04 June 2015

Hope & Glory

Chapter One

Shock

Hope willed herself to hold back the tears.  She was tired of crying, her eyes feeling sore and dry and her head ached from little to no sleep.  She walked slowly out of the tube station, her heart racing a million miles per hour.  How was she going to cope today?  She wanted to curl up and die, that's how bad it was.  She looked straight ahead of her, the busy junction she had to bypass to get to the other side where her job as an administrator was located.  All she saw was that incident.  It played over and over in her mind, scarring her.  She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream and above all she wanted to beg him to choose her.  How could he?  Saturday had been the shock of a lifetime and Sunday was made worse knowing her relationship and her life with the man she thought she would marry and spend the rest of her life with,  was well and truly ca put.  She rubbed her forehead and winced.  She just noticed the sun was out and it was warm, even though she felt cold and empty.  Hope had slept passed the alarm this morning,  she'd forgotten her oyster card and had to buy a paper ticket and that was the first of many problems.  And she didn't want to even contemplate the rest.   At this point, it was all still a shock.   She wanted to at least make it through the day and go home and try to make some semblance of her shattered existence.  

Hope's first mistake was stepping onto the road.  She felt like a zombie or was it a puppet.  She was being strung along and had been for however long it had been for an affair to take place.   Oblivious to the oncoming traffic and the sounds of horns honking.  Her feet carried herself across the junction and as she reached the middle of the street to look up, she froze - on the spot.  The horror of the driver's face was clear to see because the lorry he was driving was coming towards her, she prepared for impact.  Hoping it would end her misery.  She closed her eyes, expecting this.  Gearing for pain,  she felt the air leave her lungs as she hit the curb of the pavement with a thud instead.
     "Have you got a fucking death wish or something?" an Irish accent filled her senses. 
She opened her eyes to see a pair of brown eyes staring right back at her.
     "You could have fucking died?  What's the matter with you?  Didn't you hear them horns?"  He stared at her, the glare of hatred emanating from his eyes.  
Hope tried to sit up but she winced, her side was throbbing from the impact of hitting the pavement or the guy lying on top of her.  She pushed him off her and that mere movement made her side burn.
     "What's the matter, ain't you got a tongue?" he said, now on his knees.
Hope retrieved her things, scattered on the pavement around her.  Her manager was going to kill her for being late, she didn't even want to know what the time was.  At this rate, if she made it into work at all, she was going to suffer the wrath of her manager, that was for sure.  She wanted a new job, she just didn't fit in at work.  At this rate, she was ready to move country if she could.   Knowing that Tony had slept with her best friend in their bed, had tainted everything she held sacred.  She no longer wanted to stay there...

     "I'm talking to you," Irish said, "Are you paying attention?  Are you on drugs or something?" 
     Hope got up slowly, not considering answering his questions and limped towards work. 
     "Are you a bleedin' idiot or something?" Irish exclaimed, as he grabbed a hold of Hope's arm and spun her around to face him, "I don't like to talk to someones back, especially as I saved your arse from a collision!"
     Hope looked at his bare arm, it was muscular with a dusting of hair and his rolled up sleeves and the expression of annoyance written all over his face.  Was it annoyance or just plain anger, she couldn't decipher but she didn't have the energy.
     He shrugged her, shaking her like a rag doll.  The motion rattling her insides and causing commotion in her head.  She tried to open her eyes but everything suddenly became hazy and did she see stars?  The numbness in her fingers felt like she'd been sitting on them, a pins 'n' needles sensation spreading from her fingers shooting down her arms and then she saw black.