Please Mind The Gap #1

1: Please mind the time

1: Please mind the time

-- banner by @hydroxide --

Teddy Errol was about to miss her flight to Australia. She wasn't even halfway to the Heathrow airport. Well she was halfway to the Underground train station at least. At least.

The day was a typical London day: dreary gray skies and rain and when the sky felt like it, hail occasionally. And the sky today seemed to be taunting Teddy, showering her with heavy showers of rain and hail. The sky, she thought, deserved a kick.

She was already racing across road, splashing into puddles, hauling her umbrella and luggages around determinedly. Her flight was in fifteen minutes. And she spent most of her measly savings on the measly economy ride to Australia.

Stumbling down the stairs, shivering and cold, Teddy furiously elbowed past milling people, scanned her Oyster card, and studied the map. She still had to transfer lines.

No. Teddy Errol never gave up. She was eighteen, a legal adult. Teddy was an unbeatable force in the universe. Nobody could beat her in any game, in any challenge, in any sport. Especially tennis. Tennis was what Teddy was born to do. That's why she was why she was going to Australia. For a tournament.

But now it seemed like time was about to beat Teddy's clean unbeatable record.

She let out a gasp of frustration. Why did she have to forget to set her alarm clock? Why? She bolted into the doors of the train listening to the droning voice chanting the Please Mind The Gap mantra just as the doors slid shut. She collapsed in relief into the nearest seat beside some brown-haired guy she did not care for.

Minutes later, she was heading to the next train on the next line, jostling her way past fellow commuters. Teddy glanced at her watch. She nearly fainted. Seven minutes left.

Right. She had to hurry.

"Doors are now closing," intoned the robotic lady voice. Shut up, Teddy thought nastilly. "Please mind the gap."

She took two huge leaps forward then-

Her foot slid neatly into the deep dark gap between the train and the platform. Teddy wobbled and fell ungracefully down onto the platform, her leg halfway down the gap. She froze in shock. Then she started doing what Teddy Errol would do. She turned and twisted and pushed and squirmed, grimacing at the pressure. She wouldn't yell for help. She didn't need help.

Apparently, the guy with brown hair she had sat beside earlier on the previous train thought otherwise. He dropped to his knees and extended his golden-tanned hand.

Teddy stopped squirming and glared. "I don't need your help," she said scathingly in her English accent. "Just go away."

He snorted. "Clearly," he said, "you do, mate." Australian.

Teddy resumed her grunting, completely ignoring the irritating voice droning, "Doors are now closing. Please mind the gap."