I’ve missed you’

‘I’ve missed you too’ Lucy wrote back, but as she was doing this Felicity continued to type

‘…….shall I meet you in the Park this Sunday? I’ll bring the kids, and you can bring the twins.

Lucy will never…………’

At this point, Lucy felt sick. She was talking to Felicity, so why was she being talked about. She then realised that some of the names on the chat list weren’t familiar to her. Looking at the top of the page, she clicked on ‘Profile’, and within a split second, Lucy was staring at a picture of her husband – she was on Andrew’s profile!!!! He had Felicity as one of his friends, not particularly strange, but the conversation wasn’t what she would have expected. Filled with calm anger, she continued the conversation:

‘That sounds fine. Lucy loves the time that she has free. I can’t believe its lasted all this time’ ...Lucy typed as Andrew worked.

‘It’s our 6th month anniversary this weekend’ came back the reply. Lucy was welling up,

feeling tearful yet angry. She clicked off Facebook.

When Andrew arrived home from work, he found a note on the kitchen table:

‘Gone to my mothers, taken the kids, needed a short break for the weekend. Hope you don’t mind. Lucy xxxx’

Andrew smiled to himself ‘This weekend is going to be easier than I thought!’ He grabbed himself a beer from the fridge and sauntered into the study. He slumped into the brown leather chair, and switched the computer on.

Logging into Facebook, he saw that he had a message in his Inbox. ‘Felicity is sooo exciting’, he thought.

Clicking on to the message, he found it was from Lucy:

‘Check your Wall’ it said. Simple, yet clear.

Clicking onto the Wall, Andrew noticed that his profile status had changed from ‘Married’ to ‘Single’.

The Wall left a bigger shock: ‘Andrew Hill is the biggest cheat on Facebook, and Felicity Reed is the cheapest tart alive’

Andrew had just become the latest victim of ‘being dumped by Facebook’. Sitting at her mothers, Lucy was content. It had been 3 months since her brave actions had led her out of a strained relationship. She sat with a smile on her face: Lucy had just made her highest score on Scrabulous!

Silent Night, Holy Night

The tension grows as the clock counts down. Harry, Tom and Emma are sitting down on the floor, staring at the clock, watching the hands tick down.

There is a feeling in the room, but the three inhabitants cannot quite put their finger on it. They have never quite felt like this before, despite being in this position previously.

Several people enter the room, bringing items in and collecting items to take away.

There is a flurry of activity in this small, but bright room.

The clock ticks down and Harry, Tom and Emma grow more nervous. The last time this had happened, there had been a catastrophic outcome, and none of the three intrepid inhabitants want the same result. It has to be different this time; they had felt failure and now wanted to taste the fruitions of success.

From outside the room, lots of noise starts to emanate; a loud noise that grew and grew, making each of the group come to the realization that their time was about to come. They were about to face their fear, and they were going to face it head on. They all start to get to their feet. Harry, Tom and Emma look at each other, making sure that they are ready to face whatever presents itself to them from beyond the darkness.

Cautiously, Harry, Tom and Emma walk towards the bright light in the distance. Eden Forest Primary Reception Nativity performance take two has just begun.