Chapter 6
It is dark and quiet in the compartment when Filippa wakes. She is groggy, no doubt still drunk, and can’t see a thing in the dense gloom. All she can hear is heavy breathing from her sleeping companions, and the regular clunk of the metal rails as the train races through the night.
Something is wrong.
She is lying on her back and doesn’t have room to move. The back of her head is touching the wall, and she feels trapped.
Why is it so cramped?
The realization hits her in a second, and her whole body goes ice cold. She is not alone in the bunk. An unfamiliar smell reaches her nostrils, a mixture of alcohol and sweat.
It is way too close.
It is suffocating her.
Then she becomes aware of the hands groping their way around her body. Fingers fumble over her collarbone and breasts, try to find their way beneath the T-shirt she sleeps in.
One hand finds the zip of her jeans and slips inside the fabric. Someone is breathing heavily in her ear, pressing their body against her chest with such force that she can hardly breathe.
Filippa tries to orient herself, but everything is spinning around.
Her arms are under the blanket, and she can’t free them in order to defend herself.
She knows she ought to scream, but the fear is paralyzing.
She can’t remember how to do it; she simply lies there hating herself for being so passive.
When she eventually manages to open her mouth, not a sound emerges. It is as if her tongue is refusing to cooperate.
Is she going to be raped here, among her friends, on the way to ?re?
Is this even happening?
The dizziness takes over, and she closes her eyes.
A sound comes from one of the bottom bunks. There is a rustling noise, and a deep voice mumbles sleepily, “What are you doing?”
The weight instantly disappears. Filippa can move again. Everything is back to normal.
There is a thud, as if the person has jumped down and landed on the floor. Filippa stares into the darkness.
Was there really someone there, or was she just dreaming?
The only sound is the rhythmic clunk of the metal rails.
And Filippa drops off to sleep again.