Craig stopped outside Bank Cross UndergroundStation. He could hear voices on the steps.

'We won the cup ... we won the cup ... ee-aye-addio,we won the cup.'

There were eight or nine of them. They were comingup the steps and they were shouting. Craig saw the redand white shirts.

'Oh, no,' he thought. 'Football fans.' The street wasempty. They were near him now. Craig could smellwhisky. One of the fans stopped and looked at Craig.He looked younger than the other ones.

'Do you want a fight?' he said.Craig smiled. He didn't say anything.'You were looking at me!' shouted the fan.'I wasn't,' said Craig quietly.'You were!'One of the older fans held his arm.'It's all right, Benny. Leave him alone. Let's go.''But he was ...''It's not important, Benny. Forget it.'The fans pushed past him.'Man-chester! Man-chester! Manchester United!'

1

1 Bank Cross

UNDERGROUND

'You're too late, kid,' one shouted. 'The last train'salready gone.'

But Craig already knew that. He walked slowly downthe steps and into the station. The Station Supervisorwas closing the door of the ticket office. Craig went overto him.

'Excuse me,' he said. 'My name's Craig Dixon. I'mlooking for Mrs Marlow.'

The Supervisor turned round. 'Are you the new nightcleaner?'

'Yeah,' said Craig. 'It's a holiday job. I'm a student atLondon University.'

'Holiday job? You won't have a very good holiday here.'Craig laughed. 'I need the money,' he said, 'and I like

working at night.'

2

'You won't get much money here, either,' said theSupervisor.

'Where can I find Mrs Marlow?' said Craig.'She's having a cup of tea. You'll find her on platform

two on the Northern Line. It's that way. Go down theescalator and turn right.'

'Thanks,' said Craig.It was after midnight and the escalator went down

into an empty Underground station. There were nopeople and there was no noise. Craig walked off theescalator and turned right. He walked along a tunnel. Hisshoes sounded very loud on the ground. There was anecho. It sounded like two pairs of shoes. Craig stopped.He could still hear shoes on the ground. They weren'this shoes. Craig suddenly felt cold. Someone ... orsomething ... was behind him in the tunnel. He turnedround. Something moved quickly across the other endof the tunnel and disappeared.

'Hey!' shouted Craig. His voice echoed around him,'HEY ... Hey ... hey!' Then there was no sound.

Craig hurried along the tunnel to the platform. Fourpeople were sitting on a seat. There were two womenand two men. They were holding plastic cups of tea.Craig hurried over to them.

'Hello,' he said quickly. 'My name's Craig and I ...'One of the women stood up.'Are you all right?' she said. 'You look afraid to me.'One of the men laughed.'He doesn't like the dark,' he said.'There was someone behind me in the tunnel,' said

Craig. 'I looked round and I saw someone, just for amoment.'

'There's no one down here,' said the woman. 'Onlyus. Hey, Martha, get him a nice hot cup of tea.'

Craig took the cup and drank some tea.'I'm Elsa Marlow,' said the first woman. 'I'm the

Supervisor. And this is Martha, and Frank and Danny.''Hi,' said Craig.'Where are you from, Craig?' said Elsa.'Kilburn,' said Craig. 'I live just near the High Road.''Where's your family from?''My mum's from Jamaica. My dad's from Scotland,'

said Craig.'Which part of Jamaica?''Montego Bay,' said Craig.'OK, child. We're going to be good friends, I can see

4

that. I'm from Jamaica, too. I'm from Kingston. AndMartha here is from Scotland. Don't worry about Frankand Danny. They're just English!'

Craig smiled. His grandmother in Jamaica alwayscalled him 'child'. She called his mother and father 'child'too. People often said 'child' in Jamaica.

'What are you doing down here?' said Elsa. 'This isn'ta good job for a young man, you know. And how old areyou?'

'I'm nineteen. I'm a student,' said Craig.'Good!' said Elsa. 'Now, you work hard at university.

Then you won't have to work down here with us.''You listen to Elsa, kid,' said Frank. 'She'll look after

you. Sit down! We don't start work until half past. It'stime for tea.'

Craig sat down. He looked back at the tunnel. Wasthere anyone there? No. He was sure there wasn't.

