A Light on the Road

The Dark Writer Project is a literary idea born in the virtual world. It was created by the author of the same pseudonym, who invites people through social networks to follow the creation of a book.

Chapter 1

                             

A light on the road 

Mary Cavenglass woke up. She could hear her parents arguing downstairs; her father probably irritated by the number of useless things which were being put in their luggage. The girl stretched, forcing herself to open her eyes and dispel her need to go back to sleep. She had gone to bed late the previous night as she had helped her mother pack for their much anticipated summer holiday. She sat on the bed, but she felt her body asking for more hours of sleep. She saw her reflection in the mirror of the wardrobe; a very pretty girl like most sixteen-year-olds in her neighbourhood. Her silver-grey eyes contrasted with her light skin. Her long blonde hair was all dishevelled after many tosses and turns on her pillow caused by ominous and terrifying nightmares. Fortunately, she had no recollection of them.

‘Well, I guess I’m definitely not pretty in the morning,’ she said as she glanced at the mirror with a dispirited look, as if it could hear her.

She slowly walked towards the window barefoot, feeling the cold floor on the tip of her toes. She then opened the curtains and let the sunlight in.

The sky was incredibly blue and the sun shone brightly on the horizon, but that was not surprising. The high temperatures in Europe were breaking all sorts of records, and the TV news was announcing that today would be the hottest day in London's history.

Her mother’s garden was lovely thanks to the sunny weather. Colourful butterflies were flying round well-cared flowers and an artificial waterfall, which disembogued in a crystalline and inviting swimming pool asking to be dived in. As Mary took all that in, she wished one more time that her parents had allowed her to stay home during the holidays. It was so much better to spend a month going to parties with friends her age than horseback-riding with her parents in some isolated and unsightly place in England.

‘Honey, you’d better get up! We’ve agreed to be far away from London long before eight!’ shouted her father with his usual deep voice.

‘I’m coming!’ she answered impatiently.

Mary took off her nightgown and ran to the bathroom, then brushed her teeth and took a shower. The cold water running down her body was pleasant but made her feel even more sleepy, and she wanted nothing more than to go back to her comfortable bed and continue to sleep. Imagining that she would have to spend the next few hours in a car was not pleasant at all.

A few minutes later, the girl was going downstairs, her hair dripping wet because she had no time to dry it. Her father kept shouting for her to hurry up.

‘Thought you had drowned in the bathtub,’ he said as she had barely sat down for breakfast. ‘You saw the Minister’s recommendations for water rationing.’

‘But I didn’t take that long, dad,’ she said defensively.

Her mother was checking if both windows of the enormous kitchen were really closed as the employees responsible for the gardening and cleaning of the mansion would only arrive in three days.

‘The last thing I want is to find out our house has been burgled,’ she said as she checked the locks.

‘Mum, we’ve lived here for ten years and I’ve never heard of a burglar case,’ said Mary as she spread strawberry jam on her toast.

‘Sometimes I think your mother’s got a panic disorder,’ her father stated, trying not to laugh but unsuccessfully.

‘It isn’t funny at all, Charles,’ her mother retorted seriously.

‘That’s because you’re moody, Alice,’ said her father opening an even bigger smile. Mary knew that if there was something her father loved the most, it was irritating his wife.

‘And how would you like me to be in a good mood in this heat? Honestly, I don’t know how these tropical countries can live with such high temperatures.’ Alice sat by the table and poured herself a cup of tea. ‘But there’s a bright side to all of this. There’s more room left in my luggage for my high heel shoes since we won’t need so many winter clothes to the already familiar low temperatures of the north.’

‘High heels for what?’ asked Mary not quite believing what she was hearing. ‘We’re travelling to a hotel in the countryside. There won’t be any parties or anything like that, unless you’re thinking about horse-riding in high heels.’

‘Now that’s a good idea,’ Charles mused.

‘Well, you never know,’ remarked her mother as she ignored her husband’s comment. ‘So, when you’re done with your breakfast, you can go upstairs to your room and choose some high heels to pack too.’

