Part I
I sat in my car staring at the misted-up windows wishing the heating system were not a dysfunctional piece of crap, every year it was the same problem as soon as the temperature dropped my car would steam up quicker than a love scene in a romcom.
Shivering violently as I watched silhouettes of the outside world slowly form. What did not help was that the parking lot I used had two functioning lights giving the place such a creepy vibe at the best of times and now I was sat, essentially blind to my surroundings and with a million and one scenarios running through my mind, and none of them ended well for me.
I knew that if I put my windows down that the mist would clear up so much quicker but like I have already pointed out I had envisioned numerous scenarios of me being attacked whilst I sat in this parking lot. Paranoid I know however, I was not about to give some lowlife an easy opportunity.
After I had sat for a good ten minutes, I had enough visibility to set off on my journey. Once I was out on the open road, I could lower my windows and improve what I was working with but for now I was happy enough just to get moving.
I pulled out of the space that my car had occupied for the last twelve hours, I watched as the lights from my car cast ominous shadows dancing about the outskirts of the parking lot. I knew that they were nothing to be overly concerned about, even my paranoid mind understood the process however, there was always one or two shadows that struck me as human and would merit a second glance thus fueling my paranoia further.
As I headed towards the exit a set of lights briefly illuminated another area of the car park before swinging out behind me, and moving at a considerable pace I felt, score twelve for paranoia I thought as my gaze returned to the road before me. Having successfully reached the exit safely I pulled the indicator stork up indicating my intention to go right at the junction.
I noticed a distant blinking in my rear-view mirror, apparently the car behind me was heading in the same direction; I could not help but notice how close they had gotten to me since the last time I had seen them, perhaps they get paranoid in dark parking lots just as I do.
pulling out of the parking lot happy to be away from the place and finally heading home. It had been a long shift, I work at the local supermarket which means that I come into close contact with members of the public more than I care too, not that I dislike people it’s just when you work in an environment that caters to the general public your day is usually harder work than it needs to be. At least that is how I feel anyway.
I started to pick up speed once I was on the open road, the empty roads are possibly the one perk to working so late, I turned left at the next junction barely making the lights however, when the car behind me followed through on what I was certain would be a red making me feel a little less guilty for not stopping for the amber.
I turned the radio up a little louder, I had two reasons for doing this, firstly I am a shameless singer who likes to get a little too involved when a good song comes on and so, by having the radio that little bit louder helps to drown out my poor excuse for singing. My second reason is a bit more serious, having the radio on helps me to relax it is like having an invisible friend in the car who sings along with me.
I got caught up at the next lights and found myself staring out into the darkness until the car behind me pulled up, that same one from the parking lot I was sure, the car had stopped uncomfortably close and began to flash his main beams at me. The lights were on red so I can only presume the arsehole individual was in a hurry and so I stubbornly decided to stay put, deciding that they can always drive around me if they needed too.
The incident put me on edge, and I checked that I was in the correct gear, ready to go as soon as the lights started to change. I also pressed the button to lock the doors just to be safe; I was also continuously checking my mirrors one after the other making sure that no one exited the vehicle behind me. Once again, the car behind flashed at me, and it could only be for my benefit because there was no one else around.
I do not think that I have ever sat at a red light for as long as I was right now when my greatest fear unfolded before my eyes. I watched in terror as the driver side door opened and someone, a man hurried out and began to rush towards me. The lights were still stuck on red but in a blind panic I released the clutch and slammed my foot down on the gas sending the car bursting forward, I watched the mysterious man spin on his heels and head back towards his own vehicle.
As I worked my way through the gears like a women possessed, If I had not been so fearful for my life then I imagine I may have felt like prime Colin McRae. I burst into the dark unlit road that would take me home. A road that I disliked using even during the day and so generally despised during the nighttime, it cuts through field after field and has no lights at all; it is a twisting turning death trap with several roads connecting it to various parts of the area.
And now, here I was speeding along them hoping that I could channel more of that inner Colin McRae that had helped me to pull away from that would be attacker at the lights. I had barely gotten a quarter of a mile down the road when I saw headlights in my rear-view mirror haphazardly navigating their way in my direction and gaining on me fast. I pulled the stork towards me, activating the cars main beams to illuminate the road ahead of me better than my standard lights were doing. I was up to fifty-miles-per hour and was already feeling so uncomfortable, my usual style of driving was cautious grandma yet, here I was tear-arsing down these dangerous country roads.