2 The London Underground

The first night was hard work. The electricity wasturned off and they had to walk along the tunnels

between the stations. At every station, they cleaned theplatform and walked on to the next one. They stoppedfor tea at Tyler Street Station. Elsa sat next to Craig.

'You're a good worker,' she said. 'We need an extrapair of hands this month. We've got more work.'

5

'More work?' asked Craig.'Yes,' she said. 'You'll see tomorrow night. They're

going to do some building work in the tunnel at BankCross. They're going to move trains along the tunnels forthe workmen. Sometimes the electricity will be on, andsometimes it will be off. Everything will take longer.'

'What are they doing?' said Craig.'Oh, there's an old tunnel near Bank Cross. They're

closing it. They're building a wall across it.''An old tunnel?' said Craig. 'What do you mean?'Frank looked at them.'Be careful, kid, or Elsa's going to tell you the history

of the London Underground. It's a long story!''It sounds interesting,' said Craig.Elsa was smiling. 'I like you, child,' she said. 'And

maybe I'm going to tell you the story ...'

6

'She knows more about the London Undergroundthan anyone,' said Martha. 'She's writing a book.'

'She was on TV,' said Frank, 'in a quiz programme. Sheanswered questions about the Underground. And shewas first.'

'And I won a little silver cup,' said Elsa.Craig looked at Elsa carefully. She was about fifty-

five, maybe older. She was about the same age as hisgrandmother.

'I'd like to know about the Underground,' he said.'What do you want to know?' she said, then she spoke

very quickly. 'It's the oldest and longest undergroundrailway in the world. They started work on theMetropolitan Line in 1860, and it opened on January10th 1863. It carried nine and a half million people in itsfirst year. The first railway trains had steam engines.They couldn't build the really deep tunnels - the "tubes"- like this one until they had electric trains. This lineopened in 1890. The deepest station is 67 metres belowground on the Northern Line near Hampstead ...'

'OK, OK!' said Craig, but Elsa didn't stop.'There are 254 miles of line with 105 miles

underground ... oh, sorry, child, that's 409 kilometresand 169 kilometres. The London Underground carriesabout 800 million people a year, and ...' She stoppedsuddenly. Those are just the statistics. Tomorrow I'll tellyou the stories.'

Elsa stood up. "We haven't finished work yet,' she said.

7

'We still have two more stations. Let's go.'Craig walked along the tunnel with Frank. Elsa was

walking alone. She was very quiet now. You couldn'tsee anything, just the black sides of the tunnel.

'Sometimes, at night, when we're down here ... youhear things,' said Frank. 'Sometimes you see things.'

'What kind of things?' asked Craig.'Music,' said Frank. 'Voices. And there's nobody there.'Craig thought about the sound of shoes in the tunnel.'Stop talking nonsense to the boy, Frank.'Craig looked up. Elsa was standing next to them.

'Don't listen to Frank,' she said. 'There's nothing to beafraid of in the Underground. Nothing.'

3 Tommy

Craig was early for work the next night. Bank CrossStation was still busy. It was a cold night and snow

was beginning to fall. He walked down the steps. Hecould hear the sound of a flute. There were alwaysbuskers at tube stations, playing or singing for money.

An old busker was standing at the bottom of the steps.He had long white hair, and he was wearing a long greycoat. He was playing quietly. Craig looked at the oldman's hands. They were blue with cold. There was ahat on the ground with a few coins in it. Craig put a 50pcoin in the hat.

8

'Thanks,' said Craig. 'I like Mozart.'The old man stopped playing and looked at Craig.'It's Mozart's Flute Concerto in G major, isn't it?' said

Craig. 'I've got it on CD at home.'The old man didn't say anything.'He can't speak, child.'Craig turned round. Elsa was standing behind him.

'He can't say a word.' Elsa pulled something from herbag, and gave it to the old man.

'There you go, Tommy,' she said. 'They're chickensandwiches tonight. I got a nice piece of chicken.'

The old man took the food, and nodded. Then heturned and pointed at Craig and made a strange noise.

'I know,'said Elsa. 'He's a good boy. It's late, Tommy.They're closing the station soon.'

