The Touch

Chapter 1 - Assignment

Adjusting the hood of my jacket over the top of my head as the rain poured down, I can just make out the street sign saying St Patrick Station with an arrow pointing straight ahead.

The vision I had only two days before confirming that I am heading in the right direction.

Blind Bird's instructions were clear.

"Lacey, walk to St Patrick Station, walk down to platform B24, look for the child, make sure you are not seen by the Watchers, observe the child, intervene if necessary then board the train unnoticed".

Walking along the wet pavement I try to avoid the overflowing drain pipes that are flooding over the main street. Cars drive past me and I narrowly miss the tide of water flowing over the sidewalk. This downpour of rain was the worst I had seen in a while and there was no sign that it was stopping any time soon.

I turn briefly towards the road and a red car drives past me too fast. I move sharply to the left of the pavement to avoid it but the water sprays up and wets the bottom of my jeans.

'Great! That is just what I need right now'.

Why is it that I can see all the details of what the child looks like, where the location is and what to look out for, but I never receive details of avoiding getting my jeans wet in my visions?

I arrive at the corner of the street and almost collide with a man running with his hoodie covering most of his face. From the direction that he is running to it seems we are both heading to the same underground subway. He mutters something quickly, not much more than a simple grunt, then runs towards St Patrick's Station. Usually I would say something sarcastic back but today I don't blame him for nearly colliding with me. Who wants to be walking in soaking jeans through the miserable rain anyway? Running to get out of it seems far more appealing.

As I cross the road to the station I can see the rust coloured roof and bricks that make up the building and I noted that they are the same ones that I saw in my vision. The building was obviously very old and had seen better days as there was paint peeling on the guttering and the roof looked like it was covered in moss with bits of brick crumbling away underneath. There were years of old tagging on the outside of the building and you could faintly see old posters that had been pasted to the wall then tagged over with spray paint.

Turning towards the steps leading down to the underground subway, I notice the automated ticketing booths and platforms below. I follow a couple of people down the stairs and watch them as they place their wrist on the ticketing scanner. The scanner moves backwards and forwards across their wrists in a fast moving action then the light turns green making the barrier open so they can move through to the Platforms.

I stand and wait in the line and as my turn comes I feel a slight hesitation. I lay my wrist against the scanner as it moves over it. I try to relax but no matter how many times I have done this before I always feel apprehensive as I know that the time may come when a machine will pick up that this is not a government assigned tattoo scan and the name is under another adults name which is also not mine. I hold my breath slightly and the light turns green. A feeling of relief comes over me as the barrier arm lifts and I walk through.

A gust of wind moves a few strands of my long dark hair over my face as I walk towards the queues of people on Platform B24. I brush it aside slightly and realise that my palms are starting to heat up which is always an indication that the child is near.

I look over to the station clock and notice the time reads 5.10pm on the dot. The platform is teeming with people who are in a hurry to get on the trains. Over to my left I can see the first Watcher standing by the sign on the column nearest where the train doors will open. He is male, about six foot four and from his long black jacket down to his black steel cap boots I can tell he is big and built of muscle.