Panic by K.R. Griffiths Read Free Book Online

platform seemed prehistoric. It symbolised the town perfectly.
    Like many of the young people growing up in the area, Rachel had come to view St. Davids as an enemy, oppressing her and stifling her dreams and ambitions.
    Beyond hanging out with friends on street corners and in parks, trying to get hold of alcohol and failing because everyone in the damn place knew exactly who she was as well as her age, there had been little here to relieve the boredom of her teenage years.
    Rachel had left home at twenty-one, as soon as her stint at university had finished, convinced that a life of excitement and riches awaited her in London. Instead her degree had secured her only a job as personal assistant to a lawyer with wandering hands and a wage that would have been more than comfortable in South Wales, but which barely kept the heating on in England's capital.
    Though the proud set of her jaw as she walked along the platform suggested otherwise, s he was returning home at twenty-five with more than a hint of tail between her legs.
    A small bridge took her from the platform up and over the tracks toward the car park on the other side. Rachel started up it, surprised and grateful to find that what had once been a set of steps was now a ramp, allowing her to wheel rather than carry the heavy case. Signs of progress , she supposed, or maybe it was just the case that even a town as forgotten and remote as St. Davids had not escaped the talons of health and safety regulations.
    When she reached other side of the bridge and stepped into the little car park, Rachel pulled up in surprise and disappointment. It was empty.
    On the infrequent occasions that she had returned home over the past four years her father had always been there to greet her, perched on the bonnet of the car, ready to sweep her off her feet and into a bear hug that threatened to crack ribs.
    Each time it happened, she'd struggled free, embarrassed by the public display of affection, but secretly anticipation of that hug had always made the long journey seem shorter, and his absence this time stung like a slap.
    He'd taken her at her word, she supposed glumly, suddenly regretting all the times she had told him she was a grown woman now, perfectly capable of making her own way home. She remembered how the enormous grin on his face had faded with the words and felt her heart break a little.
    Rachel felt suddenly unnerved at the idea that her parents might finally have adjusted to the absence of their little girl, and for the first time felt uncertainty about how her father would react to the news that her temper had once again landed her in trouble, this time at the cost of her job.
    She was mentally prepared for the reaction of her mother to the news that Rachel hoped to move home for a while, ready for the scolding and the disappointed looks. But Dad could always be relied on to fight her corner, and she was secure in the knowledge that Jim Roberts would always look out for his little girl.
    Alone in the foggy, deserted car park, that knowledge suddenly did not seem at all secure.
    Reaching into her jeans pocket, Rachel pulled out the tiny smart phone that had become her main link to the bustling world of the internet, intending to ring her father to ask for a lift. Jason, her younger brother, would have been an option, but she knew that he was driving down from Birmingham, and would not arrive until later. Time to swallow the pride and ask Daddy to pick her up.
    No signal.
    Rachel rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation. Her mother had promised that technology had finally reached St. Davids, that it was possible to get a mobile phone signal anywhere in the area now, but clearly nothing had changed. Landing on the platform at St. Davids station was like landing in the 1970s.
    There was nothing else for it. She'd have to walk.
    Come on Rach , she thought. It's only a couple of miles. Get on with it, you're a grown woman now, remember?
    She pulled up the collar of the