The train

Someone spotted her as she edged her way down the bank, so she looked along the track for a way more hidden but there were too many buildings, too many people.

Coppelia wanted out of all this, and she would do whatever it took. Nothing else mattered, everyone would be fine without her, they would find the suicide notes she had written, they would work it out. What good was she now to anyone, anyway? All was broken, worn down, and without hope she was nothing.

In a trance-like state she caught a train for home, but got out at the first station, where she knew a footpath followed close to the track for some distance before bending back towards the woods. They had been so happy walking here in that other life. A life which was no longer hers. The ground under foot was muddy and her bare feet in sandals soon became very dirty. Through the scant scrubland that separated the path from the track, she heard a fast train approaching in the distance.

Please, God give me courage. Please God. Give me courage.

The train was very close now, the track whirred and sang. The air around her seemed to be carrying her towards the edge, it became as a solid being, lifting for her first one foot then the other, pushing her body nearer and nearer. It wasn't Coppelia doing this, someone was doing it for her.

Escape. Any minute now the train would be so close, the driver wouldn't see her and she would crouch low and throw herself just under the front. In an instant all this pain would be over. For ever.

She heard the roar. She swung forwards.