The old man took his hat and flute and walked away.Craig followed Elsa to the escalator.

'There are a lot of stories down here, child,' she said.'I told you that yesterday. And Tommy's one of them. Heplayed the flute in the Royal Symphony Orchestra. Butthat was forty years ago. He had a car crash, and his wifedied. He hasn't spoken since then.'

'Elsa, how do you know all this?' said Craig. 'I mean,Tommy can't speak and ...'

'I keep my eyes and ears open, child. That's all.''Do you bring him food every day?' Craig asked.'He hasn't got anybody,' said Elsa. 'Someone has to

help. He's at Bank Cross every night. He waits for me.'

4 Voices in the dark

On the platform there was a small crowd ofworkmen. A train was in the station. The workmen

were getting onto it. The cleaners were watching them.'What are they doing?' Craig asked Elsa. 'You didn't

really tell me yesterday.''There's an old side tunnel just outside Bank Cross

Station. There isn't any line in it, and it goes nowhere ...now. They're building a wall across the entrance.'

'A side tunnel?''Yes,' said Elsa. 'It goes to the old Church End Station.

Don't you know about the ghost stations, child? They're

10

closed. Some of them were never open. You see, theybuilt stations and didn't use them, or the stations weretoo near other stations. They closed them years ago.'

'So, they never used Church End Station, then,' saidCraig.

Frank was listening. 'Oh, yes, they did,' he said.'Haven't you heard of Church End Station?'

'They don't teach these kids much history,' said Elsa.'What happened?' said Craig.'It was in 1940,' said Frank, 'in the Second World War.

People slept in the Underground stations because ofthe bombs. There were bombs nearly every night Well,a bomb hit Church End Station. A big bomb. It hit thestreet right outside the station doors. There were twohundred people on the station platform that night. Theynever opened the station again. It's very near BankCross, so they didn't really need it.'

'Why are they closing the tunnel now?' said Craig.'I don't know,' said Frank. They took away the line

and they closed the other end of the tunnel in the 1950s.'Craig thought about the empty station. 'Have you ever

been there?' he asked.'Church End? Me?' said Frank. 'No, there are strange

things down there.''More nonsense,' said Elsa. 'It's just an old tunnel.

There's nothing there.' She looked at Frank. 'Frankthinks there are ghosts of people, not ghost stations.'

'I've heard things,' said Frank. 'Strange things.'

11

'What about you, Elsa?' Craig asked. 'Have you heardanything?'

'No', said Elsa quickly. 'Nothing at all. OK, we have alot of work tonight. We can't stay here and listen toFrank's silly ideas all night.'

That night the cleaners travelled by train because theelectricity was on in the tunnel. First they cleaned all ofthe stations south of Bank Cross, then they movednorth. There was one more station that they had toclean. It was late and Craig was feeling tired. He wassitting next to Elsa on the train. After a few minutestheir train stopped. They were near the workmen. Therewere bright lights in the tunnel. Craig looked out of thewindow at them. The workmen were finishing for thenight. The workmen's train was in front of the cleaners'train, so they had to wait.

'Why do they have to work from this side?' askedCraig. 'There are no electric lines in the old tunnel.'

'This is the only way into the old tunnel,' said Elsa.'Frank told you, they closed the other end years ago.'

'I'd like to see that station,' said Craig.Craig could hear the workmen. They were climbing

onto their train. Suddenly the tunnel lights went off asthe workmen's train moved away. It was very quiet.Frank spoke. 'There it is!' he said.

Craig could hear voices, strange echoing voices a longway from the train. He looked at Frank, then at Elsa.

'I can't hear anything,' she said.Then their train's engine started and Craig couldn't

hear anything either. Frank moved from his seat andsat down next to Craig.

'Did you hear it, too?' he said quietly.'Yes,' said Craig.Frank smiled. 'It's not only me, then,' he said. 'There

were voices.''Yes,' said Craig. 'There were voices.'

