Hiraeth: Cities To Embers

3.1 - l'Angleterre

Chapter 3: START

His deep blue eyes blinked softly. He pushed his short blond hair into place with a sigh.

He received a text. 'Hey Josh. When u setting off?'
He replied, 'soon. Just saying bye to family.'

He rushed down the stairs, suitcases in his hands.
A family of five sat before him: his parents, grandmother and two younger sisters - all except his father looking nearly identical to him.

His mother stood up, "have fun, my boy. Not too much fun though."
He sighed, "why am I nervous?"
His grandmother shook her head, "no reason to worry. France is... well. It's safer than a lot of other places."
He looked down at his phone, "I need to start setting off."
As Joshua approached the front door, his father hugged him, "good luck."
His father whispered to him with a smile, "good luck with that girl you definitely don't like."
Josh cringed, gritting his teeth while whispering, "dad. I haven't told mum."
His dad patted him on the back, "I know. Now you set off, young man. I'll be picking you up from the school when you're back since your mum will be working."

His mother stepped out the front door with him. She helped him put the suitcases into the car.

She gave him a silent glance as they drove through the town. She inhaled softly, then sighed, "you have... feelings. Right?"
His eyes widened slightly.
She nodded silently, "we don't talk about this, I know. I just... I want you to be safe, okay? You're obviously aware of - y'know - sex."
He groaned, "mum!... I know all of this. It's- it's fine."
She sighed, going silent again.

They eventually pulled up the school, everybody was waiting by the buses.
Amelia approached him, "oh hi, Josh! You ready to get on?"
He nodded softly, "yeah. Are we on the same bus?"
She sighed, "yeah but I'm pretty sure Lucia wants me to stay with her."
He glanced away, feeling swiftly defeated, "oh no yeah that's fine. Well I'll talk to you when we get to Paris then?"
She smiled, as did he.

Joshua's mother watched silently from the car, looking somewhat upset.

Five Days Later

They continued silently through the tunnel, with a small crowd of other train passengers.
Joshua's expression remained dark and unmoving.
The voices filled his head, the pain, the fear. His head began to ache as the overwhelming sense of dread took control of him.
Amber looked to her left, seeing another door, "should we go back in?"
Lily scoffed, "you want to go back? Into the train?"
Amber shrugged, "we got another choice?"
Lucia groaned, "I think I'm on Lily's side. Going into the blown up fuckin train does not sound like how I want to spend my Tuesday."

She approached the door.
Lucia spoke calmly, yet somewhat unnerved at the same time, "Jesus, Amber. You can't be serious."
Amber placed the back of her hand against the latch, "it's... cold."
Orla stepped up to the door, feeling it herself, "what? It is cold."
Calum appeared confused, "cold? Why's it cold?"
Paisley touched it, "explosion didn't reach this far. We're like... far down the tunnel. Like half a mile from where we were."

Another passenger - a man - approached the door, opening it. Inside, it seemed almost like nothing had even happened.
The sprinklers were spraying water into the tunnel. No ash or smoke or fire.
No damage. Only water sprinkling onto the glistening tracks.

Nobody wanted to step forward, naturally. Amber peered her head in. To the right, a king and empty track. To the left, the front of the train. It didn't seem to be very damaged; the train up to around a hundred metres back still had functional lights.

Amber carefully stepped into the the train tunnel, making slow and cautious movements towards the front of the train.
She pulled her jumper off, holding it over her mouth. She called out to everyone else, "hold something over your mouth. Just incase."
Lily and Orla stepped onto the engine with her.

Orla peered into the window, "where is the driver?"
Lily pulled the driver's cabin door open, "they... probably evacuated already."
Amber sat in the driver's seat, looking at the devices in front of her, "what the fuck do all these things even do?"
Orla shrugged, "my train knowledge ends at Thomas the Tank Engine."
Next to the windshield, a landline placed on the wall. Amber grabbed the handset, pressing the keys, "does anyone know if there's like a number you call for the channel tunnel people?"

A train worker stepped on. A tall woman, "let me do it."
Orla asked her, "are we safe now? What's happening in England? Is-is there someone coming?"
The woman sighed, "I... I don't know." She pressed the keys.

The phone did not ring. Again she tried. Still nothing.

Everyone stared silently. Lily teared up, "someone has to be coming for us, right? They- they wouldn't just fucking leave us under the sea."

Another train worker stepped on, "did someone unplug the connections?"
He pulled on cables, unplugging some and plugging them back in - alongside several that had not been inserted to a port.
He glanced at her, "try again."

She placed the handset back onto the base, picking it back up again.
She pressed the keys again. There was a faint ringing from the handset she had placed up to her ear.
She sighed with relief, "thank god..."
Someone answered, the voice too muffled and distant for everyone other than the worker.

She sighed, "we've had a... huge explosion. We need help."
The other caller spoke. She fell silent, "wh... what do you mean? It's real?"

She turned to everyone else.
Lily shouted, "what's real?!"
The woman's face was contorted in horror, "the... thing in Asia is real. They've- they've started evacuating London."
Calum stepped on, "what the hell do they need to evacuate London for?"
The woman's voice became shaky, "it's... spreading?"
A woman out on the tracks muttered, "is that why we're still down here?"
Everybody began to move into the train, keeping out of the sprinklers' way.

Another man spoke, "so now what? We just... wait?"
Amber stepped off the train.
Lily shouted for her, "Amber what the fuck?! You can't seriously think it's safe to walk to fucking England!"
Amber shook her head, "we don't have another fucking choice."
Josh followed her, "yeah, I'm not staying in here any longer."
Lily groaned, following them. Orla did the same.

Lucia, Paisley and Calum looked at each other with dismay.
Calum stepped off.
Lucia called to him, "Calum. Calum? You can't be serious."
He continued walking.
Lucia and Paisley stepped off, catching up with the others.