WEP - OCTOBER CHALLENGE
Dark Places
THE DRIVE
Graham and Laura waved them off,
calling out, take care, drive safely. Tanya
nodded, giving them a wry smile and said, of course she’d drive safely.
Tanya hated driving home late at
night in the dark. Her boyfriend persuaded her it was her turn to drive so she drank
lemonade and water. It was a 40 minute
drive back to their place and the weather was closing in. The clouds scudded across the bright moon,
darkening the night, the wind picked up as she turned the key in the ignition.
The small, low-slung sports car
started up with its unique rumble. She felt the throb of the engine through her
feet resting lightly on the pedals, up through her bottom sitting on the hard
bucket seat, supposedly the best seating for this type of sports car, not for
her bony bum though. The vibration travelled
up her body, down her arms reaching her fingertips gripping the steering wheel
tightly. She tried to relax as she let go of the clutch and slowly drove out
their friends’ driveway.
Within minutes her boyfriend,
Ben, was asleep, snoring his head off. A
few beers did that to him. She wasn’t a very confident driver, add in darkness,
a storm, thunder and lightning and she was a nervous wreck. Shaking her head Tanya steeled herself for
the drive home. He must trust her driving
ability to fall asleep like that.
No, it was an alcoholic stupor he was in.
She jumped out of her seat as a
clap of thunder reverberated through the car.
Her heart was beating nineteen to the dozen, her grip on the steering
wheel tightened, her knuckles white with the effort of controlling the
car.
Relax, relax, relax. There’s
nothing to be afraid of, it’s just a storm.
Yeah, just a storm at nearly
midnight on Halloween. Up ahead she
could see red brake lights, thank goodness there was another car on the
road. It was so eerie when she couldn't
see anyone else about. She pressed down
on the accelerator, keeping an eye on the speedometer as the needle climbed
steadily up. The engine began to whine,
she eased off the pedal, checked the gear stick, yep, she was in the right
gear. She looked at the road and
couldn't see anything in front of her as the rain pelted down. The windscreen
wipers were going at full blast, barely clearing a space for her to peer out
of.
Relax, Tanya, it’s just a storm.
She could have sworn it was her
father’s voice in her mind. That film
they’d watched at their friends’ house was playing on her mind. ‘An American Werewolf in London.’ Not a
lot of plot but she was jumping all over the place at the scary bits as Graham
and Ben laughed at her reactions. Laura
didn’t seem to mind the film, so Tanya went with it.
Approaching the crossroads she
struggled to remember which turn to take, left or right. She shook Ben’s leg and shook him again. ‘Which way, Ben?’ No response.
She screamed as she shook him again.
‘Which way?’ Tears threatened to
fall from her eyes as he slowly came to.
He took in their surroundings, pointed left before he slumped and
started snoring again. She would not
forget this night in a hurry.
Oh, thank goodness, a main road
at last with some street lighting. Just
as Tanya relaxed a bit, bright lightning lit up the sky in front of her. Blinding her with its intensity it forked
across the road showing up the shadows in the hedgerow, she could have sworn
there were figures there waiting to jump out at the car and claw their way
through the soft top vinyl covering.
Relax duck, relax and concentrate on your driving.
There was her dad’s voice
again. Oh, she wished he was here. He wouldn't have fallen asleep as a
passenger. It was so rude of her
boyfriend. Maybe Ben wouldn't last much
longer. It depends on how he treated her
after this.
Now the storm moved to the side
and followed her. It shadowed the car. It kept parallel to their route. She could see it in her peripheral
vision. She looked to her left, past the
snoring profile of the man sitting beside her, the thunder bellowed its power
at her, mocking her for looking at it.
The forked lightning struck the hillside, lighting up the fields below,
an eerie white light suffused her vision. She tried to control the car as her trembling
limbs juddered on the accelerator. Her
hands tensed on the wheel. They tyres
seemed to lose their grip on the road, she steered round a blind bend, just
missing a lamp post on the side of the road.
The pavement reared up to meet them, she bumped over the kerb and
managed to manoeuvre the car back on to the roadway.
That was a close call. The car stopped. She had to get going again. The lashing rain
took that moment to lessen to a drizzle and then petered out completely. Tanya looked in the rear view mirror, it was
pitch black behind her, the street lights had gone out. She looked ahead as she slowly edged forward
again. The moonlight lit up the road, the clouds had gone, the lunar glow shone
clearly on the road ahead which was dry as a bone, as though the storm hadn't
reached this part of the route.
Well done, darling, well done.
She parked outside their house, breathing
sighs of relief. Ben woke up, stumbled
out of the car barely waiting for her to lock the vehicle and open the door
with her key. He stumbled to the sofa
and instantly started snoring again.
She couldn't believe what had
just happened. OK so it was
Halloween. Did that really make such a
difference? One thing she knew, she
would never drive home late at night during a storm on 31st October
ever again.
Word count: 1000
17 October 2017