#2024MakeAMonster
Traveller
The carriage wasn’t crowded, but he set his luggage on the rack and sat opposite me. ‘Just a few stops,’ I said. I had my book in my hands and glanced up only long enough to be polite before raising it a little and lowering my eyes to the print.
‘I hope you aren’t getting off at Crewe,’ he said. ‘There was a terrible murder there just last month.’
‘Oh?’ I said. My book was level with my mouth, but he kept his eyes on me.
‘Oh yes. A young woman with her eyes torn out. Bled to death from the sockets. They never found the eyeballs, you know.’
‘That’s – awful,’ I said. ‘I didn’t hear about that.’
‘Well,’ he said, and he caught that my book had lowered a bit as I flinched, ‘that’s not too surprising.’ He smiled, not breaking his gaze. ‘I wouldn’t like to think you were getting off at Northampton either. Terrible murder there just a few weeks ago.’
‘Oh dear.’ I lifted my book again. I didn’t want to disrespect the victims, but I didn’t want to hear it either. I didn’t want to be talking to him. He hadn’t looked away from me for a second since he started speaking.
‘Oh yes,’ he said. ‘Another young woman lost her eyes. He took them and wouldn’t give them back.’
‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘I’m very sorry for them – them and their families, I mean – but – but can we not talk about it? It’s – it’s very upsetting.’
‘Bled to death again, she did,’ he said. ‘The largest vessels in the body aren’t around the eyes, but there’s only so many pints in the body. They can seep out anywhere if the wound stays open.’
‘I’m sorry,’ I said, ‘but I’d really like not to talk about this.’
He kept his gaze on me. I tried to look away, but it held me.
The ticket inspector walked by then. I turned, shaking, but I couldn’t ignore the man; even out of the corner of my eye, he was there.
‘Thank you very much, Miss,’ said the inspector, punching the card and handing it back to me. ‘London to Tring.’
‘Ah,’ said the man, ‘that’s good. I haven’t been there yet.’
