It had been such a long day. A long wet, gloomy and all-round depressive day, so all Rose Meadows wanted to do was get home, eat some frozen pizza and sleep for about ten years. She had about a million things she should probably do, like wash the dishes, tidy up the place or even do even a little bit of the final project she had to complete her GED, but it wasn't happening. Definitely not today and probably not tomorrow either considering the tiredness could be felt in her bones.
But even though she was that tired she didn't miss the sketchy looking man in the long coat staring at the hot goth chick with a disturbing hunger in his eyes. Rose couldn't miss it and she definitely couldn't ignore it even if she tried. There were only five people in the train car. Four regulars, including Rose and the unkempt man who she had never seen before. She mentally dubbed him long coat. Long coat had wild hair that probably hadn't seen water in ages and his fingers kept flexing as he stared at goth chick's slightly exposed thighs. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was running through his mind.
Before Rose could really think about it she got up and sat down on the goth chick's left seat, effectively cutting off long coat's view.
"Hi, I'm Rose. I like your skirt!"
"Uh, thanks. I like your...eye bags?"
They stared at each other as both of them processed that supposed compliment.
Goth chick's eyes widened as she realized and Rose was stunned to see how fast her pale features turned red with embarrassment.
Rose laughed lightly. "You got me there! I'm fucking exhausted....but never mind that now. Do you know that person in the long coat? Don't look that way! Look at the window reflection--He's two rows behind us, on my left."
Rose thought the girl looked pale before, but that was nothing compared to now. When she caught sight of Long coat's reflection, she turned white as a sheet and her entire body stiffened.
"Shit! That's my creepy neighbor Greg from when I lived in West Point. I can't believe he's followed me all the way here to Lodetree....fuck fuck fuck"
Her hands started trembling so hard that the book she was reading slipped through her fingers and fell in her lap closed. She didn't seem to notice, her eyes were vacantly staring at nothing and her hand was unconsciously massaging her throat. She was spiraling, Rose could tell, if she didn't snap her out of this now goth chick was going to freeze with shock. They didn't have that time.
Rose viciously pinched her in the thigh.
Goth chick yelped and turned a betrayed look Rose's way but Rose just stared back with a deadpan look.
"Focus! What's your name?"
"Emily...my name's Emily!"
"Alright Emily, I'm Rose. Nice to meet you. Do you have anyone you can call right now? A brother? A male friend perhaps?"
Emily shook her head, her black shoulder length hair bobbed with the motion. "No! My family is still in West Point and I just moved here so I haven't had time to make any friends..."
Damn. That was the worst case scenario. Emily was literally on her own. Rose could feel a headache coming. She didn't need to get involved, she had her own problems and she was definitely the last person who had the luxury of getting involved in other people's problems...but... as she stared into Emily's brown eyes wide with panic, she felt a lurch in her heart at the thought of anything bad happening to her.
That's right...She wouldn't be able to live with herself. Her college counselor told her she had a savior complex that endangered her interests including safety. It was true, every time Rose thought she should keep her head down and focus on herself she ended up bumbling into more messes inadvertently messing up her life in the process. It was why she was here, in Lodetree getting a measly GED when at one point she had a full ride scholarship.
When it came to being a hero, Rose genuinely couldn't help it...
An electronic voice interrupted her musings. "Approaching the last stop"
Damn. They were out of time. Rose took a deep breath and gently slapped her cheeks.
She took Emily's hand in hers and squeezed it reassuringly.
"Ok, here's what we're gonna do. I think he's probably planning to follow you home. We can't have that so you'll come to my place instead, sleep over, and in the morning we'll call the cops. I have a Russian couple who I'm pretty sure work for the bratva living next door so we can ask them for help too if he tries something at night."
Emily's mouth opened and closed wordlessly as she struggled to parse through the proposal. It was cute....Rose could understand why she was being stalked. Emily not so subtly looked her up and down, trying to understand where a short, plain looking woman like Rose got her confidence.
Rose didn't say anything, she understood the confusion. It was kinda flattering because this whole look was entirely by design.
