Rachel's journey out of darkness
When Rachel North tied the knot last April there were 37 people helping her celebrate that until two years ago were just a passing face on her commute to work.
When Rachel North tied the knot last April there were 37 people helping her celebrate that until two years ago were just a passing face on her commute to work.
But when a young man armed with a bomb stepped on her rush hour Piccadilly Line train on London's Underground on July 7, 2005 her life was to change completely.
The train was blown up at King's Cross and 26 people were killed, with many more injured.
Rachel, 37, who was stood in the first carriage, was just seven feet from the bomber and was lucky to escape with her life. She was left with just minor injuries including bleeding ears and shrapnel cuts, although the emotional impact runs much deeper.
However, Rachel, was unfortunately probably better placed than most to deal with the mental horror she faced as three years before the advertising executive survived a violent attack which included having a cigarette stubbed out on her face and being raped by a stranger in her own home. Her attacker was eventually jailed for 15 years but Rachel suffered from post traumatic stress disorder following the incident.
Three years on, having now come to terms with both ordeals, Londoner Rachel has turned the blog she used to let out her feelings into a book called Out of the Tunnel and yesterday she spoke to students at the University of Wolverhampton.
Ironically, on the day of the London bombings she had woke up nervous as the woman's magazine featuring her story was being published. She was reading the article as she waited for that fateful train to pull up.
She says: "As I read the magazine I found myself becoming stressed and realised I was suffering from flashbacks from the attack. I managed to calm myself down and forced myself to get on the train.
"We had just left Kings Cross when I heard an almighty bang and everything changed in a heartbeat. I felt an enormous blow which pushed me to the floor and I could feel a body wiggling on top of me. You don't know if you are alive or dead, you pat yourself down and try to scream. I heard a voice ask 'are you all right?' and realised it was me. Everyone who was not seriously injured began to help and comfort each other. What we didn't know was that there had been three other bombings across London and 52 people had been killed. We staggered down the tunnel having been evacuated by the train driver. It felt like the longest walk in the world. We carried each other, and were even telling each other stupid jokes."
When Rachel arrived at the platform she was put in a taxi and taken to hospital. She says when she left she was consumed by an urge to find out what had happened to all those other people on the train. She logged on to a London social networking website and joined in discussions.
She soon found herself in contact with eight or nine people who had also been on the train that day and she suggested they all meet. Calling themselves the Kings Cross United at first the group talked of day-to-day struggles, but over the last 19 months they have bonded and thankfully their conversations have moved on.
Rachel got back on the underground just five days after the bombings. She says she is thankful to know that if the worst happens again it is her fellow commuters who will hold her hand and help her walk down that tunnel.