My hands felt slick on the wheel as I realized the lights behind me were now only a few hundred meters away; and gaining. I was close to panic but still had enough presence of mind to push the call log button, careful not to take my eyes off the road for too long I dialed in 999 and waited. After a few long seconds, my phone beeped through the cars speaker system alerting me to the fact that my phone had no signal. God, I hated these fucking country roads.
The maniac was now right up behind me, closer than another car ever should be and once again flashing his main beams but due to how close the driver had gotten, there was less of a flash and more of an ominous glowing in the rear of my car. I could not make out any thing of the driver, I knew it was a male from when he had rushed out of his car at the lights, but the shadows had kept everything about him concealed.
I pushed the car up to sixty hoping to create a little breathing space between the two vehicles however, my pursuer matched my speed exactly. I tried switching lanes to see if he would overtake me and leave me alone but, once again my actions turned out to be wishful thinking as he again replicated my every maneuver all whilst flashing his lights and beeping his horn at me.
I do not know what this psycho was after, but I will be damned if I was going to slow down let alone stop before I had someone around to protect me from this clearly unhinged individual. I was so close to tears, and my heart was hammering in my chest as adrenaline coursed through my blood. As I approached a severe bend in the road I eased up off the gas and tapped at my brakes to let the psycho behind know what I intended to do but again he mimicked my every move.
I had managed to put a couple of feet between us and as I broke again, I was able to get a fleeting glance at him as my brake lights momentarily lit up the scene behind me. He seemed to be a big man with short, neat hair and glasses; other than that, I never really saw much else but it was something and as I pushed the redial button to once again contact the police, I felt a slight hint of confidence grow in my tight chest but that faded as quick as it came when my phone once again informed me of the lack of signal.
Frustration crept in as I contemplated the thought of being on these country lanes for at the very least a good half hour, twenty minutes if I could maintain these speeds, which I doubted that I would be able too. The world around me passed by in a series of wonderfully dark and twisted turns as I tried to formulate a plan to shake off my pursuer, I knew that there was a road up ahead that looped back onto the same one I was currently traveling along; It was built to reduce traffic on the road back when the mines were still in operation. The problem with this road was that it would add a minimum of five possibly even ten minutes to my journey, meaning that should I not manage to shake my tail then I would have to suffer this nightmare even longer.
The road was also not in the best condition; the road was covered with potholes and several severe turns that I would never be able to navigate at my current speed. More flashing lights from behind me illuminated my whole car as he dropped back, more than likely so that his flashing light would have a greater impact, which they did, the light was reflecting off my rear-view mirror and distracting me I didn’t dare to look in the mirror itself for fear of the light blinding me.
I decided that I would take the loop road, but I would have to be clever about it. I could not telegraph my intentions and would have to turn at the very last second if I were going to complete my own great escape. I knew that the road was coming up and had to be careful and really concentrate to see the turn I would only have one shot to make it safely.
I tapped on my brakes several times trying to push him away from my rear bumper and it worked to a point; however, I noticed that every time the red brake lights illuminated the vehicle behind me the driver was shouting at me. I could not make out what it was he was shouting however, I imagined it to be something like pull over, ‘yeah right,’ I thought, you wish friend.
I almost missed the turn, I was so busy trying to lip read what he was shouting when the left turn suddenly presented itself barely visible, concealed in the darkness of the night. I pulled the wheel hard to the left and sent my car careening down an even darker road; even above the sounds of the radio, I was still able to hear my pursuers car screech as he hit his brakes hard, I could See his lights move from left to right as he struggled to keep it under control.
I, however, was plunged into the most perfect darkness imaginable, I turned my main beams off in the belief that I would be less visible; it is strange how our brains will straight up lie to us during a traumatic event just to protect us. I dropped my speed to forty-miles-per hour as I delved deeper into the all-encompassing darkness of the loop road, I had forgotten how the fields rose high above the road as I now contemplated how much more trapped in the situation I had become.
It took me a short while to realize that no lights had reappeared behind me, had shaken off my unwelcome tail? I could not say for sure, my paranoid brain providing me with a whole series of unwelcome scenarios that included him tailing me with his lights off, I remained in a highly terrified state, constantly waiting for the lights to reappear behind me. I wiped my clammy hands down my sweat-soaked work clothes one at a time and tried to settle my nerves by focusing on the road ahead of me.
