Betrayed
1st place CLIFFHANGER COMPETITION SHORT STORY WINNER £100
By Pauline Massey
Pauline Massey enjoys entering WM competitions most months as they provide a good challenge to write in different ways, and on diverse themes. She has won three, and been a runner-up twice.
Last year she had three stories published in an anthology and her short play, Go for it, Girl!, will be produced by Living the Drama, Oxford, in autumn. She completed her first middle-grade novel for children, which is currently looking for an audience. When not writing she enjoys travelling, especially to out of the way places, which she considers ‘very similar to the “adventure” of writing’.
I am here, in a railway carriage with two men I do not trust. And that is sugar-coating the situation. I’m here, on a train which is stranded somewhere in the countryside because of heavy snow. There are only three of us in this carriage, me and two men. And these two men know who I am. And I fear they may dispatch me before the wait is over. If I move they will make their move. Someone must have blown my cover.
To look at me you would not guess what I do for a living. In fact, you might think I’m retired. I’ve been made to look that way with my grey hair and glasses, my stooped look. I can blend in, you see. No-one sees older women. They become ‘invisible’. And that’s just the way it suits me, and the service.
Who would believe that the little old lady sitting on the park bench is watching you? She fiddles in her big bag, she pulls out an old newspaper. She’s just passing the time. Probably because she lives on her own and is lonely. She comes to the park where she can see people and feel part of life again. Only, it isn’t like that at all.