Her height? She adopted a slumped posture, drew her shoulders in a little and kept her legs closed to appear shorter. Her hair? Kept just at the edge of clean and tied by a simple ponytail. Her modest chest was bound in a sports bra, and she wore drab, slightly oversized clothes to make herself appear smaller.
It was all part of a survival act to make her as unremarkable as possible. Unremarkable people lived unremarkable lives but ultimately safe lives.
The train started slowing down and Emily's panic surged as she realized she was running out of time. She stared at Rose again pleadingly. It seems she needed more to be convinced...
"I have a taser in my handbag...," Rose said.
"I'm in!"
Rose rolled her eyes. Why did it feel like Emily would probably have been convinced if she had led with that in the first place?
They discussed immediate next steps under the cover of the squealing brakes and the din of passengers packing up their things in preparation for the walk home. Though Rose lived about 15 minutes from the train station, at this time of night her usual route was too exposed and Greg would easily follow them and possibly do something. That left an alternate route that took half an hour but had plenty of opportunities to lose him.
The tricky bit was keeping Emily calm so Greg wouldn't have anything to worry about. If he so much as suspected Emily was spooked, he would abandon all propriety and make a move out of desperation.
"Relax your shoulders" Rose told her, "Stop wringing your hands like that too.
"What's with the constipated look on your face?"
By the time the doors were about to open Emily looked mostly relaxed albeit her crushing grip on Rose's hand which she stoically endured. Emily exchanged one last look with Rose and steeled herself with a deep breath.
The doors separated with a hiss and they immediately bolted. Rose heard a curse but she didn't spare the time to look, no doubt Greg was already in pursuit. That was fine though, the point wasn't to get a head start, it was to break line of sight.
Despite the late hour the platform was fairly busy and that was what Rose was counting on. For the past week the station had been undergoing renovation in anticipation of the mayor's visit. City workers, manual labourers and even opportunistic hawkers shouting their wares merged into a headache inducing mess that on the best of days was a mild inconvenience. Today it was a godsend.
Under Rose's careful guidance they seamlessly merged with the flow of humanity heading not for the exit but the toilets on the side. This too was part of the plan.
"When we get to the platform," Rose had told Emily, "Hunch your shoulders and whatever you do, don't run. It'll just make it easier for him to spot us. We'll head straight for the toilets on the side."
"The toilets? Why the toilets? Shouldn't we get the fuck out of here?"
"When he comes out and doesn't see us? He'll just head for the exit anyway. The headstart wouldn't be helpful when we get outside where there's no cover. So we head to the toilets and wait for him to leave."
"Ooh, that's actually so smart!" Emily had cooed appreciatively.
So here they were, in the ladies toilets which were surprisingly clean considering it was a public space. The scent of antiseptic lingered in the air and the surfaces gleamed as if they had just been polished. They squeezed themselves into the first stall, with Emily immediately clambering up and sitting on the cistern in the hopes that only Rose's feet would be visible from the outside.
Rose blushed as Emily's skirt rode up her creamy thighs as she situated herself properly, she was a little too slow to look away as evidenced by Emily's small grin and knowing look. She felt her face reddening in embarrassment.
Hopefully their ruse worked enough that Greg wouldn't even suspect they were still in the station.
"Thank you" Emily blurted out. She was staring at Rose meaningfully, in the close confines of the stall her blue eyes shimmered like the ocean depths. "I don't think I said it before but I sure as hell will say it now. I'd have been in real shit if it wasn't for you."
Rose swallowed nervously and broke eye contact. "Don't mention it. Besides, we're not out of the woods yet."
They waited about half an hour before leaving the toilets. There were fewer people and thankfully no sign of Greg anywhere. Still, they were approaching the riskiest part of the plan, leaving the station. There was a good chance that Greg, having failed to find them, might wait around at the entrance/exit in case they hadn't actually left. It was a 50/50 and Rose hadn't thought of any contingencies in case he had in fact decided to wait at the entrance. They needed a different exit or to leave with a group that could mask their presence.
"Rose?"
