Red Room

9

Sunday morning. Joakim had hardly slept the night before. It was the day he'd meet his granddaughter for the first time ever and he was experiencing whole lot of feelings: excitement, curiosity, but also fear. What did he have to expect? Of course, he had to take into consideration the fact that she'd been bullied a lot, but still, ebverybody reacts differently to being harrassed. Consequently, she could be either very introverted and have some major trust issues or she could be the type of person to fight fire with fire. In that case, he'd have to put up with the victim who'd become a predator. As interesting as it was to work with the mind of a person at the asylum, when it came to relatives things were more complicated.

The man couldn't wait anymore and headed to the train station. He took a bus there because walking there would have taken too long. Such a long walk would have calmed him down though. However, he had to get there by a certain time.

Even though the summer hadn't ended yet, it was pretty dark outside at 8.30 AM. But Joakim liked it that way. Especially during the summer, moving through the city in the morning was relaxing. There was no sun or heat to bother him and the streets were pretty quiet because the youngsters were resting.

He eventually reached his destination. It was 9 o' clock and the place was flooded by the usual restlessness of a train station. Some were departing, others returning. One group of people was saying "welcome", the other "farewell".

Joakim was standing on the platform of line 3, where the train from Ystad was supposed to arrive. With one hand, he reached into the pocket of his coat and took out that picture of his granddaughter Kirsten gave him a very long time ago. He might as well create an image in his head of what he had to look for.

In his hand, there was a portrait of a girl who was 7 years old at the time and, judging by the uniform, ready for the 1st year of school. She was round-faced with curly, natural red hair and green eyes. Even though she was smiling, probably for the camera, her eyes showed a hint of uncertainity. It seemed she was scared of going to school, like she already knew she'd have a rough life in there. Hmmm...

Half an hour passed and the train should be there any moment. That's when the silence was torn apart by a strong "choo-choo" sound. Ah, there it was!

One moment later, numerous people were rushing through the platform like a river flowing violently. Joakim still held the picture in front of his face, but at the same time he was comparing it with girls he saw passing.

The sea of people passed, but he still hadn't found the girl. At that moment, he became unsure that he remembered the information correctly. Or worse, what if she did go past him and he didn't see her?! But he didn't see any ginger-haired girl. What if she dyed her hair meanwhile?!

All right, calm down, he advised himself, You are a grown man. Don't let the panic get to you. If you don't find her, go to the info point and tell them you are looking for somebody.

Just as he was about to head for the info point, Joakim noticed one last passanger exiting the train. It was pretty small, maybe it couldn't push past the others. Although the figure looked anything but girly, curiosity kept him in one place.

That small figure was coming his direction. It was wether approaching him, or heading for somebody else that way. Could that little human be his granddaughter, even though it looked more like a boy? On the other hand, there was nobody else left on the platform.

The mysterious being stopped a few feet away from him. Now that he could see it well, he noticed that it was actually a she. Round-faced. A septum ring. Monolids. Two tiny patches of orange hair as brows. A green eye and a hazelish one. Thigh-long, ginger dreadlocks. Surprisingly few freckles for a natural redhead, but the acne here was compensating the lack of them.