Abbi... Page 17

  “I didn’t know you could speak French,” Mark said surprised. It felt very odd to not know something that fundamental about her.

  “Oh yes. I can. That subject I enjoyed quite a lot. Bon soir.” She then went off into a monologue of fluent French. Abbi smiled at the look on his face.

  “I had no idea that you were bilingual”, Mark said shocked. He couldn’t believe that something this substantial he hadn’t known about her. He swiftly kissed her very passionately. After a minute or so Abbi had to let go so she could take in a breath of air. He slowly pushed her down so she was flat on her back on the sofa. Mark was muttering things that Abbi couldn’t catch as he kissed her neck. Abbi wrapped her arms around him, urging him on. Abbi could feel her heart beating extremely fast as his hands worked their way down her body. She shut her eyes so she could concentrate on what his hands were doing to her. After a while she noticed he had stopped.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked as she opened her eyes.

  “You look a bit frightened,” he admitted.

  “That is rubbish,” Abbi said immediately. “I was thinking about what you were doing to me,” she said honestly. He leant over her and kissed her again. She responded eagerly. She needed his touch on her. She put her arms around him to bring him even closer to her. They were both still dressed but it was nice. It was enough to have each other’s presence there. It felt safe. That was the only way to describe it Abbi thought. She didn’t want to think how she would cope when he left her again. As he inevitably would.

  They sat together for the rest of the evening with the television on in the background. Mark had opened a bottle of champagne for both of them. It was his fathers so he made sure he picked the most expensive one. Soon enough there were pictures over the Thames and people were counting down from ten to the new year. Abbi had a glass of champagne in her hand and when Big Ben started to chime.

  Abbi looked at Mark with a smile on her face. “Happy new year,” she said.

  “Happy New Year to you too,” Mark said. They kissed each other quickly and watched the fireworks erupting over the city and the London eye. They lasted for at least ten minutes and they were over. Mark reached for the remote and switched the T.V. off. Abbi sighed and leaned back against him.

  “You’re leaving tomorrow,” she said wistfully. It was true. He was getting an early train back to London. He was dreading it.

  “Can we not mention that for a while?” he said. Mark wrapped his arms around her again. They stayed like that as the long minutes passed. Neither of them could now think of anything else except Mark’s imminent departure. “I hate leaving you,” he said.

  “I know exactly how you feel. I love you.”

  “I love you too,” Mark said. “I promise I’ll be with you next new year.”

  “That is a long way away. You don’t know what could happen in an entire year.” Abbi could already feel Mark slipping away from her. His head was already back in London, with his family at home.

  “Have you spoken to your father since that phone call?” Abbi asked.

  “No,” Mark said quickly. Too quickly.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” he said very quickly again.

  “Tell me.” Abbi turned around to face him. He couldn’t lie to her. Not like this.

  “You remember the attack that happened to you over the summer.”

  “I’m not likely to forget. I see the damage every time I look in the mirror,” she said bitterly. Mark felt he couldn’t go on. Abbi looked at him intensely. He knew she wasn’t going to let him off the hook.

  “My father was the one who paid for you to be attacked.” Mark had to keep looking at her. She looked so shocked and hurt at the same time.

  “Why?”

  “He said he wanted to disfigure you. He said he didn’t mean for you to be so severely injured.”

  “Don’t you dare try to justify what he did,” Abbi said. Mark hadn’t meant to sound like that. He didn’t support his father at all but he had come across giving that impression. Mark held Abbi’s face in his hands looking deeply into her eyes.

  “I am not trying to justify his actions. I hate what he did to you.” Abbi’s eyes filled with tears. Her entire face seemed very tense at the same time. “I never want to speak to him again. But I will have to.” Abbi started crying.

  “It’s his fault that I nearly died,” she said angrily. “I was left fighting for my life because he paid a scumbag to knife me.” Abbi couldn’t stop the tears from falling even though she wanted to. “How much was I worth?” she asked suddenly.

  “I don’t know”, Mark said quietly. “I was so furious that I hung up the phone as quickly as possible. I didn’t want to speak to him after I found that out.” Abbi looked at Mark and knew he was telling the truth.

  “Why bother going back to London then?” Abbi asked bitterly. “You owe no loyalty to anyone.”

  “It’s my home,” he said swiftly. “I love my mother. I feel sorry for my brother and the stupid mess he has managed to get himself into. I have to go back and finish Uni. You know I have to.”

  “Yeah I know,” Abbi admitted. “I was just voicing my thoughts. I wish you could stay.” They both became silent and soon after they went to bed. Both wrapped up in their own thoughts.

  Chapter 13

  At the Station

  Abbi had insisted going with him to the station this time. She had told him that nothing could be worse than the last time they had parted. They were both waiting on the platform. His train had ten minutes before it was due and they were on those horrible plastic chairs that were on every station..

  “I have one more thing for you,” Mark told her.

  “You have already got me too much,” Abbi said. Mark shrugged.

