(Half an hour earlier)

The crowd wasn't surrounding them anymore. The brief crushing panic as the bodies pressed against them on all sides faded as the bodies receded, and now they were far away enough to see the mass of people at a distance, a few meters, maybe.

In a way, that was even more terrifying, Emily thought, even more so than when they'd had to cling to one another to stop themselves being separated, even more so than feeling Naiomis hands trembling as the bodies got closer, and the oxygen got thinner and the noise got louder. Now she could actually see what had nearly engulfed them- hundreds of people, like a solid mass, but too jagged, too chaotic to be described as heaving or swelling. They were words that implied a sense of rhythm, of order, of everybody moving in the same way at the same time. This was nothing like that.

Neon yellow police jackets showed through the crowd, through the hundreds of people packed tight in front of them; Emily stood on tiptoe to try to see more clearly.

"They aren't moving...", Naiomi breathed, and dissapointment swept over both of them. So the rumours wren't true.

They weren't letting people out. Probably they'd let no one out.

"Are they-?" A breathless dark haired boy appeared at Naiomis elbow, craning his neck to see through the masses. "We heard they were letting-"

"It's not true" Naimi cut him off, quickly, not wanting him to get his hopes up any longer. "We heard the same rumours, too, thats why we came up here..."

"Just like everyone else here..." Emily could see letdown in the faces closest to her. The shouting began to rise, then fall, erratically, as the truth spread.

"Fuck, thats...fuck..." The boy chewed his lip, glancing back over his shoulder. "My friends and me, we thought we'd be out by now, you know..." He shook his head. "Guess we won't be making the train back tonight, then."

"Sorry..." Naiomi wasn't sure why she was apologizing, but she did so anyway.

"Its not your fault" The boy threw a dark look at a lighted window several storeys above them. "It's not you who should apologize..." It was obvious where he laid the blame. "I should be getting back to break the news, anyway..." He smiled briefly at them. "Good luck, yeah?"

"Good luck..." Both girls echoed him half heartedly as he turned away, weaving through people, towards the brighter lit part of the square.

"Babes, do you want to go back?" Emily leant away from her girlfriends arms to see her face. "You look pretty cold..."

"Not the only one" Naiomi shiverd, and tightend her arms around Emily, who was shivering too. They were well wrapped up against the wintery day, but as time dragged on, the cold had penertrated their layers of clothing, until they were both freezing cold. Emily guessed it had something to do with standing around for so long. No circulation. Not that there was anywhere to go.

"We can go back if you like."

"Do you want to?"

"I'm not botherd" Emily looked back to the main square, then at the crowd in front of them. "Maybe we should stay, in case they start letting people out?"

"Ok, we'll stay, then"

Naiomi didn't have the heart to tell her girlfriend that she didn't think it was going to happen anytime soon.

Although, from the way Emily starred resignedly at the pavement, it looked like she wasn't the only one who didn't really believe it.