Sunday (not-so) scaries - April 21

A little cosy catch up and a recent writing task.

Hello! It’s been a while since we’ve had a Sunday (not so) scaries moment hasn’t it? I’ve been catching up on my writing course, which I’m still thoroughly enjoying, but I fell behind because…

I was job hunting and have accepted a new job! I’d been unhappy in my last role for a while now and it was having a negative impact on me mentally and physically—it was even impacting my relationships and getting in the way of things that I normally enjoyed doing. Like this newsletter!

I’ll tell you more about that later; for the time being I just wanted to share that little life update and share some recent work from my writing course.

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The assignment here was to set the scene using a character I’d created earlier. In a previous task about points of view, I wrote a scene from the one character, then flipped it to the other character’s perspective. Alice and Theodore came from that exercise. Anyway, here’s what I submitted (and got positive feedback on, yay!).

Alice Armstrong had always loved train rides; memories of her father were wrapped up in them. He worked all hours of the day to provide for their little family, working as a bricklayer by day and picking up the odd shift at The Queen’s Head for a little extra breathing room come Christmas time. But every couple of months, on a rare day off, he’d wake her up early to whisk her away for an adventure. With sleep still in her eyes, she’d scramble out of bed to get ready, excited to have all his attention for the whole day. 

At the station, he'd entrust her with the grown-up task of purchasing tickets. She carried that responsibility with pride, clutching a crumpled note tightly in her sweaty hand. Their journeys were never extravagant, and they never went more than two hours away, but one by one they transformed strange names on departure boards into places she’d revisit like a pilgrimage after he died, aged 57. Pancreatic cancer. 

Today, her journey would take her to London to reunite with Bec, her oldest friend. Lost in thoughts of her father, she stood on the platform, reminiscing, until the crackling announcement shook her out of it.

The 17:35 LNER service to London has been cancelled due to a lack of available drivers. Passengers can use their tickets on any other LNER service leaving today. The next train to this destination will be the 21:15 calling at platform four. We apologise for any inconvenience.

She rolls her eyes and grabs her suitcase, ready to kill time working in an overpriced and overpopulated station pub. 

“Bit of a nightmare, these strikes, aren’t they?”

The voice belonged to a good-looking man just behind her, to her right. He’s clean-shaven, with icy blue eyes and a warm smile framed by dimples so perfect it’s like someone sculpted his face. Pretty people–too pretty people–made her nervous. Pretty men in particular are to be avoided–they’re used to women throwing themselves at them, and probably didn’t have to work hard on things like being kind or funny or interesting growing up. She agrees with the tight, polite smile that all British people seem to be afflicted by.

“Well, I’m travelling to London for work. Would you mind having a drink with me so I don’t have to think about this presentation I’m giving for a full four hours?”

A voice like velvet. He was polite, and handsome, and had a battered copy of The Collector peeking out of the pocket of his Barbour jacket. Alice loved a well-read man. Enjoying the attention and painfully single, she thought about saying yes to the drink, feeling a little giddy and tempted by the prospect of collecting a nugget of gossip to share with Bec when she eventually got to her flat in Ealing. But she didn’t even know this guy’s name—and who asked random strangers to go for a drink like that anyway? 

“Sorry, I’ve got some work to do myself. But thank you…?”

“It’s Theodore. Teddy to my friends.” 

“Nice meeting you. Hope your presentation goes well.” 

She let him shake her hand before walking away to secure the quietest corner the popular pub could offer. A glass of Malbec wouldn’t go amiss—she was technically off the clock anyway. 

Theodore watched her leave, almost in a trance, only slightly deterred. It had been a while since he’d had a bit of a challenge when it came to women, and he knew she’d be more than worth the extra trouble. Something about the prospect of the chase got his blood pumping. He glanced at his overnight bag, where the knife was resting, picked it up, and slowly made his way to the bar. Four hours was plenty of time.

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What do you think of these characters and this scene? Do you want to see this story develop? What do you think happened next? Tell me everything in the comments!