  “Do you want it?” he asked. She didn’t say anything. He turned and looked at her, holding her hands. “I hate leaving you,” he said quietly. “I will be back one day soon to see you again okay?” Abbi nodded. “I love you,” Abbi was suddenly in shock. He had got down on one knee and was holding out a box for her. He opened it and said “Abbi will you marry me?” They had gained the notice of other people on the platform. Everyone seemed to be listening to them and Abbi was very conscious that all eyes were on them. Abbi didn’t know what to say. The ring was massive. It was very simple but it was a large diamond on a thin silver band.

  She looked him in the eyes and shook her head. “I can’t,” she said very quietly. He shut the box and looked at her, disappointment etched all over his face. He was still on one knee. “I love you,” she said quickly. “I love you so much that it is killing me that you are leaving. But we have only known each other for such a short time. Only six months. We are so young to do this and…” Abbi stopped speaking as Mark got up and walked away from her. She ran after him. “Mark!” she screamed after him. He slowed down to a stop.

  “I’m not asking you to marry me tomorrow,” he said quietly to her. “I am asking you to make a commitment to me.” He tried to give her the jewellery box but she didn’t want to take it. His train was coming in now. He gave her a parting kiss and got onto the train silently. Abbi had been wrong. This had been a worse parting than before. Much worse.

  It was only as the train was pulling away she noticed that he had left her the ring. She didn’t dare to open the box. She got her phone out and left Mark a message. He wasn’t picking up.

  “Hi Mark. It’s Abbi,” she said swallowing her tears. “I really didn’t want to leave you like that. I am completely in shock that you asked me to marry you. I just needed time to think about it but you just got up and left. I’m barely twenty years old and we have only known each other a little over six months. We come from completely different worlds. Why did you leave me the ring? Never mind. I… I don’t want us to do anything we will regret. Please, please call me. I love you. Bye.” She sat on the platform waiting for him to call her. Waiting for anything.

  She studied the box carefully. She carefully opened
it and had a look at the ring. It was beautiful. Perfect for her. She half wished he had taken it with him. Leaving it with her had given her a huge decision to make. With a massive amount of thoughts running through her head. Her phone was buzzing and she raced to get it. There was a text from Mark. “I love you too. Think about it for as long as u want xxx M.” She didn’t know what to do.

  Abbi slowly took her silver ring that she already wore off. She slipped the engagement ring on to her finger. It fit perfectly and it looked spectacular. She put the silver band on the same finger on the other hand and looked at her hands together. They looked great. Perfect. Mark was right in what he said though. If she said yes they very likely wouldn’t get married for years. They lived in different places. Mark had to finish his degree this year and to be trained to take over his father’s business before they could even consider planning a wedding. Despite the fact she hated Mark’s father, it was what Mark was going to go on to do.

  Abbi took the engagement ring back in the box and put the silver one back on. She got her mobile phone out and took a picture of her left hand with the engraved silver ring on. She sent that to Mark with a text attached saying Call me.

  Within thirty seconds of that Mark was calling her.

  “Hi,” he said. He sounded a bit depressed. “You can have more time to think about it.” He obviously thought she was going to say no to him.

  “I don’t need anymore time. My answer isn’t going to change,” she said carefully. “Ask me the question.”

  She could hear him taking a deep breath. “Will you marry me?” She could tell from his tone that he still expected the answer to be no.

  “Yes,” she said simply.

  “You’re kidding!” He had burst out laughing and she was giggling to herself.

  “I wish you had asked me before today though,” she said. “Then we could have said goodbye properly.”

  “How about Valentine’s?” he said. “That’s not too far away in the scheme of things. We could go away together.”

  “Yeah,” she said smiling.

  “You’re not going to change your mind?”

  “No,” she told him. “I will call you later when I don’t have everyone staring at me on the platform. We will need to talk certain things over though.”

  “Like what?” he asked.

  “Like, how are we going to tell our families?” Abbi started. “How will you get around your father when you know he hates me and nearly killed me. We come from different worlds. We need to discuss these things.”

  “I know,” he said.

  “I love you,” Abbi said with feeling

  “I love you too. My fiancée,” he added.

  “That sounds good,” she said.

  “Yeah it does. Bye.” She closed her phone put the engagement ring in its rightful place. She looked at her finger. It looked fabulous. She left the train station and waited at the bus stop so she could get home. She wasn’t sure if she would tell her mother about what had just happened or keep it to herself for a while longer. She would see what mood her mother was in when she got home.

  Mark put his mobile phone in his pocket and glanced around the carriage of the train. There were a few people around but no one was paying him any attention. No one that is accept for the man sitting opposite him. He was a middle aged balding business man dressed in a suit. He had been reading the paper but he had put it down on the table in front of him. He was smiling at him.

  “Went well then?” the man asked. “I overheard your conversation. You sure you know what you’re doing?”

  “Yes,” Mark said. He was grinning all over his face. “I know exactly what I’m doing.”

  “She must be something special,” the man said sceptically.

  Mark ignored his tone and said to himself, “Yeah. She is.” The man smiled once again and got up to use the toilet. As he walked down the carriage the refreshment trolley appeared from the same end so the man came back. He looked out of the window on the other side. Mark had a second’s thought that something wasn’t right before it happened. The trolley stopped by a woman behind him and then everything turned on its head. Mark’s vision went black.

