AllFreeNovel
Share Us
ChapterOne
Carrie
Idon’t think this is what Mia had in mind for her wedding…
Rain is slamming into my windshield like I’m driving under Niagara Falls. My poor old wipers are doing their darndest to keep up, but failing miserably. I can’t see a thing.
I’m a bit of a nervous driver under the best of conditions, so this is really starting to freak me out. Secluded dirt mountain road, torrential rain, no cell phone reception—this is bad.
I stop the car and cringe when I hear the violent sound of rain pounding the roof.
What the heck should I do?
I look at my phone. That stupid circle keeps turning, but nothing is being updated. There’s no reception.
There’s nothing but giant trees all around me. I start to think maybe I should have gone left instead of right back at the split about thirty minutes ago.
Mia and Julian are getting married at the Greene Mountain Lodge on Saturday and I’m the maid of honor. I thought that leaving on Thursday would leave me enough time to get there, but with this crazy rainstorm, I’m not so sure. I can’t see a thing and it’s starting to sink in that I’m lost.
The Greene Mountain Lodge is within walking distance of the cute little town on Greene Mountain. I don’t see an adorable little town with cobblestone streets, overpriced stores selling knick-knacks that no one really needs, or cozy pubs that have overpriced beer with weird stuff in it like cranberries and cinnamon. I don’t see a spectacular lodge. I don’t see my friends. I don’t see anything but rain and trees!
“Where the fuck am I?” I scream as I slam my palm onto the steering wheel, setting my horn off like a toddler having a temper tantrum.
There’s no backing out of here. The dirt road has turned to thick mud and it’s crazy steep with these insane drops around every corner. It would be a challenge with full visibility and a team of air traffic controllers guiding my way with those little orange batons. On my own in this rainstorm, turning back would be impossible.
I have to keep going.
I’m not sure what’s at the end of this road, but I’m going to find out.
I put my car back into drive and hit the gas. The tires move, but I don’t. They spin in the mud with an angrywhirlingsound.
“Shit!” I scream as I hit the steering wheel again. “I need a goddamn man!”
I’m a proud woman, but some things require a man. And pushing a car up a mountain through the mud in the middle of a rainstorm is one of them.
I try again and again, sinking deeper into the mud with every slam of my foot.
“Fuck!!!” I scream as I slam my hand onto the horn again. The windshield wiper in front of me snaps and flies off. The thing wasn’t doing much good against the onslaught of rain anyway. I pretty much have the same visibility but without the scraping sound.
Think, Carrie. There’s no one here to save you. You’re on your own, kid.
I look at my receptionless phone and squeeze my eyes shut, trying to keep it together. I wish my dad was here. He’d know exactly what to do. I’d get a lecture about checking weather reports and not leaving out of state without being prepared for every possible scenario, but at least I’d be moving.
I try to pull up Google on my phone to see what to do in this exact situation, but again, no freaking reception. God, what did people do before the internet? Did they just like know stuff or figure it out themselves? Ugh!
There’s no other choice. I have to go out there.
“No!” I gasp when I open the door and a freaking tsunami pours into my car. Everything is soaked. I’m drenched before I even step out of the car. My brand new cute shoes that I was planning on wearing to the pub tonight sink into the thick sloppy mud and get instantly ruined. “Shit! I hate nature!”
It was a beautiful summer day when I left Calgary, so I’m wearing capri jeans and a tank top. No rain jacket, no hood, no water pump to get rid of all the water flooding the inside of my car.
The rain is cold and it’s falling so hard it hurts. It’s like being whipped with little pebbles.
I take one look at my tires and instantly know that I’m fucked. The bottom halves of my tires have disappeared. The mountain ate them.
Maybe I can push it?
I slip and slide on the way to my trunk and give my car a push with all of my might. My feet slip back and I belly-flop into the mud.