Mary glanced down at her mother.

‘Are you sure I have to go on this stupid trip? I’m already sixteen, I’m not that little six-year-old girl who liked to go to the farm and ride with mum and dad. Please, let me stay here,’ she begged.

‘Mary, we’ve always spent our summer holidays together and this year won’t be any different,’ voiced her father as he finished drinking his tea and putting the empty cup back on the glass table. ‘And it shall be like that until you’re old enough to make your own choices. As long as you live under our roof, it will be our way. We had this discussion yesterday and I’m tired of it.’

‘Besides, you’ll like it in the end,’ declared her mother.

‘Why can’t we travel to a more fun place instead of going to a hotel in the country? You’ve chosen our destination poorly this year,’ Mary went on irritably. She knew it was in vain and that in the end her parents would make her go even if against her will.

‘The country is quiet, peaceful and less stressful than this busy city.’

‘I don’t want to spend my holiday in a quiet place, mum. If only I could take my mobile phone, but you won’t even let me that!’

‘Indeed we won’t,’ Alice stated. ‘No smartphones, laptop or anything else that might keep us connected with the madness of the modern world. We are going to spend some time resting quietly. That’s what holidays are for.’

‘The chat is great, but it’s past time we hit the road,’ said Charles. ‘Let’s take our bags and put them in the car.’

‘Torture is about to begin,’ Mary announced dispirited. She stood up to pack her high heels.

The girl had many pairs in her closet, but she had no difficulty at all in choosing one for the trip. She got the oldest and ugliest one. She was sure she wouldn’t have an occasion to wear it, but she didn’t want to argue with her mum about it. She threw her shoes in her bag and closed it. Then she held it by the strap and made a huge effort to take it to the first floor. She almost fell because of the weight, but she got her balance back before she could roll down the stairs.

When she got there, she realised the weight of her bag was nothing compared to her mother’s. Her father was trying his best to take it to the car.

‘What’ve you packed, Alice? An elephant?’ he asked throwing the bag in the boot, his face a shade of red by the effort. ‘Tell me where you have found so many clothes to fill such a big bag like that. Mine is practically empty.’

‘You don’t need a hairdryer,’ Alice interjected.

‘How many hairdryers are you taking? A hundred?’ he asked.

‘No, just two.’

‘You won’t need half of these things,’ he said, closing the boot at last.

‘She needs to be prepared in case she goes to the shops,’ Mary said with a smirk as she sat at the backseat. She was used to her mother’s whims, for she and her dad had to live with them every day and they found it funny. She knew her mother had been brought up with the utmost care. Her mother’s parents, Mary’s grandparents, were very rich. She couldn’t blame her mum for being shallow every now and then.

The car of the Cavenglass family trip was ranked among the most expensive and modern. Its doors opened up, and its seats were made of the finest leather. The automatic engine received orders from the owners’ voice, but Mary’s father would rather drive it manually. The vehicle slid out of the garage where two work cars, one belonging to Alice and the other to Charles, were left behind. The automatic gate of the mansion opened up and the black car was on the street.

‘I hope our house is well taken care of,’ Mary heard her mother say on the front seat.

‘Honey, the cleaners always take great care of our home,’ said Charles while he turned on one of the technological devices that made the car so expensive.

The thin multi-touch screen panel lifted and he touched the item where the GPS was, but what appeared was something very different from the usual London streets.

We apologise for the interruption: the system will return soon.

‘This thing is off again?’ asked Charles, puzzled. The frequent failures in the Global Positioning System were causing a real headache in the population during the past two months. The reasons for the sudden interruptions, however, were not accurately informed by the Department of Defence, which only increased the questions and assumptions.

‘I heard their warning about this on the news yesterday, something related to the high temperatures causing damage to the electromagnetic field,’ said Alice.

‘Cool, one more reason not to travel!’ Mary thanked the heavens on the inside.

‘There are other ways to find our way,’ affirmed Charles sticking his hand in the glove compartment and picking up a road map of England with a satisfied smile on his face. ‘Inexpensive and practical!’

