𝑩𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒖𝒑 | ᴊᴀᴍᴇs ᴘᴏᴛᴛᴇʀ

1 | 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬

"ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛, 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒
𝑖 𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑖 𝑠𝑒𝑒"

𝐨' 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧 , 𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐜𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬

Kings Cross station had always been a marvel for Aria to look at, she often found herself encapsulated by the sheer size of the building when walking past to travel to the nearby shops. Matron would sometimes complain about the business and the crowds she would find herself traveling through on her everyday errands, though slightly boring, Aria simply could not find it in herself to tune the woman out, opting instead to listen intently to the stories in the hope of gathering useful information of the building she so wished to visit.

As the young girl shyly made her way across the various platforms of the London station, she hauled an almost empty trunk ahead of her. Though unneeded, Matron insisted on the girl bringing the trunk as she did not wish anyone to believe the girl was without any possessions. Eleven-year-old Aria Whittaker was alone this September 1st, as she often was.

She wore a small, lilac dress that she had bought with the spare change she had found on the busy streets of London over the past several weeks when the girl had been running errands for the orphanage. Light makeup which Aria had sneakily stolen from Matron, covered the multitude of bruises and scars that laced the young child's skin and she held a small ticket that read 'Platform 9'.

Aria looked around nervously as she walked, she had never even seen a train station before, never mind been on a train. Hundreds of people crowded the building, many on their commutes to work, and many families on their way to days out to other parts of London. Aria was shoved and pulled in various directions, becoming so disorientated that she eventually did not recognize what platform she was on or where she needed to go.

A bright vest caught the girl's eye, a male officer of some kind, speaking to a lone woman who seemed slightly distressed. Pushing past rushing Londoners and tourists, Aria slowly walked toward the man and looked hesitantly up at him. He did not notice the girl as he spoke harshly to the distressed woman, making crude, condescending gestures at her with a bored expression plastered across his face. Becoming exasperated at the man's seemingly blatant misogyny he was showing toward her, the woman eventually stormed away, hauling her suitcase along with her and dropping a few items on the walk away.

Aria sought her chance and lightly tugged at the man's uniform.

"Excuse me, sir?" He looked down frustratedly, huffing as he turned to face her. Aria fliched back. "Sorry, um, I'm a little bit lost and I-I was wondering if you could help me f-find my train?"

He scoffed at her nervous stutter, it was a bad habit the girl had experienced since she was very young and had long since become a tell-tale sign of peaking anxiety levels. The man opened a large hand, beckoning for the ticket the girl held in her hand.

Hand shaking, Aria held up the small piece of paper for the officer to inspect.

Upon reading the platform number, the man glanced up and met her blue eyes with his. A disbelieving gaze mixed with a hint of vibrant anger stared back at her, he took one last glance at the ticket before returning to her gaze. This time, anger dominated the sapphire eyes.

"What the fuck is this?" The northern accent spoke sharply at her, Aria dared to raise her gaze yet again and flinched back at the newfound fury in the officer's eyes. "This some kinda joke to you? Get out of me' sight!" He barked at her, shoving the ticket so harshly at Aria's chest that the eleven-year-old girl fell back, her bottom half hitting the floor with a loud thud.