The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Here Comes the 9:05 
by Rie Sheridan Rose 

45…

I check my watch. Spot on time. Every time. Forty-five trains in a row, I’ve watched. Not one has been late. All spot on time. That’s good to know. Helps when you are planning.

Baker Street. The very name conjures up a world of adventure and excitement, doesn’t it? Chasing a case with Holmes and Watson, then coming home to 221B. Mrs. Hudson scolding Sherlock for using her lace tablecloth in an experiment. Blissful.

Fictional.

In reality, it’s just another crowded London street. People scurrying one way and then another; no thought of the man on the corner pleading for a way to feed himself. So down he goes…into the depths of the underground. Which seems rather prophetic.

46…

The 8:15.

At some point, he gives up. Realizes the stupidity of doing the same thing day after day with no relief. Makes a plan. Starts counting the trains. Noting the timing. Figuring the angles. Pacing the platform, but never boarding a train. I’m surprised no one has chased me off, but I suppose they all have their own concerns to worry about and don’t pay me any mind. I’m used to that.

Tonight, I’m counting on it.

Standing in just the right place at just the right time. That’s the tricky bit.

47…

“I hear the train a’coming, it’s coming around the bend…”

So easy. One step forward when there’s no time to stop for either of us. I have no choice but to put the conductor through the trauma, and I apologize for that. But I’ve nothing left. It must be done.

Here comes the 9:05. Right on time.

Fiction © Copyright Rie Sheridan Rose
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from Author Rie Sheridan Rose:

Overheard in Hell:
Dark Poetry

Poems exploring hell and damnation. Tales of sorrow, vengeance, betrayal, and redemption. Ghosts, ghouls, and demons stalk these pages. Don’t read in a lonely house…in a darkened room by a single candle…

…unless you like the touch of an icy finger up your spine.

Available on Amazon!