Mary saw her last hope of not taking that trip going down the drain. Disheartened, she leant her forehead against the window and watched the various houses and flats in the neighbourhood pass one after another. The dogs barked at the car from their gardens. Shortly after, the car had left the neighbourhood and taken the main road.

‘I can’t believe it,’ said Alice.

‘Can it get any better than this?’ spoke Charles while he stepped on the breaks to stop the car.

Mary’s spirits collapsed when she assessed the size of the traffic jam they would have to face. An endless line of cars stretched before her as far as her eyes could see. The horns wouldn’t stop honking and everywhere the traffic police tried to put an order in that mess.

‘It seems we’re going to spend hours in this traffic…’ she sounded distressed.

‘If only we had left early like I’d suggested yesterday, then maybe we wouldn’t be in this traffic,’ spoke her father, upset.

‘You’re going to blame me for this now?’ asked Alice sounding just as upset. ‘It’s past time the mayor does something about the traffic in the city.’

‘I think there must have been an accident,’ commented Mary looking for some sign of smoke from a fire or something like it, but the tall buildings around would not let her see anything.

‘There must have been an incredibly awful accident to stop the city like this,’ said Charles as he watched a police officer arguing with a woman who apparently wanted to turn her car around by driving over a median strip.

‘I’m going to miss breakfast with my daughter-in-law. I can’t be late!’ shouted the old lady with a pair of shades that made her look like a bug slipping down her nose. ‘I want to take another lane that isn’t obstructed.’

‘Madam, you cannot drive over the median strip!’ said the guard, but the old lady dismissed him by stepping on the gas of her old orange car and driving over the strip and going to the other side of the lane, leaving the guard behind a cloud of dust and smoke.

‘Madam! You’ll get… *cough*… a ticket for that!’ he shouted as he coughed and noted down her license plate number.

‘Yep, our day is going to be quite agitated,’ said Mary gaping as she saw the old lady’s car speeding away and getting more and more distant. ‘When I get old, I want to have that old woman’s disposition.’

Time passed by but the car seemed to be in the same spot. Traffic was still bad and there was still a long way ahead of them. The honking seemed to get angrier and more impatient by the hour, and the drivers were shouting and swearing. Mary was beginning to have a headache with all that mess, but so far the reason why traffic was stopped in London had not been announced. Not even the policemen knew what to say. Either that or they were too busy giving fines and pretending not to listen to the constant questioning being made. The sun was becoming hotter and hotter in the blue sky and it wasn’t even noon. Inside the sultry car, Mary was comfortably lying down on the backseat but she could feel the sweat on her forehead.

‘Dad, would you turn on the air conditioning?’ she said quickly for she had just remembered it, and it seemed like her parents had forgotten about it too or were pretending to be in a steam bath to escape the traffic.

‘How could we forget about the air conditioning in such weather?’ spoke Charles. He pressed a button and the cold breeze soon took over the vehicle, cooling them down.

By her father’s tone of voice, Mary was left with the impression that her father had been sleeping and had only woken up because he had heard her.

‘Were you sleeping?’ she asked in a menacing tone, but finding the situation funny at the same time. She sat so she could see the expression on his face.

‘Of course I wasn’t!’ he said rubbing his eyes and trying not to look at the rear view mirror where his daughter’s bright eyes were assessing him. ‘Imagine that!’

‘And why is Mrs Alice Cavenglass so quiet?’ asked Mary theatrically as she had just heard a sigh from the front seat.

‘Looks like I wasn’t the only one sleeping,’ her father said looking at Alice.

Mary leant forward between the seats and saw that her mother was sleeping like a baby. Her blond hair fell down her pale face like a cascade. She was sighing quietly, and at times she moved her eyelids as if the honking could wake her up at any moment.

‘It’s amazing how gorgeous she can be even sleeping,’ said her father tenderly.

‘Of course, she’s my mum!’ said Mary as she sat back on her seat. It was then that she noticed how starving she was. She looked at her watch and saw that it was getting near twelve o’clock, which meant that there were only a few more minutes till lunchtime. ‘Dad, I’m hungry.’

