Shadow in the North

Chapter Three - When Fiction Becomes Reality

Isabel Darrow awoke early - as was her habit - and quickly washed and dressed before walking the two mile journey to the train station, her burlap holdall flung over her shoulder; tied tight with a pull string. With each step she took, the bag clunked into her spine; the heavy munitions tin adding unwanted bulk and weight to the bag. Still, she could not leave it behind; not when it contained all evidence of who she was and where she had been. Isabel arrived at the station early enough to meld into the bustle of workers who hurriedly made their way into the capital, and so it was upon a crowded train that she found herself; forced to stand amongst a sea of crushing bodies.

At London, the crowds thinned - the busy workers all flocking into the city, rather than seeking to leave it as Isabel was. She sat on an aged bench and awaited the Oxford-bound train's departure, all the while thinking of that elusive place called "home." Will I find it in Oxford? she asked herself, as an elderly woman shuffled past with a heavy jute bag dangling from her frail wrist. Would I know it if I saw it? She shook her head and pulled open her bag, reaching hastily for her munitions tin. Placing it on her lap, she drew in a deep breath and rested her hands upon the lid. Her eyes closed as though willing herself the strength to finally open it, and this time - perhaps because she was now actively seeking to move forward - she let her fingers curl around the battered lid and prise it from the box. Breath still held, she set the lid beside her on the bench and cast her eyes over the contents of the box; her worldly treasures - the memories she clung to, as well as the ones she wished to forget. There were photographs too painful to look at; newspaper clippings and papers she would not deign to read, but there was a beautiful rose gold necklace and matching bracelet, which had once belonged to her mother. That, she wished to hold; to trace it with her fingers. She lifted the box from her lap, placed the lid upon it and pulled up the leg of her trouser until she had exposed her ankle. There, she quickly wrapped the necklace thrice around her lower leg, before fitting the clasp. She reached for the bracelet, and just as she had fastened that upon her ankle in a similar fashion, and was tugging her trouser leg back into place above her boot, she heard a plaintive call, and her head shot up, eyes scanning in search of the anguished cry she had heard. There, before her on the platform, was the elderly lady, who had slipped on the wet ground. Isabel rose quickly to her feet and dashed to the woman's assistance.

'Are you hurt? Did you hit your head, or do you feel any sharp pains in your legs or hip?' enquired Isabel, squatting to her knees and casting an assessing eye over the small lady who lay twisted upon the floor.

'Yes,' gasped the injured lady, her teeth gritted against the pain. 'My hip. I think I've hurt my hip.' Isabel nodded and quickly felt about the pained area, eliciting an agonised sob. She knit her brows in sympathy, having always had a weakness for the elderly and their fearful cries of pain.

'I fear you may have fractured your hip,' announced Isabel. 'You must go to a hospital; I think it quite serious. Is there anyone I may call for you; a relative or friend?'

'I was on my way to visit my daughter in Reading,' sobbed the older lady. Isabel nodded in understanding; the lady had no family who could readily meet her at the hospital. She contemplated offering to accompany her impromptu patient to the hospital, but she had not the stomach for it; not at present. The very smell of such a place, the sight of bloodied cloths pressed to heads, as crowds of people waited to be seen, was more than she could countenance in her present state of mind.

'Perhaps I may call her for you, and if there is a fracture to your hip - and I truly think there might be - then she may come down to London to visit you here?' asked Isabel, with a pessimistic hopefulness to her voice.

'Yes. I will call her once I have been seen and we know what I have to face. I shan't worry her unnecessarily. If I call her now, she will only worry.' Isabel nodded and rose swiftly to her feet.