Looking around outside, she saw she was in a section surrounded by trees. A few hundred yards, further down the road, and she could see the trees just stopped. All she could think was that — maybe — the signal might be better down there. A second, sneaky thought that she didn’t have a coat with her. The morning had been overcast but it had still been warmish. She hadn’t expected the downpour and so hadn’t dressed appropriately. She looked up to the black clouds above. Unlike the trees, there was seemingly no end to them. They just stretched on and on, right into the distance. She screamed again.
“It’s fine. Just give it five minutes,” she said to herself. “Five minutes and hopefully it will ease off a little. Just a little. Please. I don’t expect it to stop. I just don’t want to get as drenched.” The thought of the warm bath waiting for her continued to tease her. She wanted a warm bath. She was getting a freezing cold shower.
#notthesamething
She put her hazard lights on and patiently sat there, looking up through the car’s sun-roof. The rain not getting any lighter, despite her wishes. If anything, it seemed a little heavier. Car lights distracted her via the rear-view mirror. A car approaching. Maybe they would stop and help her out? She opened the car door and clambered out into the pissing rain — the heavy droplets immediately soaking her blouse.
“Gah! For Fuck sake!” she screamed as she jerked her body at the sudden coldness of the water. She quickly stood up straight and turned her attention to the car coming towards her. She raised her hands up in the air — signalling for them to stop. It drove past at speed, splashing the road’s collected rainwater over Tina. She screamed again. Same bastard car that had sped past her earlier. “Fuck you!” she screamed.
#karmaisabitch
The car slammed on its brakes and screeched to a halt. Tina just stood there, watching it for a moment. Maybe the driver hadn’t noticed her in the rain? Maybe it had been an accident — splashing through the puddle like that? The car didn’t move. It just sat there where it had stopped. Maybe they were waiting for her to approach them for help? It made sense. Had it been Tina in the car, and a stranger by the side of the road, she wouldn’t have got out either. She started walking towards the car. The driver revved the engine when she was close enough and then wheel-spun away. The little prick. Tina screamed and put her finger up in the air — a gesture of ‘fuck you’ to the imbecile, asshole driver.
“I hope you fucking crash!”
#cunt
Again, further up the road, the car slammed on its brakes and skidded across the wet concrete to a halt. The engine was ticking over, occasionally being revved. Tina just stood there watching them. She knew, if she walked over, they would drive off again.
“What do you want?!” she screamed out. The engine revved and — again — the car pulled away. No wheel-spin this time though. A deliberate and slow action. Tina still didn’t move. Not until the lights disappeared from her sight. “Yeah, fuck you!” she muttered under her breath.
#freak
3
Cold and wet, Tina leaned back into her car and reached for her mobile phone. The way she saw it, she couldn’t get any wetter now so she might as well have walked to where the trees stopped in order to check for her network signal. Keeping the phone as close to her body as possible, to save it getting too wet, she folded her arms and made a run for it. Each drop of rain stunning her face as it lashed against her — made worse by the fact she was running into them.
As soon as she reached where there were no overhead trees, she stopped and looked down to her phone. Still no signal.
“Shit!!” she screamed.
Desperate — and ignoring the rain — she held the phone up into the air. A hope that — somehow — it would magic at least one bar of signal. Tricky to make a call in this position but easy to send a text. A desperate plea to either Lee or Greg — both friends who would come and help her out. Both friends who were also of large builds, should that driver have decided to come back too. She couldn’t help but wonder whether the driver would have been such an asshole had either of her friends been there but especially had she been with Greg, a six foot rugby player.
Still no signal.
Tina dropped her phone and looked in both directions hoping that she would see something, or someone that could help her. This was one of the worst things about breaking down on the back roads; the distinct lack of help. At least the motorway had phones staggered down the sides of it in case a driver found themselves stranded. Ironic really that they put the phones there where there were frequent police cruisers going past, not forgetting hundreds of other drivers — all of whom were capable of stopping and helping, should you need it. Yet out here, where it is quiet, they tend to leave the drivers to fend for themselves. It is worse when you consider the fact cars have been around a lot longer than mobile phones…
Headlights on the horizon and a little wave of relief. Knowing visibility wasn’t the best — and the fact she wasn’t really dressed in suitable attire to be standing in the middle of the road — Tina stepped to the side. She pressed the screen of her iPhone and flicked the torch app on before turning the bright light towards the oncoming car. The car stopped some way away and immediately Tina’s heart sunk. It was him again. A sudden revving of the car engine just confirmed that.
#psycho
She about turned and ran back towards her own car. She didn’t know who this person was, or what their problem was, but clearly they had issues and the worst place she could be was standing out in the open. She reached the car and opened the door, jumping back inside and slamming the door behind her. Not that she expected the driver to stop, she locked the door. A false sense of security. Had they wanted to get in, she knew a locked door wouldn’t have stopped them. All they had to do — and she knew this — was to smash a window.
She looked down at her phone again in the hope that — somehow — she had managed to source a little signal from somewhere. Still nothing.
“Fuck!” she screamed.
She looked behind her — ever hopeful that she would see another car headed in this direction. She had lost count of the number of times she had driven down this road wishing for no traffic, only to get stuck behind someone. And — now — here she was wishing for traffic and there was nothing other than this idiot.
By the time she faced forward — the car was speeding towards her. Not just that but it was speeding towards where her own car had stopped. She kept telling herself that it was okay. They would stop. They would leave it as late as possible but they would stop. They weren’t going to just ram her. Why would they do that? They’d damage their own car as well. No sane person would do that.
A panicked thought — the fact this person had come back for her and was toying with her… This wasn’t a sane person. Quickly, she fumbled for the lock and undid it. A second later and the car door was open and she was running across the road — towards the trees.
Her legs made short work of the embankment of earth as she scrambled up and out of the road. She turned, expecting to hear the car slam on the brakes at any minute, but there was no sound of it slowing. And now she was watching it — there was no sight of it doing so either.
She watched in horror as the car ploughed headfirst into her own, pushing it back as it stuck to the bumper. The damaged front wheel — and the way Tina had left the steering wheel — caused both cars to career off the road, opposite Tina, and crash into a tree. Loud bangs of twisted, clashing metal with each impact — first where the cars came together and then when they hit the tree. Tina screamed — sure that she’d just witnessed someone kill themselves and — not just that — try to take her life too.