‘I know, my dear,’ he said sticking his hand in his pocket and taking his wallet out. He took a few pounds from it and handed them to Mary. ‘It’s almost lunchtime. I had planned for us to eat in some restaurant by the road but since we are still in centre of London, I think you could go to a Café and buy us some sandwiches. I’m sure the car won’t move so soon, so you have more than enough time to choose anything you want.’

‘I'll be back soon,’ she said taking the money and leaving the car.

The noise inside the car was nothing compared to the noise outside. The honking was louder and the less polite drivers were shouting at the policemen, ‘What the bloody hell is going on in this city?’

The midday sun shining brightly and the hot air coming from the asphalt were making Mary feel like she was inside a volcano. The girl reached the pavement after zigzagging amongst the cars. Men and women were coming and going with their stylish clothes, after all, they were in London, one of the biggest financial centres of the world, and Mary had difficulty to enter a Café nearby given the number of people inside.

‘Ouch!’ she moaned. She had barely made it through the glass door and someone had already bumped into her.

‘I’m sorry, Miss. I didn’t mean to,’ said the waiter who was balancing a tray full of chips in one hand and three glasses full of orange juice in the other. By some miracle he had managed to balance everything in order to avoid a disaster.

‘It’s okay,’ said Mary leaving the waiter and going towards the counter to order the sandwiches.

The Café was crowded and it took a while for Mary to be served.

‘What can I do for you?’ asked a waiter.

After a few minutes, Mary left the Café carefully trying not to bump into anyone, for she carried three sandwiches, three cans of soda and three pieces of blackberry pie. She went out the door to the street. The disturbance outside was still the same. People passing by were talking about nothing but the heat and the reasons for that gigantic traffic jam.

‘There wasn’t anything in the news about this traffic and I spent the whole morning watching the telly,’ said an elegant black woman who was strolling hand in hand with a tall blonde man. ‘If I knew the centre would be this agitated, I wouldn’t have left home, especially in this heat.’

‘Not even to go out with me?’ the man asked.

‘Why, that’s why I’m here, aren’t I?’ she said sweetly and they both disappeared in the crowd.

Mary found the woman’s comment strange. What was going on? And why weren’t there any news about the traffic? She glanced at the line of cars stuck in traffic and was shocked to notice that her father’s black car was not where it was supposed to be.

She ran amongst the cars being careful not to drop lunch. It was impossible that the car had moved away that much since traffic was still pretty much stuck. She felt deeply relieved when she spotted the big black car a few metres away. She hurried to the vehicle and soon realised somebody was arguing and it seemed like her father’s voice.

‘I told you I’ll give you the money to pay for the small damage,’ said Charles who was outside the car holding some bills in his hand and trying to give them to a tall white man who seemed possessed. ‘There’s more than enough here to pay for the damage in your car. There’s no reason for fighting. I was distracted, that’s all.’

‘Do you think that’s it?’ retorted the man in the same tone of voice. ‘You think you can hit my car and your money will fix everything? No, it won’t! I don’t want your money!’

Suddenly the man threw a punch on Charles’ face. He fell back on top of the hood of a yellow car. The money he was holding was now all over the ground.

‘STOP!’ shouted Alice from inside the car. She seemed terrified by the scene as if she had never seen someone being punched before, especially her husband.

Mary dropped the lunch on the ground and ran to her dad to help him. Meanwhile, other drivers were leaving the car to stop the fight. The tall man looked as if he wanted to keep punching Charles, but four other men held him down.

Charles dismissed her daughter’s cares, stood up and went after the other man. Other people tried to hold him unsuccessfully for he managed to land a nice punch on the other man’s face. Mary covered her face with her hands and closed her eyes as she heard the noise the punch produced, only opening them again after a while.

The tall white man seemed to have passed out on the ground. The drivers that had left their cars crouched around the man to help him, but the wounds on his face didn’t seem serious.