  When Abbi found her mother in the living room something on the television caught her eye and knocked recent events out of her mind. The T.V had the news on and she suddenly saw breaking news flash across the screen. The news reader caught Abbi’s attention half way through the sentence.

  “…crash on the southern trains network.” Abbi immediately focused on the newsreader. “We can report that the train was due to be arriving at Waterloo station at eleven forty nine. It is not yet clear what has caused the crash but…” Abbi turned the channel over to one of those twenty four hour news station and saw that it was breaking news there too.

  “… believe there to have been approximately two hundred passengers on board. The emergency services are already at the crash site. We will keep you up to date with the latest information as it comes in.”

  Abbi couldn’t believe it. She was sure that that train was the one Mark had taken. She didn’t know what to do. Her mother was sitting on the sofa looking immeasurably shocked.

  “Is that his train?” Eleanor asked quietly.

  “I… I think it is,” Abbi said with her head in her hands. “I… I’m not sure but…” Abbi finished as a phone number came on the television.

  “An emergency telephone line has been set up and anyone worried about the recent train crash can call this number on screen. Abbi immediately picked up the phone and dialled the number. It rang once, twice then clicked through to “You are in the queue to talk to the southern train network emergency line. Your call is currently in queue position eight.” This message was repeated once every minute, slowly counting down positions. Finally Abbi was actually speaking to a person. A woman said, “Southern train network. How can I help you?”

  “Yes I… I don’t know whether this person was on the train that crashed but I really need to find out. His name is Mark Hammond.”

  “And you are?” the voice said.

  “I’m Abigail Wilkins, his… fiancée.” Her mother dropped her mug of tea and it smashed onto the floor but she made no attempt to clean it up. Jess had come around the corner and her mouth fell open. Jess decided to leave them to it and she raced for her car keys. Within about a minute Abbi heard her driving away.

  “We have a probable passenger list here detailing everyone who bought a ticket by credit or debit card for this particular train,” the woman on the phone continued. “Just hold a minute while I go through it.” Abbi waited her heart in her mouth. Why had she not paid attention to what train he was catching? Then she wouldn’t be in this situation.

  “Right. It looks like he was on that train,” Abbi could hear the apology in her voice.

  “How do I find out if he is okay?” her voice was barely above a whisper.

  “I’m afraid I only have the names of eight people who have been identified and have gone to hospital. I can’t say if he is okay as he hasn’t been rescued yet. I also can‘t really give more information out to people who aren’t family.”

  “Wait! Before you go, how many of those eight have died?” Abbi wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to hear the answer.

  “I’m not really supposed to say…”

  “Please,” Abbi cut across her, the pleading evident in her tone of voice.

  “Four and one other is almost certain to die”, she said quietly.

  “Thanks for telling me,” Abbi said and she ended the call. Abbi felt the tears sliding down her face but she couldn’t stop them.

  “Well?” her mother said.

  Abbi sat down very slowly while her brain went into overdrive. She may never see him again. He could die. All these things were running through her head. “They say he was on the train,” Abbi began. “Out of the eight people they have rescued so far, four have died and one more is about to. That’s five. Five out of eight have died. They won‘t give any more infor
mation out because I‘m not family.”

  Eleanor was dying to ask her about the engagement ring she had noticed on her daughters finger but she said nothing about it. Instead she said, “Why don’t you call Mark’s brother? What’s his name?”

  “Steve,” Abbi said. That was a great idea. Abbi raced into her room and found his mobile number tucked away in a draw. Mark had given it to her ages ago and she was now extremely grateful she had not thrown it away. She dialled and waited.

  Quickly after the crash Mark was coming around. He felt completely disorientated. His ears had stopped working. Either that or there was simply nothing left to hear. He moved his hand to his head. He could feel his blood running down his face. As soon as he did that pain seared through him from the top of his head. His other arm felt trapped and he couldn’t move it.

  “Are you alright?” came a voice from above him. Mark looked and saw the man he had spoken to a few minutes before. He seemed perfectly alright. Mark tried to shake his head but it was too painful.

  “No,” he said very quietly. His eyes were sliding around. Mark couldn’t seem to focus on anything.

  “What hurts?” he asked quickly.

  “I can’t feel my arm,” Mark said gasping for breath in between words. “My head.” Mark shut his eyes wanting nothing more than to fall into oblivion.

  “No come on stay with me”, the man said loudly trying to get his attention. “I know there are at least four people near us who are dead. You have to stay awake.” Mark vaguely opened his eyes to stare at the man.

  “What’s your name?” he asked.

  “Ben.” Mark wanted to close his eyes and drift off to sleep but Ben kept hitting him on the face to keep him awake. “I think you’ve broken your arm.”

  “No kidding,” Mark said sarcastically. Ben looked relieved that he was still able to speak like that. Ben left him for a minute to try and smash the window opposite them open. Mark still couldn’t hear anything from anywhere else. As Ben was using the in built hammer Mark thought of Abbi. If he got out of this he would marry her one day. He was trying to remember things about her but as he tried things keep fading from his head. He felt his head and could feel fresh blood still flowing from him. He closed his eyes and thought of Abbi.