Mar 15

Mar 15 The Ghost Train - Mark L’Estrange

The Ghost Train by Mark L’Estrange

Book excerpt

“Oh, come on, you did promise,” Cherry’s voice had adopted that irritating ‘whiney’ tone that she employed whenever she was not allowed to have her own way.

She tugged at Simon’s sleeve, scrunching the arm of his new leather jacket.

“Get off,” he snapped, trying to pull his arm away, but Cherry kept her grip, almost ripping the leather in the process. Simon slapped her hand away. “Will you get off now?” he yelled. “If you tear this jacket you’ll be paying for a new one.”

Cherry reluctantly let go of his sleeve and looked on while he readjusted the fabric.

Her bottom lip began to protrude. “There’s no need to shout,” she protested. “I wasn’t going to tear the stupid thing.” She felt the urge to remind Simon that his jacket had been paid for using her credit card, but decided against it, not wishing to send him off into one of his moods again.

In truth, she had already spent a fortune on him since they had broken up for their summer holiday, and they were only in the first week of their break. The problem was that Cherry could not help herself. Simon was her first real boyfriend and now that everyone else at university knew that they were an item, she did not want him to dump her because she knew that she would end up being the outcast from the rest of the group.

Even so, there were times when being his girlfriend really sucked. In fact, if she were being totally honest with herself, that was most of the time.

She waited for him to readjust his jacket, then gently slipped her arm inside his, so that they were linked.

Simon had a bit of a reputation amongst their fellow students. His nickname was ‘psycho’ because he was known for never refusing a dare no matter how dangerous, illegal, or just plain stupid, it might be, so long as there was some form of reward in it for him, usually in the form of a pint, or three. Once, he had even walked into the local police station at midnight, wearing nothing but a pair of skimpy briefs to ask for directions. Fortunately for him, on this occasion, the officers on duty had seen the funny side and sent him off with a warning about public decency.

The main thing Cherry hated about him was his dark moods. Simon could switch in a second from being a reasonable pleasant individual into a spiteful, mean-spirited, cantankerous old sod. Often there did not even need to be a reason for the change, and this was what Cherry found the most perplexing.

They were just approaching the entrance to the pier which hosted the arcades, countless attractions, and stalls as well as a pub and the funfair. It was rumoured to be the oldest attraction in Britain, having originally been a steam fair back in Victorian times.

Unlike the vast majority of piers around Britain which were supported by wooden structures, the Brompton-on-sea pier was built using a concrete foundation, made up of dozens of individual towers which stretched along the entire 8000 ft structure, which also made it the longest pier in the country. No one knew exactly when the pier was built as the local records office was all but destroyed during the first world war. But word of mouth had it that the Cranville family had owned the pier for over two hundred years.

As they were about to pass the entrance gangway, Cherry stopped, refusing to move. Her arm, still linked in Simon’s, caused him to jerk backwards, almost losing his balance.

“What the hell!” he demanded.

“You promised,” Cherry moaned, her bottom lip starting to quiver.

Simon sighed, loudly, not caring that it might convey to Cherry, as well as those passing, that she was being a pain in the neck. It was not that late, but he was gasping for a pint, and all she wanted to do was waste time going on rides at the fair.

There was a pub halfway along on the pier, but Simon knew that some of the boys would already be propping up the bar at their local, ‘The Smuggler’s Arms’. Even so, he knew that there was no point in dragging Cherry there with a face like a slapped arse, so if push came to shove, he could still manage a couple of swift ones on the way back from the fair.

Reluctantly, he turned and headed toward the entrance.

Cherry squealed loudly and hugged his arm so that he could feel it squashing against her breast. After his sacrifice, he intended to receive full compensation in the manner of a shag on the lawn outside Cherry’s dormitory. Fortunately, the building had several quiet, out-of-the-way places where the security guards never ventured, most of which they had already christened during the past term.

It was a pain, Cherry living in an on-site, all female apartment where the rules specifically stated no visitors of the opposite sex. Simon had tried to sneak in on a couple of occasions, but the main desk was manned around the clock, and the back entrance was alarmed, so no dice.

He knew that he could possibly get away with smuggling Cherry back to his place. He rented a room in town, and although his landlady had also stated no visitors, she often went out in the evening, so it was just a question of timing. But he knew for a fact that on Thursdays she invited a group of her friends over for their weekly tea-and-scandal get together, so tonight was definitely out.

They chose the right-hand side of the pier so that they could watch the last of the sun slip behind the horizon as they made their way down towards the fair at the far end.

The boardwalk was heaving with locals and tourists down for the first week of the school break. Excited youngsters skipped along the wooden panels ahead of their parents, eating candyfloss and toffee apples, absentmindedly bumping into people as they glanced over at the various stalls on either side of them.

One young girl was aiming directly for Simon, so at the last moment he swung Cherry around so that the two of them collided instead. The young girl called out “Sorry” as she continued on her way, not bothering to look up at her latest victim.

Cherry brushed the incident off without comment.

By the time they reached the booth where the tokens for the fair were bought, the sun had all but disappeared and the sky had taken on a dark navy hue. It had been a particularly warm day but now that they were on the pier, even with the attractions all around them, the night wind could already be felt, whipping through the gaps between the various rides.

Cherry shivered and clung closer to Simon as they stood in line to buy their tokens.

With only one person in front of them, Simon asked, “What do you want to go on?” Then quickly added, “And don’t say everything, you can pick three things.”

Cherry gazed around her. “Umm, how about The Waltzer, The Bumper Cars, and The Dipper?”

Simon repeated their choices when he reached the front of the queue, and the man on duty calculated the number of tokens needed and dispensed them from his machine after taking Simon’s money. “Enjoy yerselves,” he muttered, smiling, and showing off his broken and blackened teeth.

The queue for the Dipper seemed to be the longest, so they opted to go on the Waltzer first, followed by the Bumper Cars. As they stood together in line for the Dipper, the harsh wind cut through Cherry’s denim jacket, causing her to shiver, animatedly. She only had on a flimsy blouse and bra underneath and regretted her decision not to wear a pullover that evening. Although, in truth it was a conscious decision because she knew that Simon liked to see her breasts protruding between her low-cut tops.

Simon, on the other hand, with his thick leather jacket appeared impervious to the drop in temperature. Cherry snuggled up against him, wishing that he would offer to take his jacket off to drape it around her, but knowing that there was realistically no chance of that ever happening.

Once on the Dipper, although they were exposed to the elements in the open-top car, the excitement of the ride helped Cherry to forget about how cold she was.

“That old bastard overcharged me,” Simon cursed as they descended the ramp from the ride.

“How do you mean?” asked Cherry.

“He said we needed twenty tokens for the three rides, and he charged me accordingly, but look,” he held out his hand to show Cherry. “I’ve still got two left, so we only needed eighteen, lying git, I’m gonna have him.”

As Simon began to head back towards the ticket booth, Cherry pulled him back.

“What yer doing?” he demanded. “Get off.”

Cherry pointed off into the distance. “There’s a sign there that says no refunds for token purchased,” she explained, gently, “so there’s no point going back. Why don’t we use them up somewhere else?”

Simon frowned. “But he conned me out of these and there’s no way I’m gonna let him get away with it.”

Cherry pulled a face. “Please don’t,” she pleaded. “If you start any trouble the other stall holders will only gang up on us, then we’ll be thrown out by security and end up being banned. Let’s just leave it, it’s no biggie.”

Simon considered her idea for a moment.

As much as he hated to admit it, she was right. He had witnessed how the workers on the pier stuck together when one of their own was being berated by an unhappy customer, and it was not pretty.