The Freedom Journey.

The Freedom Journey.
 

She waved at him from the train window.Although there were promises of seeing each other again,She knew,she would never return here.She was determined to make a new life,a better life for herself.Sick of the poverty,tired of the constant bickering In the family home.Freedom was what she yearned for most.Nothing was going to hold her back.She had plans.She always had plans.No one knew where she got the funds to travel.But they would know soon enough,when they checked the family savings,and the note ,asking for their forgiveness and understanding.She had become hardened by life.How she longed to move to the west.So Tired and worn out by the never ending poverty and struggle.Life had to be better elsewhere,It just had to be.Determined to make the best of her one lifetime.This was It.This was her break for freedom,for a better life.
                                                                                     As the train slowly and laboriously made its way along the tracks,in the warm evening sunshine,she watched the ramshackle ,grey buildings that housed the few factories that remained In the province.With the funds she had taken from the family home she was able to afford a private carriage,saving herself from sharing the train with the poverty stricken masses who used It. One way or another,she had decided she would become a woman of means and wealth.Whether by finding a rich husband,or stealing and defrauding her way to the top.It didn't matter the means,the end result was all that mattered.The consistent clatter of the train soon lulled her into a semi meditational state,where she envisioned her bright future In glorious technicolour,watching It all unfold on her inner cinema screen.She could feel the expensive clothing against her skin, she would soon be wearing.She could touch and taste  every morsel of food she would be eating In those expensive restraunts of the west.She laughed aloud at the mansion she and her yet to be found husband would live In.With the long sweeping driveway,the gardeners to attend to the lawns,and the servants to serve them as and when required.She could even envision the horses she would ride In the grounds of the mansion,on those sunny days. With that she happily made her way to sleep.
                                She sleep for hours as the train made its way through the darkness,to her new life,that awaited her.So easy to sleep with the clickety clack, hypnotic like sounds of the train. She never heard the door been quiety forced,with the small knife.A practiced intruder.He moved swiftly and stealth like.The hand over her mouth,the knife to her throat,All in a flash.He reached down and grabbed her bag,That lay on the floor beside her shoes.Her eyes widened as she watched him riffle through the bag with one hand,in the semi darkness of the night.Her freedom about to be lost for ever,possibly.

                                                                                              His eyes grew wide with surprise and joy,As he saw the large envelope with all the notes inside.He looked at her and smiled,With his crooked and cigarette stained teeth.He turned his full attention to her,with his hand over her mouth,and his dirty fingernails pushing hard into both sides of her cheeks,He pushed her back hard onto the couchette.She pulled at his greasy hair,and turned her face away from his approaching lips,lifted her hips high against him,But he was stronger,heavier.She pulled at the hand that held the knife,pressed sharp against her neck,.She pulled at the knife,he pushed harder into her neck.Her breathing quick,hard.The carriage rocked from side to side,with great force.The sound of screeching metal upon metal,as the locomotive struggled to stop the beast In a hurry.She too had stopped struggling…...The wound was deep….The blood trickled slowly at first,and then began to increase In speed and volume.Her breathing became strained,her lungs pumping quickly,but to little avail.In the semi darkness he lifted himself off her,bent down picked up the envelope full of her stolen funds.She watched while her breathing slowed,as he exited her carriage as quietly and expertly as he had entered it.

                                                                             Her eyes heavy,she closed them.It was so good to rest.

                                                                                                                                   So Peaceful.In her mind she again imagined how wonderful her future In the west,was going to be………..