Murder On The Orient Express Chapter 1 (my version)

I woke with a start in the darkness. It was pitch black and all I could see was the silhouettes of the rats splashing in the sewage water surrounding me. I could hear the trickling of water and the usual smell of mould wafted up my nostrils and it was bitter cold- but I was used to it. I couldn't get to sleep. I knew I had to wake up at 6.30 am to set off to work and survive the long, tiring day ahead of me. I worked as a bar maid in a speakeasy at the back of an old warehouse down a dark, dingy alleyway in the central of California. This is all I came home to. This is all I had and even the wages I made from working hours on end, my step-mother would take off me.

I was lying there on the cold cobbled stones of the cellar floor as I was pulling a rat out of my hair when it struck me- Why not escape and get on the Orient Express to start a new life?

Pleased with myself for the first time in my life, I tried to get off the floor and stand up straight but I was unsucessful and I collapsed onto the floor again with a deafening bang. I had arthiritis in my hips and my knees so it was very painful let alone difficult to stand up. I tried to muffle my moans of agony with my hand, just hoping not to wake up my step-parents living upstairs.

In less than twenty minutes, I was tip-toeing across the cellar and up the creaky wooden steps and I carefully turned the brass door knob on the antique wooden door. As soon as I opened the door of the living room, the warmth of the room flooded through my body and I felt my blood trickling back again. It was silent. The only noises present was the fire crackling in the hearth and the fluffy, white cat, purring in her sleep.

Suddenly, something in the corner of the room caught my eye. Luckily for me, my step-mother had been counting her money the night before and had forgot to put the lock back on the safe, so inconspiciously, I creeped along the wooden floorboards taking care to skip the broken one and I picked up the money and stuffed it in my pocket. Yes all of it. I know it is wrong to steal but I was desperate and besides my step-mother had stolen all of my earnings over the years. Besides, it can cover my travelling expenses and I will still be able to buy some tobacco from the nearest speakeasy with the leftovers. I was starving and hadn't eaten for days but my cravings for a pipe of tobacco had been much worse.

As I turned to leave the house, the cat had woken from her sleep and she was tugging at the hem of my coat.

"I'll miss you too Tillulah," I sobbed to her. Tillulah purred and brushed her soft head past my legs and she limped over to the door and lay on the doormat waiting.

"Oh, do you want to come too?" I asked her. She tilted her head on an angle and miaowed. I was quite relieved she wanted to come. I couldn't face going alone. I had no friends and she was the closest companion I had ever had. I felt sorry for her. She had been neglected by my step-mother just as I was and you could see the blue and yellow bruising around her ears where she had been beaten, but still I envied her, she was allowed to sleep in the house near the warm fire, when I had to sleep with the rats in the cellar.

It was a beautiful morning. It was extremely cold for the middle of the summer. The sky was cloudless and blue and the sunlight shone on my silvery-white hair making it gleam. The birds were just rising from their nests and twittering amongst themselves singing beautiful tunes. The smell of fresh bread from "The Baker's" filled the air, making my mouth water. It must have looked a queer sight for any onlooker walking past seeing an albino girl with silvery-white hair full of knots, porcelain skin and pink eyes, wearing dirty ragged clothes and holding a fluffy white cat, but I didn't care. I can't help the way I look. I know I am not normal, but everybody is different in their own ways aren't they?

It was a long journey. I had been travelling days on end by ferry to get to my destination at Callais station near France. I had been waiting for hours as my ferry was cancelled and the next one was in five hours, so I decided to go shopping with my step-mother's money and buy myself some decent clothes. I had bought a pretty, black, slim-fitted, floral chiffon dress which came up to the knee and a pair of six inch stiletto heels which I couldn't exactly walk in yet, however, this did not put me off, I was determined to be able to walk in heels as I had never had a proper pair of shoes before. To complete the outfit, I bought a black pearl necklace with earrings to match and a bright pink pipe for me to smoke my tobacco in.

When I arrived at Callais station, stumbling in my stilettos but still looking gorgeous, holding Tilulah in my arms, I tried to navigate my way to the ticket office to buy a ticket for the Orient Express. It was exciting. People passed by in groups chatting excitedly and the sound of footsteps following them. Young girls around my age were clicking their heels impatiently waiting for the train to arrive and pigeons pecked at the ground, scavaging for food, their beady eyes, swaying in all directions.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of a whistle coming from the distance and the smell of burning coal filled the air. People started rising from their seats and pushing and shoving their way closer to the platform. The whistling got louder and louder and soon the train turned round the bend and lurched forward to a halt outside the platform.

It was the most beautiful train I ever had seen in my life. It was a bright blue, well cleaned steam engine with many carriages, all with gold lining and the words "Orient Express" beared on it in gold writing. It stood their still, clouds of smoke emitting from the steam engine, and the whistle screeching loudly. The air filled with a pleasant burning smell.

"ALL ABOARD THE ORIENT EXPRESS, PLATFORM 2! ALL ABOARD! ALL ABOARD!" shouted a short fat man, who was probably in his 50's with a shiny bald patch in the middle of his circular head.

Curiously, I gave my ticket in to the ticket collector standing outside the train stamping everyone's tickets as they passed and then I went to find a seat near the window. It was over-crowded and claustophobic, so I made my way through the carriages looking for a spare seat to sit in. Finally I found a table by the window in the corner unoccupied, so I navigated my way through people, tripping over their luggage, left in the aisles and then sat in the royal blue and gold seats.

"Alas! The start of a new life!" I muttered to myself.

"In case of a fire, there are emergency exits situated in each carriage, have a safe journey, thankyou." said a voice coming from a speakerphone overhead.

The train started to move and with a soft lurch forward, gradually getting faster and soon the train was at top speed pulling out of the station.