#22 4 MINUTES
Mia didn't notice how quickly time had passed. It was too late when she looked at her watch. She jumped up rapidly and explained:
-I am so sorry, but my train is going to depart without me if I will not get there on time!
In a rush, she put on her shoes, she didn't even close her coat, Mia just threw it over her shoulder and was almost gone. At the last second, she turned around, came to Mrs. Nowak and kissed her quickly on her right cheek. Then she was finally gone.
From here, it would take 30 minutes to the main railway station if Mia would run as fast as she could. An easier solution would be to take a tram, but Mia wasn't lucky and the tram was already passing her. In addition, even with a tram it wasn't so sure that Mia would reach the station in time.
Not to lose further precious minutes, she kept on running, hoping she would be fast enough. Normally it wouldn't be a problem for her, but today, the snow was slushy under her feet and she had to focus on where she put her feet.
She liked to run for fun, for pleasure, in her free time. She didn't like to run when she was stressed by a deadline or under pressure. Now she was running for her life. Early this morning when she was escaping to the bus station in Karpacz, her two classmates wanted to go with her. They have never been in Wroclaw before and wanted to visit the city and if Mia could travel so far away, then they felt encouraged to do the same. There wasn't much time for discussions and Mia finally gave in. They wanted to meet at 4 o’clock at the railway station to go back to Karpacz. The train was departing the station 10 minutes later. It was quarter to 4 pm on Mia’s watch as she looked at it in the kitchen and realised how late it was.
Somehow, she was convinced she wouldn't make it in time, but she was a fighter and the pressure motivated her to run faster and not to pay any attention the her breathing, her lungs starting to protest. To run a long route with moderate speed is a different thing than to run fast for a long time. The first one is possible, the second one is quite unrealistic. Every human being is capable to run fast for some minutes, but you cannot give a hundred percent for almost half an hour.
Mia felt her muscles start to object and she knew she had to slow down. And she had no time to slow down.
She still kept running at an impressive speed, even if it wasn't easy to pass all these people on the sidewalk. They seemed to be annoyed by her behaviour. She visibly destroyed the dynamic on the streets.
When she was about to lose her breath, she saw the railway station and her thoughts couldn't be heard anymore. The main entrance is located north of the station, on Pilsudskiego Street, with two additional entrances located on both ends of the main hall. The rear entrance is placed behind the tracks, to the south, facing Sucha Street. She focused on the building. She admired the architecture. A Royal Prussian architect designed it in the mid-19th century and it still looked impressive with two thin towers watching over the main entrance.
Mia held her breath and came into the station like a rocket-woman. She stopped in front of the departure board and in a second, she saw what she was looking for: platform 4.
She started to run again, but this time she wasn't able to be fast enough. There were too many people with suitcases, cases, chests, trunks, bags, children, dogs, cats and the whole railway station had its own rhythm. Mia tried to pass people politely, she almost danced between them and as she finally got to platform 4 she saw the train starting to move.
Her first reflex was to jump on the departing train already in motion. This thought scared her a little. One of the popular actors, Cybulski, died here in Wroclaw while he was attempting to get the train in this way. Mia wasn't able to move. She was tired and she didn't reach anything. It was humiliating. She tried to get her breath back and bowed down a little, while she put her hands on her knees.
She was angry. She was disappointed. In addition, she had to find another way to get back now.
Lovefool (Introduction) Page 23