At The Club
Meanwhile at 27 Triumph Square, in a library area, hidden behind a mist of smoke, nine men sat in thick padded red leather chairs, each holding a glass of aged Scotch whiskey. One of them looked at his watch and dramatically announced, “Right about now!”. The nine stood, raised their glasses and repeated the words “Semper honor in fato est”. Each drank their Scotch and made a gesture of salutation towards the sky. Each quivered as the warmth of the drink hit their throats.
The Inevitable
Then it happened!
The laws of physics and gravity enacted as simply as Newton would have predicted. The velocity of the 100 ton locomotive went from approximately 75mph to zero almost instantly as it hit the cliff face. There was a tremendous racket of metal scraping upon rock, then an explosion as the engine collapsed into itself and the carriages followed one after another into oblivion. The impact of the crash was so hard that the jolt split the dining carriage in half. Edward was at first pushed backwards a short distance and then thrown through the air, smashing hard against the rear door, the subtle crack of his breaking bones masked by the chorus of the bar adornments and glasses shattering. Simulataneously the thrust of the crash caused one of the seating rows to uplift itself, imprisoning Edward’s limp body. The carriage half itself rotated through the air like a floating matchstick model before landing heavily. The other half of the car saw the bar desk ripped off its hinges, impaling a helpless Gary upon the wall. His last action had been to take a swig of beer and chortle a laugh, he went out the way he had wanted to.
Elsewhere screams briefly echoed along the train. Sian, Kerry and Chloe all had pieces of debris crush them to smithereens. The research piece in The Times had proven to be wrong, there had been no greater protection in the carriages than in the dining car. The last act of John, mere seconds before impact, would be to gently punch the window of his cabin in frustration at why he was there. It seemed the desperate situation had infiltrated his logical scientific mind after all. A bizarrely happy Kevin was last seen alive sitting with his feet upon the opposite seat, whilst Derek found himself praying for the first time in many years, he prayed that his end and that of the others would be quick and it was.
For fortunately all of this awfulness happened in an instant, so there was very little suffering.
The result to the outside world was a sprawled mass of twisted metal, combined with shattered glass and wood strewn along the track and cliff face. As if to emphasize the significance of the crash, one half of the dining car rested in a field to the side of the track and the other half significantly further along upon the track itself.
There was a perculiar silence, except for the spinning of a carriage bogey wheel and the quiet licking of flames, as they began to burn the wooden debris. An observer would have considered it a remarkable thing that for one moment beforehand there had been such a tumulutuous crash, one that was heard over a mile away, yet within a short time there was near silence.
Edward’s last memory would be the smell of smoke and his eyes seeing only darkness, but for a tiny slit of light. He thought he could see a torn piece of Peter’s colourful cloth jacket in the distance, but the pain in his head and body overwhelmed him and then everything went black.
Aftermath
Three hours later a local sheriff stood with his hands on his hips, staring at the floor and shaking his head. He was utterly confused how a crash like this could have happened on such a well known and dangerous area of railway track in the French Alps. He then heard an emergency service worker cry out, “Hey Captain! It’s a miracle, it looks like this guy is breathing!”. The sheriff, along with several other men looked up and ran towards the wreckage of the dining car.
Edward woke up, blinking, but this time he wasn’t on a train.
It was in fact 36 hours later when Edward once again blinked and the first thing he noticed was the brightness of the lightbulb in the room he was in. Then he noticed how his whole body hurt. What had happened? Where was he? He was laying on a hospital bed, his left leg was propped up in a sling and his right arm was covered in bandages. Edward had somehow survived. By extreme good fortune, the cushions of the seating row had landed around him offering just enough protection around his body to save his life.
“This one must be the luckiest man alive!”, announced a doctor holding a medical chart, “He survived a 100kmph train crash, with just a few broken bones and some concussion! He’s luckier than any lottery winner!”.
“Nurse, please keep him sedated for the next 24 hours, it will help with the shock”. The nurse he was addressing nodded and attended to the doctor’s orders.
Edward blinked and the world faded to black once more.
Always Honourable
That evening a man in a brown coat peered through the window of Edward’s room. He checked Edward was fast asleep. Nobody had seen the man enter the hospital and they wouldn’t see him leave either. The man quietly opened the door and stepped into the room. Edward’s coat sat folded on a chair next to the hospital bed. The man lifted up the coat, slipped a brown envelope into a side pocket, refolded the coat, placed it back on the chair and vacated the premises.
Three days later Edward found himself being manoevered him from his bed into a wheelchair by one of the nurses. “Mr.Helder you are well enough now for a change of scenary and some fresh air. Would you like a trip to our garden area? It is quite beautiful at this time of year”, she said.
“Ok”, replied Edward dimly. He had barely said a word in a week to anyone.
Ignoring his despondency, the nurse said, “As you are going outside we must keep you warm, so let’s get that coat on you”. The nurse picked up the coat from the chair it was folded upon and carefully draped it over Edward. She then wheeled him to an area just outside the hospital building. It was a large and pleasant green field, bordered by roses. Trees of various height could be seen in the distance. The nurse left Edward looking out at the green space, he blinked, but said nothing. “I’ll let you sit and enjoy it here for 10 minutes, then I’ll be back to check you are alright”. The nurse wandered off.