‘Mary, get in the car!’ ordered Alice who saw everything from the window of the car. She was pale and her voice trembled.

Without a second order, Mary ran to where she had left lunch and with them now in her hands again she got inside the car slamming the door as she sat on the backseat.

‘Let’s leave your dad to solve this problem,’ said her mother with a worried tone. ‘It was just a bump; there was no reason for this whole mess.’

‘Dad was kind of sleepy,’ said Mary as she observed the dent in the bumper of the car that was in front of theirs. It was definitely the car of the man his father had fought. ‘Our holiday is going to be great,’ she said sarcastically while she took a bite of her sandwich.

Charles entered the car sporting a black eye and saying everything had been solved without having the police involved.

‘He took a thousand pounds as payment. I think he was well paid, don’t you?’ he asked Alice.

Alice did not say anything, just glared at him and kept quiet. Mary knew her mother was angry with her father for the collision and more so for fighting in the middle of street. Something in her eyes made Mary realise she would not be quiet for long.

‘Well, it looks like traffic is starting to flow,’ said Charles after a few minutes as he noticed the automobile was beginning to move more frequently.

‘So you can crash it in another car, you Sunday driver!’ said Alice, annoyed.

‘Sweetheart, I didn’t mean to,’ her father said throwing her a ‘poor me’ look. ‘I was sleepy and hungry.’

‘And that explains fighting in the middle of the street as if you were in a boxing ring?’

‘The b*****d punched me in the eye,’ he reasoned a bit alarmed and pointing at his black eye. ‘I couldn’t just leave it like that.’

‘It’s true, mum,’ Mary defended him loyally. ‘The man gave the first punch. Dad only retaliated, and you know that because you saw everything.’

‘Can’t you forgive me, hun?’ Charles asked Alice, but Mary couldn’t help but notice the wink he threw her way as a thank you for her words.

‘Course I forgive you,’ said Alice, and they sealed it with a kiss.

Mary loved when her parents behaved as if they were teenagers in love, especially because she knew how hard they had fought to be together. It had all started when her grandfather on her mother's side had disapproved of her parents' wedding. Mary's father did not belong to the same social group as her mother's, which for her grandfather it was something of great importance. After three confusing years, including Alice's threat to elope, their marriage was accepted under the condition that Charles would give up his last name to undertake his wife's, the aristocratic Cavenglass. Therefore, their future children, which came to be Mary, would also inherit the Cavenglass surname.

That fact, somehow, made Mary proud of being their child, born out of their love for each other. After all, they had managed to stay together even coming from complete different worlds. Which was why she was observing the scene with delight. However, when Alice realised her daughter was watching them, she stopped the kiss immediately, looking embarrassed.

'Love is beautiful,' said Charles with a smile.

Mary’s father was right. It didn’t take long for the traffic to start flowing, though it was necessary to stop sometimes. The honking noises stopped, and the drivers were not shouting anymore. Mary knew they would soon be out of London.

‘There’s the reason for the traffic jam!’ exclaimed Charles when they passed one of the most famous streets in London and saw an incredible sight.

‘Oh my goodness!’ exclaimed Alice gaping.

Mary was paralysed and she had to rub her eyes. Maybe that image was a mirage of some kind. The Palace of Westminster was on their left. Its towers were erect and as elegant as ever, but one of them, the Clock Tower, was gone. The top of the world’s heritage, where before you could see Big Ben was now fragmented on the ground, blocking great part of the street in which the family would have to go through.

‘It must have been a terrorist attack!’ Alice shouted as she became more and more terrified.

‘No, it wasn’t,’ said Charles between amusement and jitters and pointing at the front of the palace.

‘A meteorite!’ Mary was impressed.