5 Late for work

The next afternoon Craig went to the universitylibrary and looked at the books about London. He

took a book from the shelf. It was a street atlas from1937. Craig looked through the atlas. There was anUnderground map. It looked nearly the same as amodern one. He found Bank Cross on the map, andthere was the next station, Church End, maybe four orfive hundred metres away. Elsa was right. They didn'tneed another station there. The streets looked different.They were narrower and shorter. Craig tried to think.What was there now? He went back to the bookshelfand found a modern street atlas. He opened it and foundthe same map. There were big office buildings therenow. Everything was modern. The streets were bombedin the war, and there were no old buildings. He lookedcarefully for Church End Station. It wasn't there. The tallEast London Tower was in its place.

One night, about two weeks later, Craig was late forwork. He hurried down the escalator, along the tunneland onto the platform. No one was there. He looked athis watch. He was too late. The cleaners weren't there.What was he going to do? He sat down on the seat.

'Hey, Craig!' a voice called. Craig looked up. TheStation Supervisor was walking towards him.

'Sorry, I'm late,' said Craig. 'It won't happen again.'

14

'They've gone without you,' said the Supervisor. 'Butyou can do a little job for me. I need to get a message tothe workmen. I think they've turned their phone off.'

'I can walk along the line to them,' said Craig. 'Uh, theelectricity's turned off, isn't it?'

'Yes,' said the Supervisor. 'The electricity's off.They're finishing tonight. They're closing the tunnel.Give them this message. They needn't hurry too much.They've got an extra hour. We aren't turning theelectricity on until later.'

'All right,' said Craig.'Wait a moment, Craig,' said the Supervisor. 'How are

you going to find them in the dark? Take this torch.Don't lose it! And be careful!'

Craig took the torch and turned it on. He climbeddown onto the line and started walking into the tunnel.After a hundred metres he could see lights in thedistance. He walked quickly along the line. Then hecould see the workmen's train.

So, they were closing the tunnel tonight. He was nevergoing to see Church End Station. The workmen wereputting a big piece of metal over the hole in the wall.Craig gave them the message. One of them looked atCraig.

'What are you doing here without a helmet?' he said.'Who sent you here? It's dangerous.'

Craig looked round. All the workmen were wearingmetal helmets on their heads.

15

16

'Well, we're stopping for half an hour,' said theworkman. 'Do you want a cup of tea before you go back?'

'No, thanks,' said Craig. 'I've got to hurry.'Craig walked back towards Bank Cross. The workmen

were getting onto their train. The train was dark becausethere wasn't any electricity.

Craig stopped and turned off his torch. No one waslooking at him. He had half an hour. He turned roundand walked back towards the lights. He stayed near theside of the tunnel. The workmen were busy with theirtea. He could hear them talking and laughing on theirtrain. Now he was next to the hole in the wall. Quicklyhe climbed through and stopped. No, nothing. Nobodysaw him. Craig turned on the torch and started to walkcarefully along the old tunnel.

The old station was right in front of him. The platformwas there. Craig shone his torch up. He could see theold London Transport sign 'Church End'. Then he heardsomething, something small, running along the line. Itran over Craig's foot. 'Ugh,' Craig thought, 'a rat.'

Craig got to the platform. He put his torch carefully onthe platform and started to climb up. Then he heardthem. Voices. He couldn't understand the words. Therewere echoes, but he thought he could hear a man, thenhe thought he heard a woman who was screaming. Thena child who was crying quietly. Craig felt cold. Thensomething ran across his hand, Craig jumped back, hewas falling and then everything was dark.

17

18

6 Nobody knows

Craig opened his eyes. He could see a small lightabove him. His head hurt badly, and his back hurt

too. He was lying below the platform. The torch wasstill on the platform and it was still shining. Craig got upand took the torch. He touched his head, then looked athis hand. It was red with blood. How long was he downthere? He looked at his watch in the torchlight. Twohours! What about the hole?

He ran along the line. In front of him, the tunnel wasblack. He couldn't see the workmen's lights. Then heheard a loud noise. It was echoing along the tunnel.That was a train! The electricity was on again in thetunnel outside! The new metal wall shone in thetorchlight. Craig hit it hard, and shouted. Another trainwent by. It was no good. Nobody out there could hearhim. And nobody knew he was in here.