Edward sat mesmerised at the green scenary for several minutes. It was certainly a nice change from the clean white room he had been stuck in the past week. A gust of wind blew and the change in temperature made him shiver. He started to pull the coat tighter towards his body in an attempt to warm himself. He heard a slight rustle, there appeared to be an object inside one of the coat pockets. He pulled out the brown envelope the man had left and unwrapped it. Edward silently read the contents, “Strictly considering your cicrumstance there should be conditions, but we are Honourables. You too are now.”. He put the letter back in the pocket and began to stare at the sky, a tear fell from his eye.
The End…
…The Day Before…
It was the early afternoon of the day before and Richard made the phone call. “Yes, let us meet in the Sarson’s Arms at 11am and we can have lunch after, I have something very important for you”. His brother, Edward, would doubtless get there early, as he annoyingly always did, he would annoyingly insist on buying the first pint, like the good Samariton he was, but this time Richard did not care. It was part of his plan, the plan he had meticulously concoted only within the past three weeks, ever since the unique opportunity had arisen. It all hinged on Edward not minding a drink that early in the morning, which turned out an easier proposal than expected. They met, chatted and by the end of that first pint Richard knew that Edward was clueless. He had no idea about anything that had been going on, he had no idea of the complexity of the situation and would have no idea what was going to happen either. Richard felt a pang of sympathy for him, as he heard him rattle on about how Charlotte could have done a lot better than him, how he owed her so much more, how, by losing this current job, he had really let her down. Richard banished the consideration of sympathy from his mind as his brother’s whinging continued. The action he was about to commit was totally justified and doubtless being such a good, moral citizen Edward would eventually understand if only he could see it from Richard and Charlotte’s perspective. Afterward what was about the happen, everyone would be a lot happier. Yes, everyone would benefit and be happier from this, including Edward himself. They had been given once-in-a-lifetime chance to solve all their problems, for their own good. It was just the man who had offered the opportunity to Richard had got the wrong brother. “Another drink?”, Richard asked. Edward nodded with a downturned mouth. Richard ordered two more pints of Olde Malta Ale. He then took the paper packet out of his pocket, ripped the top off and tipped the powdery contents into one of the drinks. He returned and they clinked the glasses, they both then swifty downed the ale. “Hey old man, do you mind if you we go outside for a second? I wanted to show you something”, enquired Richard. Edward dutifully followed like a kindly sheep. Once outside the pub and in the fresh air, the drink-added potion began its work. Edward felt himself slipping into a very drunken state, “Hey I seem to be feeling rather tipsy and we’ve only had one or two haven’t we?”. “Yes, yes old man”, said Richard calmly. He grabbed his brother’s arm and put it round his neck to give him support. “Let’s wander down there, what!”, he said as he led Edward towards the magnificent building ahead of them, “This building is what I wanted to show you”, he informed Edward.
By the time they reached the railway station, the elixir had taken full effect over Richard. He was in a very drunken, maleable state.
Richard propped Edward against a railing, lifted out the ID card he had spent that painstaking hour doctoring the photograph of and placed it into Edward’s wallet, removing Edward’s genuine one. He placed the cardboard train ticket next to the wallet.
“Hey old man, do you fancy some fun?”, he asked.
“Yesss!”, slurred Edward, who then giggled.
“Let’s play that game we used to play as kids where we pretended to be each other!”, he began, “You pretend to be me and I pretend to be you! It will be such fun, let’s try it with that guy over there!”
“Ok Great idea, I loved those games back when we were children, do you remember those times, Richard?”,
“No…as I am Edward remember and you are Richard, as we have swapped names, old man!”, replied Richard hastily.
“Oh yes…sorry Edward…or would you prefer Ed! Yeah I am now Richard!”, blurted Edward, adding, “…I love this game, it reminds me of good times!”
“That guy there really looks like Dad doesn’t he?! How about you go over there now, walk up to him and say you are Richard like in the old days!”
Edward nodded to Richard one last time. He staggered along, meandering the station concourse towards the train and its platform.
Richard ran over ahead of Edward, “Excuse me sir, my brother has got a ticket for that train. I met him in the pub and he got very excited about going on it, I am guessing it’s a special holiday or something, anyway he may have drunk a bit too much, I am awfully sorry for the trouble”. Edward heard the mention of the ticket, but just assumed it was all part of the game Richard was playing and best to go along with it all.
The stern porter fronwed at him, “Sir, this is a special guest-only train! If he is not on this list, he is not coming on this train!!”. Richard backed off as Edward took over the conversation.
“Yeah! Yeah I’m Richard! Richard Helder and I’ve got a ticket for this train, let me on your train!”, replied Edward.
The stern porter was not in any way amused, “I need your ticket, sir”.
“Hey man! Wait, give me a second!”, Edward felt around his pocket and pulled out his wallet, the ticket fell to the floor. Edward bent down in a most awkward fashion and threw the ticket into the porter’s hand.
“Sorry pal, there you go! see that is me! Richard Helder! That’s me!”, as he pushed the ID card into the porter’s face and turned back to wink at his brother.
The porter sighed, observed his pocket watch and then said “Please follow me, sir”. The porter led Edward three carriages along and opened a heavy carriage door. Edward hoisted himself up and into the train. The porter guided him to an open cabin door, Edward staggered into the empty cabin, fell on to the soft cushioned seating and passed out.
The porter walked back, stepped off the train and swung the heavy train door closed. He then locked it with a key, shouted “That’s the last one” and blew his whistle. Moments later the train began to move. Richard was gone.