If it had been a few years ago, that image would have terrified the Cavenglass family and millions of families around the world. But since the beginning of last year those news were pretty common. It had all begun when a big meteorite had fallen in the Amazon Forest, in Brazil, and after that many cases were spread around the world. Panic had taken the planet and many people started committing suicide because they thought the ‘end of the world’ was near. At last, after some effort from the political authorities, the order was established. Scientists didn’t get tired of telling people there was no reason to panic, that it was only a phase in which the planet was going through, just like the earthquakes phase that had happened ten years ago and caused major damages in several cities of the planet. They said that pretty soon the route of collision of the meteorites would leave Earth, going to other planets. Mary didn’t know anything about meteorites or their collision routes, but she had always assumed they happened everywhere else but the city where she lived. As she stared at the big black shadow in the old patio of the Palace, she felt as if she was in a movie. It was too surreal to be true.

The dust was everywhere and some masked men were putting yellow bands here and there, restraining the area around the crater that had been formed. A lot of curious people had gathered round the Palace grid and were watching the scene with much excitement, taking photos and filming with their digital cameras.

‘Dad, I’m scared,’ said Mary while the car drove along the garden with the big rock.

‘There’s no reason for panic, my dears,’ said Charles calmly, trying to soothe his wife and daughter. ‘Meteorites are normal nowadays.’

‘And how do you want me to be calm if at any moment a rock coming from space could hit me in the head?’ said Alice still terrified, her eyes glued on the meteorite.

Mary couldn’t keep her eyes away from it until the car crossed the Bridge and took a turn, leaving the orb behind.

‘It looks like we are finally leaving London, but eight hours after planned. This meteorite has ruined my plans,’ commented her father as if it was normal for a meteorite to cause a traffic jam in a city such as London, and not just that but destroy a famous touristic monument as well.

The sun was coming down in the horizon and the Cavenglass family was in their car crossing a small village in the countryside of England. They had made a quick stop in a restaurant to eat something decent, as Alice had put it, because she had not liked the sandwiches Mary had bought in the centre of London and had refused to eat them. Charles, on the other hand, had not only eaten his sandwich but his wife’s as well. He had also devoured two plates of spaghetti Bolognese in the restaurant. Mary, who had already been too full thanks to the sandwich and blackberry pie she had eaten previously, was satisfied with only a glass of strawberry milkshake.

Inside the car, the subject was nothing but the meteorite which had knocked down Big Ben.

‘But the Prime Minister couldn’t expect to hide such an event from the British population, could he?’ Charles was speaking. ‘I mean, this kind of news travels fast and the telly is not even needed for it. Everyone in the restaurant already knew about the meteorite and the clock being destroyed, you all heard the talking.’

‘That’s why they didn’t say anything in the TV news,’ said Mary as she remembered of what the black woman in London had spoken. ‘But that is tremendously stupid. I bet there must be several videos on the internet about the disaster by now.’

‘I hope a meteorite doesn’t fall on our car, that’s what I hope,’ said Alice as she looked at the sky with a worried face. ‘I think we’d better change the subject.’

It did not take long for the night to fall and darkness to scattered around the rural horizon, bringing with it clouds of a frightening summer storm. The black car was running through woods, hills, plantations and, at times, dense forests. Charles would frequently stop to look at the map and see if they were in the right direction. However, for the first time during that long day, something positive happened. The GPS beeped and the place where they were appeared in the screen.

‘About time!’ exclaimed Alice.

‘How long till we get to the hotel where we are supposed to spend our wonderful summer holiday?’ asked Mary beginning to feel sleepy because of the buzzing of the wind outside.

‘According to the GPS, we’ll get there at midnight,’ answered her father having just finished typing their destination on the screen. ‘There's still one hour of journey left.’

Mary saw their positioning on the screen of the device, a small white dot crossing a long dark area, which was the forest around them, and going towards a bunch of yellow dots where the name of the city they were going to was. As she spotted the name of the city, Mary wished more than ever that her parents had allowed her to stay home.

‘Can’t we go back?’ she asked hopefully.

But neither her father nor her mother answered, which she took as a resounding no.

The car made a sudden turn and Mary was thrown with full force against the left door. Alice let out a scream of terror and the car stopped.

‘Dad, what just happened?’ asked Mary massaging her arm.

‘Did you see that?’ her father asked looking impressed.

