The Convention (Ab)Use

Extending the night

Rajeev and the others were about to leave The Cholai for The Sarpari Hilton when Wes got back. Ahmed and Neha were leaving together. Judy was leaving in Rajeev's car. Wes would leave with Edward. Edward had come to The Cholai with his driver, Vinod. Edward was speaking on the phone with Vinod when Wes got back. Within a minute, Vinod was in sight. Edward sat at the front passenger's seat while Wes stayed at the back.

In a short time, all three cars were at The Sarpari Hilton car park. Everyone in the group left the cars. They made their way to the reception.

"Welcome sir," said a man to Ahmed.

"Good evening," replied Ahmed, "we are here for the Halloween party."

"It's over sir, the party finished an hour ago."

"Yeah, just like I thought," said Wes.

"Let's go to Blue Frog then," said Neha.

"So, Blue Frog it is then," said Ahmed.

"This has become a Halloween bar crawl," said Wes, with a smile on his face.

"Where is Rajeev?" asked Neha.

This was when the group realised he wasn't there. They made their way back to the car park.

"Yes, but you were about to leave like nothing happened" said Rajeev angrily. "This is a car park, you didn't have to be in such a rush. You're not leaving this place till my friends get back"

Rajeev pointed to Neha's car. There was a small but obvious depression on the right side, close to the back door. Someone had obviously hit Neha's car. Two men were standing in front of Rajeev. Rajeev was still speaking with them.

"Would you like it if you came out and saw your car with a dent on the..."

"What's happening?" asked Ahmed.

"I am sorry," said one of the men. "Is this your friend, the owner of the car?"

"No, it's hers" said Ahmed, pointing to Neha.

"Raj, Raj, just let it go," said Neha. "That's not going to spoil my evening."

The man approached Neha, but she didn't want to speak with him. "Please, just go away," she said.

She got in her car. "Guys, let's go to Blue Frog."

Neha seemed dismissive about the dent on her car. Wes, Edward and Judy stood some metres behind while all this was happening. They made comments about what was happening but didn't want to get any closer. The man got in his car and drove off.

"I wish I could smash his windscreen in," said Rajeev, as he got into his own car. He was still a bit angry. Judy offered words to calm him down.

The group moved off. All three cars had formed a sort of convoy. Rajeev's car led the group, while Vinod was driving behind Neha. Barely three minutes away from The Sarpari Hilton, Rajeev was at a police checkpoint. The cars were still in the order in which they had left The Sarpari Hilton. Rajeev was stopped by a policeman.

"Good evening officer," said Rajeev.

"Yeah, good evening. Sir, where are you going at this time?" said the policeman.

"I'm going out with my friends, they are behind me."

"Okay, please can I see your driving licence,"

"Okay, it should be right here in my pocket."

At this point, Vinod had just stopped behind Neha's car. Edward was still at the front. Wes was alone in the back seat. Vinod noticed an SUV racing down the road. It was coming from behind. He wondered why the car wasn't slowing down.

There was a loud bang. The policemen were stunned. The SUV had run into Edward's car.

Wes was pushed off his seat. He blacked out. Vinod hit Neha's car from Behind. The impact ran Neha straight into Rajeev's car. The policeman chatting with Rajeev jumped away from the car.

Vinod turned the steering to the left. The car stopped on the other side of the road. Other moving cars stopped. 2 police men ran towards the SUV. Vinod and Edward got out of the car.

Rajeev ran towards Edward who was walking towards the SUV. Ahmed was struggling to open Neha's door.

"Officer, see, take 5,000 rupees. We have to go" said a man in the SUV.

"Do you realise what you've just caused?" said the policeman.

"What... You're not going anywhere" said Rajeev.

"You just hit my car," said Edward.

"Look, this is a diplomatic car," said the man in the SUV.

"And that," said Rajeev pointing, "is my car!"

"Can you move to the side of the road please," said the other policeman as he signalled to the SUV driver.

3 motorists got out of their cars and approached the scene. Neha walked around her car. Her car bumper had fallen off. The boot was heavily dented. A policeman asked her to move it off the centre of the road. Edward began to process the seriousness of what had just happened. He took out his vampire teeth and cleaned off the red face paint stains on his cheeks. He looked at his car and wondered how it had gotten to the other side of the road. Rajeev looked in the same direction. At this moment, Rajeev noticed Wes was still at the back seat of Edward's car. He immediately felt a shiver through his body. He rushed towards him. The car's boot was warped. The door was disfigured. Rajeev forced open the door. He got Wes out. Wes, still taking in what just happened, looked at Edward's car. He felt pain down his back and around his waist. His head hurt. He could feel there were cuts around his eyes, especially the left eye. He looked at the SUV. He couldn't stand. He walked to the side of the road and sat down on the floor. A policeman approached him to check if he was okay. He thought about his sister finding out about the accident. She would freak out. He decided to tell the policeman he was okay. Though he wasn't sure he was, he didn't want any drama about him. It was then he remembered what Tess told him about her dream.