Craig walked slowly back to Church End Station. Heturned his torch on and off. It was shining all the timehe was on the ground. Two hours. How long was thetorch good for? Three hours? Maybe four. Not long.Then he was at the Church End platform again. Heclimbed up. His head felt strange. He had to sit down. Heturned off the torch. His eyes were closing. Craigthought about the rats. He couldn't go to sleep. Hecouldn't ... but then he was asleep.

19

Craig was dreaming about an Underground station. There werepeople everywhere. They were sleeping on the platform. Therewere men and women in uniform. He could hear crashes.Someone screamed. Another voice said, 'Be quiet! We're tryingto get some sleep here!' Then there were more crashes. Thecrashing noises were getting nearer. Bombs. Everyone wasscreaming. They couldn't get out! There was no way out! Hecould smell smoke. Fire! The station was on fire. There wasonly one way out, and that was along the line ... then he feltwater. Cold water on his head. What was it?

Craig opened his eyes. He could see a small fire andhe could smell the smoke. He turned round. It was acandle. A candle was burning. He could feel a hand onhis arm. There was someone there.

'Who is it?' he said. There was no reply. The handpulled his arm. Craig got up, the hand was pulling him.Craig followed.

'My torch!' he said. 'What about my torch?'Someone pushed the torch into his hand. Craig turned

it on.He could see long white hair, then a face.'Tommy!'The old man was smiling at him. He pulled Craig's

arm again. Craig followed him along the platform. Theycame to a door. Tommy pushed him through the door.There was a dark tunnel, but at the end he could see a

20

light. Some candles were burning. In the light from thecandles, Craig could read a sign above a door:

Craig looked through the door. There was a table anda chair and a bed. An old oil fire was burning. On thetable was a small radio and Tommy's flute.

'Do you live here?' Craig asked.Tommy nodded. Craig looked at the radio - the voices!

and then at the flute - the music!

Craig thought. Some of the older stations still hadpassenger lifts, not escalators. This was the old lift fromChurch End Station, and Tommy lived in it. It was hishome.

'Tommy,' he said, 'we can't get out! They've closedthe tunnel. And no one knows we're here.'

7 It's a long story . . .

T ommy was pulling him up some metal stairs. Ofcourse! All the stations had stairs. They needed

stairs when the electricity was off. The stairs went roundand round. They stopped. Tommy was holding a candle.Craig had the torch. Tommy pulled Craig's arm againand they moved into another smaller dark tunnel. Craigshone the torch around. There were old signs on thewall. He read, 'To the Northern Line'. After a time,Tommy stopped. He was holding the candle up, so Craigcould see his face. Tommy put his hand up. He tried tospeak, 'Shhhh' ... 'Shhh.'

'Yes,' said Craig, 'shhh ... you want me to be quiet.'Tommy nodded. There was a metal door in front of

them. Tommy put his head against the wall. He waslistening carefully. Craig couldn't hear anything. ThenTommy took an old long metal key from his coat.

He turned the key quietly and pushed the door. Lightcame into the dark tunnel. It hurt Craig's eyes.

22

Tommy pulled Craig's arm again. They went throughthe door, and Craig found himself in a strange room.There was light, but it wasn't bright. There was a noiseover his head. What was it? Yes, it was an escalator.They were under the escalator at Bank Cross. Tommyclosed the door behind them and turned the key.

He pulled Craig to the side. There was another metaldoor. Tommy opened it quickly and pulled Craig throughit. They were outside at the bottom of the escalator.There was nobody there.

Tommy touched Craig's head, and tried to speak.'Daw ...dah ...doctor!' he said.

'You spoke!' said Craig. 'Tommy, you spoke!'Tommy was smiling. 'Doctor! Doctor!''Go on, Tommy,' said Craig. 'You can do it!''Don't ... don't tell!' said Tommy.'Don't tell anybody about your home? No, I won't,'

said Craig. 'I won't tell anyone. Doesn't anyone know?''Elsa,' said Tommy. 'Elsa.''Of course!' said Craig. 'Elsa knows. That's why she

"doesn't hear" the noises.''What are you doing here, child?'Elsa was there behind them.'It's a long story,' said Craig. 'Another Underground

story.'