[Re-written: 12th April 2014]
A/N - didn't know what to do with this chapter, I didn't know how I wanted it to pan out so just altered the details in here slightly.
If you're confused (if you've only just began reading this story) it's because I'm editing, so not everything matches.
Hope you enjoy x
**
As I stepped out onto the pavement of the train station, I thanked the bus driver and shrugged my bag back on.
I wondered what to do next; the thought was both exhilarating and fear instilling.
The wind nipped my cheeks, tinting them a pink colour, and small droplets of rain splashed across my cheeks, carried by the bitter wind.
I absent mindedly scuffed my black shoes against the concrete pavement and idly envisaged finding an apartment to live in.
Though I had a tendency to get carried away with my thoughts, I reminded myself that it was nearing 5pm and getting darker.
I shivered as I looked at the train station sign. I was on the cusp of my new future; and that decision would rest on where I decided to go to.
I rummaged round in my coat pocket for my purse and slowly counted the cash I had.
The board said that three trains were due to leave from the station in fifteen minutes; one to Birmingham, one to London and one to Manchester.
I checked my watch; London was a big place, right?
My mind worked quickly as I drew out an imaginary path from the train map to each different location.
London: that's where I wanted to be, I decided.
I went to the lady at the information desk.
"Um hello, please could I get a one way ticket to London for 4:40pm please?"
"Sure, are you with anyone?" She asked, pushing her askew glasses further up the bridge of her nose.
I shook my head 'no' and paid her, feeling self-conscious that she could see the red mark across my cheek that was still stinging from earlier.
"How long is the journey?" I asked her, cocking my head to one side as she printed a ticket.
"30-40 minutes usually."
It was strange how rapidly today had changed; my adrenaline made me forget the agony he'd put me through, for some time at least, and I felt my cheeks pink at the thought of how everything could change from now on.
She watched me as I zipped up my purse, almost like she knew I was running away.
"Have a safe journey, dear." She smiled warmly.
I smiled back and thanked her, briefly catching a glimpse of my smiling self in the glass screen.
Come to think of it, I rarely smiled; I can't remember the last time someone made me smile or laugh so much so that my cheeks tinted pink and stomach hurt. I resolved to showing no emotion when I was around dad, he'd scrape the remnants of it away somehow.
If I stored my emotions away, it would protect me from the harsh reality - if I allowed the grave reality of what he was doing to me sink in, I'd not be in such a light spirit.
I felt as though a shadow had been cloaked around me for so many years that the light which peeked through was startling, blinding even. I needed to be strong, for this was the one part of my life I truly had control over.
