Despite the Angels - By Madeline A Stringer Page 0,88

whistle blew and the train shuddered forwards. In a few minutes, the noise of the wheels changed as the train rattled out onto the bridge over the River Tay. Dorothy and Dawn still slept. As the storm winds hit and the bridge suddenly gave way, the night filled with screams and the noise of grinding metal as the train fell. Dorothy heard nothing as she and Dawn shot out of their seats, hitting their heads on the roof of the carriage as it came down to meet them. They were both unconscious as the train plunged down into the dark water and silence closed over it.

Mohmi and Jotin were waiting to gather them in.

Chapter 31.

Lewis woke early and lay listening to the quietness in the street. The wind had dropped and the sun was trying to break through. He stoked up the fire so that it would be bright and cheery when he got home with Dorothy. It would save her having to think about the fire, which always seemed to bother her. Strange, when she had never been burned. “Far too careful,” Dorothy’s mother had said, when he asked her once, trying to find a reason for such a strong fear. “No, she never went near the fire, even when she first crawled. I never needed to watch her, not like the others, who all seemed bent on getting themselves burnt: many’s a time I had to butter sore little fingers.”

Lewis put the guard in front of the fire, bundled himself up in his warm coat and set off again for the station. It was a pleasant walk, with a watery sun warming him. He hurried as he got closer to the station, anxious to hear when the train was scheduled to arrive, hoping Dorothy had not had to wait for him. He began to notice groups of people, standing around the entrance to the station, and an unnatural stillness, punctuated by crying. He stopped at the top of the stairs, suddenly frightened. He looked at two young women who were coming up, tears streaming down their faces.

“What is it?” Lewis’s voice was barely a whisper “What has happened?”

“Gone” The young woman’s voice rang out, startling the stillness.

“Gone? What is gone?”

“Our brother. On the train.” She started to cry again.

“The bridge.” The other woman put her arm around her sister and led her away.

Lewis put a hand to the rail and gripped it. His heart fluttered weakly, his bowels seemed turned to water and his legs sagged.

“When?” he whispered, but no one replied. He forced himself upright and walked down the steps to the stationmaster’s office. There was a crowd around the door, shouting and weeping, demanding explanations. Lewis listened. It seemed the train had crossed the bridge last night and had fallen into the Tay before they had all been told to go home.

“You lied to us!” a voice in the crowd shouted.

“There was nothing any of us could do on such a night, Madam. I thought it better to let you have your rest.” The stationmaster was dignified and sombre. Lewis turned away. He slowly pushed his way back up the stairs, heard himself saying “gone” to the new arrivals who were asking for news. He walked across to the edge of the river and looked upstream to the bridge. The central section was not there, the ends of the rails stuck out, twisted. He walked towards it automatically, not thinking at all, his mind crying out ‘Dorothy! Dorothy!’ Trynor walked beside him, holding his energies around Lewis, as though to protect him from the wind. He talked, but knew that he would not be heard. Eventually he called out,

“Roki!”

“Yes?” Roki was there, dancing around mischievously as usual.

“We need your help. He needs a friend who is in a body. He is too shocked to hear me, and later he will be too sunk in grief. Get Neil, will you?”

“Down to the river? He is on his way to work. He knows nothing of this. What has happened, anyway?”

Trynor explained. Roki mocked- “and they let them get on, when it was not in the plan? Rather a habit of messing up, haven’t you? Well, let me see what I can do…”

“If you get Neil to come to the flat at the dinner hour, I’ll try to get Lewis back there. Please, he needs someone to talk to.”

Lewis reached the end of the bridge, where the tracks turned to run along the shore and found he was joining