Me and the others

With thanks to Ravin for helping check through :)

Lizzy had been driving for three hours; she had another three to go. The trip, in her opinion, had been a pointless waste of time. Her work had sent her to a four-day conference. Meeting after meeting was the same story: they had discussed everything from eco-friendly toilets to new computers. Nothing had been bought. Nothing had been done. It hadn’t exactly come at a great time either. Her mother had died just weeks ago and a nasty break up with her now ex-boyfriend had left her drained, miserable and depressed. Then the conference... it had nearly finished her off. Lizzy sighed and turned off the radio. Although it helped to keep her awake, it distracted her from driving. She wasn’t a confident driver but had somehow managed passed her test a year ago.

 

The empty country lane stretched out ahead of her, totally free from cars and the only light piercing the darkness came from the glowing beams of the headlights from her red Volvo. Thick woods and skeletal trees lined the edges – their hanging branches seemingly falling from the darkened sky. The lane closed in and became narrower. Lizzy started to sing quietly under her breath. It was something her mother sang to her when she couldn’t sleep. Suddenly the radio burst into life:

“….tell me how you’re going to be without me…” it sang. Lizzy jumped and the car skidded to a halt. She let her breath out in one go and jabbed her thumb at the ‘off’ button. She laughed a little at herself, although it was without humour. She was a little puzzled but not surprised. The car was old. She started it up once again and continued to carefully drive through the winding lane.

 

It had started to rain. Not lightly either. Lizzy shivered and turned the heating onto full.

 

All of a sudden, the cars headlights started to flicker like a candle just about to be blown out. She bit her lip and hoped for the best. The best didn’t happen. The headlights went out. Lizzy groaned and stopped the car, pulling onto the side of the road. She whacked the dashboard with her fist and then tried flicking the light switch a couple of times: nothing happened. She sighed with an air of resignation and, reaching over to the backseat, grabbed her jacket. Clambering out of the car, she trudged to the front and bent down to the look at the headlights.  Lizzy didn’t know the first thing about cars, except that they can be driven. She went back into the car, this time grabbing her mobile phone. No signal. She groaned loudly before sitting back on the passenger seat. She couldn’t drive without any lights. There were no other cars, the road was totally unlit and she was in the middle of nowhere. To top it all off, it was still raining. Lizzy sat in the car for a bit, occasionally flicking the light switch to see if it made a difference. It didn’t. She glanced over at her phone again. Maybe it was time to try and find a signal.

 

Lizzy didn’t like the dark and the trees sent tingles racing up her spine, as if warning her to not go any further. She could barely see and was terrified that she would bump into something. Lizzy made sure she focussed on finding a signal so that she wouldn’t panic. Something rustled in the bush to her left. She shrieked and whipped around, biting her lip. Nothing. Of course it was nothing. She took a few minutes to slow her breathing down and calm her fluttering heart before carrying on traipsing through the woods.

After another minute of looking down at her phone, Lizzy looked up. She still hadn’t found a signal. She spun around, holding the phone in the air. CRACK. Lizzy started and dropped the phone, a shaking hand pressed to her mouth. Nothing she told herself, nothing. She bent down to pick up the phone. CRUNCH-CRUNCH-CRUNCH. She couldn’t help herself: Lizzy screamed.

“Just an animal,” she muttered. “A mouse or… something.” The words had no effect on her; she was petrified. Something rustled in the undergrowth behind her. She stumbled forwards into a clearing. A fear had taken over her whole body, the likes of which she had never experienced before. It ran from the very end of her toes to the tips of her hair. Sheets of rain fell from the sky, striking the trees around her and seemingly shattering into many shards, each of which stung her like no piece of glass ever could. The force of them plastered her dark hair to her skull and her clothes to her skin. Lizzy glanced around, her heart beating a tattoo against her chest. What to do…

 

With a jolt she realised that she was lost. All she could see were trees. Tree upon tree looming out of the darkness… With no way out. CRUNCH. Lizzy jumped and spun around again. It had come from behind her. CRUNCH. To her left. CRUNCH. Behind her again. Lizzy followed each sound like a cat. She was shaking and crying, each tear rolling down her face, each one mingling with the rain hitting her face. Wave after wave of fear engulfed her. She felt something brush against her arm. That’s when Lizzy lost it. Completely. She screamed, running her hands over her arms. Then started shuddering and collapsed onto the mud soaked ground. With her body twisting and writhing, convulsing in shock, she smothering her face with her hands, blocking out the world. Something tugged at her hair. It’s breath tickling her neck. Lizzy started rocking backwards and forwards on the ground. Her knees were drawn up to her chest, eyes scrunched up tight. She screamed again then started whimpering. It ran its fingers up her arm to her hands before parting them.

 

“No” she gasped “No... please…” Lizzy felt herself slipping away. She thought that she could see her mother – Dark hair, like hers. Floating… in the rain… beautiful… She started to sing her song to Lizzy: it calmed her. The darkness enveloped her ... softly… softly…