THE JOURNEY

The Words seemed to slowly run down the mirror as Tom realised they were written in blood. His whole body began to shake as he wondered what in fact the words meant and secondly where he had recently seen them. "Yes" he said,” on the open diary and the laptop on the train. "Terribilis Est. Lucus Iste" he repeated over and over until it dawned on him it was in fact Latin. But what did it mean and who would write such words?

Suddenly for no apparent reason each word began to run down the mirror and change into English, Terribilis became Terrible, whilst Est. became Is, then Locus into Judgement, and lastly Iste spelt out the word that. Tom began to read the words in English, Terrible is Judgement That. He then juggled the words around and came up with, "That Judgement is Terrible" and although still puzzled it sounded right to Tom.

Tom had only ever received an envelope with his victims picture in it, payment had always been made through a box number so he never knew his victims on a personal basis. The Mobile phone was still ringing as Tom began to wonder how long the tunnel was, bearing in mind Tom was no stranger to tunnels.

Three years earlier whilst serving time in Walton Jail he had a near death experience when the light in the tunnel began to fade and the air in his lungs seemed to freeze. As Tom began to walk faster through the empty compartments he only stopped to catch his breath and reach inside his jacket pocket to pull out the photo they had given him of his next victim. "Jesus Christ" he said as his pulse reached boiling point, the photo was just a blank picture. Was Tom dreaming or was it really a severed finger he had seen in the toilet earlier?

Slowly Tom pushed open the toilet door as the sweat ran down his forehead. The electrical flex was the first thing Tom noticed and then the body astride the urinal. Tom wondered had he done his job already, or had someone done it for him? The guy's hand was blood red and he was missing a finger. Had he written those words with what was left of his finger, and why, if so, in Latin? Maybe the guy was a teacher or something. Tom never knew what his victims did as long as he got paid!

"Wake up Luvvy" The voice rang in Tom's ears as he wiped the sleep from his eyes. “Got to clean up after those dirty buggers” she said as Tom noticed her frail figure; she was a women in her seventies.. "They must have been in a bloody hurry, they left half full cups of coffee, a diary and one of those computer things with some funny words on it”. The old women was a repeater and told the story over and over until Tom felt his head explode. "Looking for something Luvvy”, she said as Tom Replied. "Er I lost a small plastic” Suddenly she interrupted by Saying, "You know what mister I found what looked like a finger and it scared me stiff I can tell you.” "What did you do with it?”, Tom asked abruptly. "Gave it to my boss I did, blimey I bet someone is in pain” She replied, "Was in pain” Tom said to himself.

As Tom stepped through the carriage door she shouted,” Mind how you go luvvy the train's still in the cleaning shed and it's a long way down”. It was in that instant Tom realised he had fallen asleep and the reason he had not seen any lights was the mere fact the train had pulled into the cleaning shed after the passengers had left, but what of the diary, the laptop etc?, had he also dreamt that?. Although Tom knew his victim would be on the train, who did kill the guy, and who cut his finger off and why?

The cold water from the station bathroom was refreshing as Tom wiped his eyes with the paper towel, but what he saw in the mirror convinced him it was not a dream after all. "Terribilis Est. Locus Iste” written in what looked like blood. Was Tom the killer or was it all just a dream? “I knew that time spent in the prison library would pay off one day, and they all laughed when I said I wanted to learn Latin”, Tom Sheldon said to himself as he left the station bathroom.