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“You know hands free is legal, right?”
“You know there’s still 1.6 million crashes caused by phones every year, right? Even those using hands free.”
The guys know how I feel about this. I lost both my parents to a car crash when I was sixteen. The driver was texting. It wasn’t even an emergency, which would somehow have made it more bearable. He was telling his girlfriend he wanted takeout for dinner. Two lives ended and one destroyed and irrevocably changed forever because of a chow mein. No beansprouts.
“Touché, brother,” North says softly. He knows the holidays are tough for me, even twenty-five years later. Because of course the fucker didn’t want to cook on Christmas Eve. He wanted Chinese. Waking up Christmas morning to the news that both ofmy parents had died was the worst day of my life, so yeah, this time of year sucks fucking balls.
Luckily, North changes the topic. “How long do you think you’ll be?”
“Sat Nav says another hour, but I think it’s being optimistic.”
It’s North’s turn to sigh. “Fine, just get here when you can. Be safe, mate.”
“Will do.”
I cut the call using the steering wheel controls and watch as the traffic in front of me finally clears. I can’t go anywhere though; the lights are back on red.
The heavens open suddenly and a torrent of rain falls from the sky in heavy, fat, soaking drops. My windscreen wipers come on automatically, at top speed, and the rain turns to hail which hits the tarmac so hard it bounces. The amber light joins the red and I put the car into gear, ready to finally go.
My light turns green, and I drop the hand brake and release the clutch, accelerating gently to pull off and squinting a little in the sudden reduced visibility.
A blur in my periphery darts in front of the car, threatening to become roadkill.
“Fuck.”
I slam on the brakes just in time, and the car lurches to a halt with an ear-piercing screech. My heart races like an out of control horse as I grip the steering wheel, my knuckles turning white. The rain pounds on the roof of the car, and the hail clatters like a drumroll, a harsh reminder of the chaos that just unfolded.
My breath comes in shallow gasps as I try to regain my composure, my gaze fixed on the figure in front of the car. It’s a young woman, drenched and shivering, her clothes clinging to her small frame. She stares at me with wide, frightened eyes, herface pale and streaked with tears. She’s trembling, whether from fear, cold, or both, I can’t be sure.
My hands are still clenched on the steering wheel, and I swallow hard, trying to push back the panic that’s surged within me.It’s not her fault. It’s not her fault.I chant the words in my mind, a mantra to remind myself that this isn’t a repeat of that night, that horrific night when I lost everything.
With great effort, I shift the car into park and take a deep breath. My fingers fumble for the handle. As I open the door the rain pelts in but I ignore it, releasing my seatbelt and stepping out to check on her.
But before I can utter a word or offer my help, the girl’s eyes meet mine, and she bolts. She runs off into the storm, cutting through the park so I couldn’t follow her even if I wanted to, and disappearing into the heavy rain and the chaos of the city. I stand there lost in a mixture of relief and concern, my heart still racing.
The traffic light changes again, and the car behind me honks impatiently, snapping me out of my daze. With a heavy sigh, I get back into the car and after a few minutes as the lights go through their cycle once more, continue on my way, haunted by the brief encounter and the memories it stirred.
CANDY
It doesn’t take long for me to get to Elle’s house, and I’m not really paying full attention to my surroundings, but I figure today really can’t get any worse.
It does.
The heavens open and unleash a torrent of icy rain and hail down on my head the moment I leave the flat, and I have to make a mad dash for it with only a flimsy cardigan for protection.
Stupidly, I think I can beat the traffic lights, darting out at the last second but nearly getting mown down by some asshole who was quick off the mark. I swear the lights were still on amber.
Whatever. I’m not hanging around to be shouted at a whole heap more. I cut and run, darting into the park, which I would never normally do at night.
On the plus side, I move with such speed that I make it through the park in record time, without being propositioned by anyone or raped, so yay me.
When I arrive I look like a drowned rat, and I can’t shake the feeling of there being eyes on me. Like maybe I was being followed, but whenever I spun around to check, there was no-one there.
Weird.
I chalk it up to my near-death encounter at the lights, the cherry on a truly shitty sundae. But still, as I stand on Elle’s doorstep, shivering and soaked to the bone, a shiver runs down my spine. Something’s not quite right, and I find myself glancing over my shoulder one last time before knocking on her door, desperate to escape the unease that’s settled in my chest.
My knuckles strike Elle’s front door. The cold wind whips through the open space between the doorframe and the wall, biting at my exposed skin. The urgency to get inside and out of this miserable weather only intensifies the feeling of unease that’s been gnawing at me since I entered the park.
