Читать книгу The White Rose - Madilina Tresca - Страница 10

Chapter Four

Sydney Cursed?

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own Hall Station became the focus of mediums, clairvoyants and psychics from all over the world. Mirela's Rose sparked a fascination to this supernatural phenomena never heard of in the city's history. Business was booming for Sydney hotels. The incredible story was made all the more believable by the many women who had come forward and said that they or their grandmothers and even greatgrandmothers had been a victim of this curse.

All platforms at Town Hall became an array of colourful charms and crystals blutacked to chains dangling from anywhere and everywhere. All were hoping to see the white rose appear. They walked up and down all the platforms, stopping, watching and waiting. Day and night the platform brimmed with people carrying charms and lanterns.

No white rose appeared.

Leaving and boarding Town Hall Station became a nightmare for those commuting to and from work. The office of the Lord Mayor of Sydney overflowed with complaints from the entire CBD. Congestion caused people to be late for work. It was now taking up to an hour to get off the train and make an exit. Children were crying and the safety of passengers was becoming a great concern.

One day a French girl was found walking up and down the platform in tears and clearly stressed by the number of people. She was lost, couldn't speak English and couldn't find her boyfriend. A passenger standing close by heard her speak and offered to assist. He spoke French and translated for the official. She and her boyfriend had arranged to meet there over four hours previously. She had left her mobile at the hotel. At that moment a loud voice could be heard coming from up the stairs on platform 1.

'Marie! Marie! Marie!'

All looked up to see a strapping young Frenchman run down the stairs, pushing through the crowd to greet his girlfriend. He stopped in his tracks at the bottom of the stairs and looked past Marie's shoulder. All the mediums present followed his gaze to a bench. The boyfriend walked past Marie and all moved aside as they watched him go to pick something up. The only problem was that there was nothing there to see. As he turned round to his sweetheart his face dramatically changed. All who were there witnessed this phenomena and covered their mouths in astonishment. Two male mediums made a grab for the young man's hand that was supposedly holding the rose but the Frenchman quickly waved his hands up in the air, gave a firm "Adieu" to Marie, ran back up the stairs and was gone. Marie fainted and was taken into the Station Manager's office which luckily had been the one closest to the incident.

The mediums circled the spot where they believed the White Rose had appeared. None of them could see it.

News of this incident caused a global sensation. Christopher's book was an international best seller. Tourists began to arrive in droves to Town Hall Station. Security was increased and people control become a nightmare as train officials and the Minister for Transport met to discuss how to deal with this new problem.

Skyla became intrigued with Christopher Marriston. She kept up-to-date with all the articles published in newspapers, magazines and internet. The story more than fascinated her and she did not understand why. She digested all the articles written and taped all the TV shows he had appeared on and replayed them over and over again. Her family knew the story of her first boyfriend, Ryan, and like her, were also intrigued but not as obesessed as Skyla had become. They noticed how this book and its story continued to consume their mother's interest and attention, much to their frustration.