‘It looked like a dead animal, didn’t it?’ said Alice with a trembling voice.

‘I didn’t see anything,’ retorted Mary turning round and looking through the windshield.

Surrounded by fog, there was a shadow laying on the road a few metres away.

‘It must be an animal. We should just go to the hotel, dad,’ she said apprehensively.

‘No, I’m curious,’ said her dad reversing the car.

‘Dad, what’re you doing?’

‘Go back, Charles!’

‘Just calm down, would you? It must be a dead animal, that’s all,’ Charles stated stubbornly. The car got nearer the thing. ‘I want to know what animal it is.’

Mary saw the form on the road getting closer and closer and the taillight headlights pierced through the fog to reveal the mysterious figure. It was a noble deer, his belly crushed as if the wheels of a truck had run over it. Blood was all over and several flies were circling the corpse.

‘How horrible!’ exclaimed Alice, who had gone to the backseat of the car and was now beside her daughter staring with wide eyes at the dead animal.

‘I’m going to take a look,’ said Charles leaving the car.

‘Charles, you are not working!’ said Alice also opening the door and going after him. ‘Besides, the animal is dead, there’s nothing you can do.’

‘And dad, you’re a doctor, not a vet,’ pointed out Mary feeling suddenly alone and leaving the car to go after her mother.

She could not see anything ahead or around her. Everything was in complete darkness. A gush of cold wind touched her face and made her run back to the car, reach out through the opening that led into the boot and get a jacket.

‘Come on, Mary,’ Alice grabbed her hand while Mary put on the short jacket and pulled her.

They walked carefully until they got to the animal, taking care not to step on the blood. The smell was disgusting and Alice covered her nose with her hands, a gesture that was mimicked by her daughter. Some of the animals’ internal organs were out and pulsing on the bloody ground. Charles got closer to the head of the animal to take a better look. Mary ran to him.

‘Don’t leave me alone on this side!’ Alice complained going after her daughter.

The tongue of the mammal was stretched out and blood was flowing from its mouth. His antlers touched the ground motionless but its black eyes were turning, illuminated by the headlights of the car.

‘He’s still alive,’ Mary concluded.

And then, without a warning, the animal grunted. Mary felt her heart freeze from fright. Alice slipped on the blood and fell down in her rush to return to the car.

‘Let’s go back to the car now!’ she said frightened when Charles lifted her off the ground.

‘Ugh, that’s disgusting!’ said Mary seeing her mother all blood stained and trying to scare away the flies that insisted on landing on her blond hair.

‘Let’s go,’ said Charles holding his wife and daughter and going back to the car stumbling.

They had barely entered the car and closed the doors when the rain that was threatening to fall poured. The noise of the thick drops on the roof of the vehicle along with the image of the wounded deer made Mary wish for the first time to be in the hotel they would spend their holidays. Charles started the car and accelerated.

It was difficult to see anything ahead of the road because of the intense rain that seemed to get worse and worse.

‘If only we hadn’t stopped to see that bloody animal I wouldn’t be all drenched in blood!’ said Alice as she took off her blouse leaving on only her bra.

‘I’m sorry, but I got curious,’ said an apprehensive Charles on the wheel.

‘The car is going to smell like deer blood now,’ complained Mary feeling sick.

‘And all thanks to your father, Mary,’ Alice sounded irritated. ‘As if it wasn’t enough to fight in the centre of London, now he decides to stop in the middle of the road to see a wounded animal!’

‘You got curious too, Alice, or you wouldn’t have left the car,’ pointed out Charles wisely.

‘Dad, there’s something in the GPS,’ said Mary, who had just noticed the light representing their car going straight towards another one in the opposite direction.

‘Oh, my God!’ shouted Alice.

But it was too late. A strong light appeared in front of them, coming towards the Cavenglass family’s car. Charles tried to stop but the vehicle skidded off the wet lane and hit something with a loud...

BAM!

The black car whirled and cries of terror cut through the air. Mary felt her head spinning while her mind was swallowed by endless darkness.