Come Home- A Lindsay and Emily James One Shot

Chapter Four

"I'm sorry Miss; you don't have enough for a train ticket to Leeds"

Emily huffed, her eyes sparkling with tears. She had been arguing back and forth with the lady at the ticket machine for the last ten minutes.

"Please, I'm only £5 short! I need to go to Leeds to see my sister, its important! I'll come back and pay the £5 as soon as I have it!" she pleaded

"I'm sorry Miss, no" the ticket lady replied firmly

Emily stormed off, sitting down in a corner of the Train Station. She let the tears fall. This day was supposed to be the best day of her life, and almost instantly it had been ruined. All she'd wanted for the last two years was to be able to hug her sister, to spend time with her and to have her at home again. And now Lindsay wasn't coming home.

She felt betrayed by her Mum. Two months, Lindsay hadn't been in contact with her, and the whole time, she had lied to Emily's face. Everyone wanted to protect her, and she was tired of it, because she always ended up paying a price. Lindsay had killed their Dad to protect her, and had gone to prison because of it. And now, her Mum had lied to protect her, but it had only pushed Lindsay further away.

It all made sense now, how Lindsay would only call when Emily was at school, how her Mum could only visit on weekdays, how Lindsay stopped writing letters, her only form of communication being over the phone. It had all been lies.

What was she going to do? She couldn't imagine her life without Lindsay in it. It didn't matter that in the future they probably would be together; she wanted to be with Lindsay now, like they'd planned.

"Excuse me, love? Are you ok?"

It was a woman's voice; Emily could just make out her silhouette through her teary eyes. The voice sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Emily wiped her eyes and lifted her head up.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you" she mumbled

"Emily?"

Emily looked up with a frown. The woman knew her name.

And when her eyes fell upon her, she suddenly realised why. It was Miss Mason, the previous Head Teacher of Waterloo Road.

Emily was relieved to see her. Out of all the teacher's she'd had at Waterloo Road, Miss Mason had been the best, and the kindest too. She had been there for her and Lindsay when their Dad had died, and had stood by Lindsay, even when she'd found out what she'd done. Emily had confided in her many times in the past, about Lindsay and about her Dad, and she had been so kind and non-judgmental.

"Miss Mason? What are you doing here?" Emily frowned

"I could ask you the same question! Why aren't you at school?" Rachel replied

"I... It's a long story" Emily sighed

Rachel studied Emily carefully. Her eyes were watery and her cheeks tear stained. There was a mixture of sadness and anger etched on her face. It was clear she was having a bad day. Even though she wasn't Emily's Head Teacher anymore, she still felt she had a duty to look after her. She couldn't leave her crying in a Train Station.

"Why don't we have a chat about it over a hot chocolate and something to eat, hmm? Then I'll drop you back at school" she suggested

Emily nodded

Together, they walked over to the Cafe. As they walked, Emily noticed Rachel was pushing something in front of her. When she looked properly, she realised it was a pram. Of course she didn't ask any questions, it was none of her business.