Next Summer

Part 1

It was eight o'clock in the evening as Luke left his flat and drove his car down the side street to the main road. It was a short five minute drive to the supermarket and he was running low on vital foods like bread, milk and meat. While he was there he might also pick up some beer, and maybe a bottle of Scotch.

He turned off the main road to go down a short hill to a T junction where he would turn right for the final kilometre to the shopping mall. As the car picked up speed on the downhill he gently applied the brakes. Nothing happened. The brake pedal felt strange, in fact as he pushed harder with his foot it just sank all the way to the floor. He started to panic. The car's speed was now up to eighty kilometres per hour and he could see the give way sign coming up fast where the street ended at the T intersection. He frantically pulled on the handbrake lever but it hardly had any effect. Too late to try down shifting through the gears, the end of the street was only metres away.

As the car hurtled past the give way sign he wrenched the steering wheel to the right to try and avoid smashing through a fence and into the wall of a house. With screeching tyres the car swung sideways and fishtailed into a parked car. With a sickening crunch and the sound of breaking glass the car finally stopped.

As several people came running up, he gingerly released the seatbelt and carefully tried moving all his limbs. Everything worked. No broken bones. The windscreen was cracked and he had hit his head on the door pillar, but he was still okay. 

A man opened the driver's door. "Are you all right?" he called.

Luke managed to nod while croaking "I'm okay."

"Well just stay there," the man said, "I've called an ambulance. They better check you over, just in case."

He sat in the car trembling and breathing deeply. A small crowd of onlookers gathered nearby looking at the damaged cars. He idly looked back at them, then he stiffened in shock. There amongst the small crowd, standing under a streetlight on the other side of the road, just standing staring, not at the wrecked cars, but staring straight at him. A tall young woman dressed in black with long black hair framing her face. A woman he thought he would never see again, a woman he never wanted to see again, but there she was staring at him with a slight smile on her face. A satisfied smug smile, an evil smile. He struggled out of the driver's seat and tried to cross the road. He had to get to her. She had done this to him. She had done something to his car so he would crash. His legs started to give way and he almost fell, but a pair of strong hands grasped him and helped him up. It was the man who had called the ambulance.

"Just take it easy there, fella," he said, "Don't try to walk. Come over here at sit down till the paramedics get here."

Luke allowed himself to be helped over to the kerb to sit down. As he sat there feeling dizzy and taking deep breaths he glanced across the street. She was gone. But as he turned back to look at his car a face swam into view. It was the beautiful face of a fairy princess framed by long hair, black as night. A face with beautiful pouting lips formed into a smile. He froze as the face leaned forwards, her long hair brushed against his face. He felt her warm sweet breath as she whispered in his ear, "You tried to kill me, Lukey, so you're going to pay. Soon I am going to kill you."

"Nooo!" he shouted, lashing out with his hands.

"Whoa there fella, are you okay?" the man who had helped him came running up and reached out to steady him.

"It's her, it's her!" he shouted pointing at the retreating figure.

"Who?" the man asked, "Who are to pointing at?"

They both looked around. There was no one there.

*****

The cicadas were singing a raucous tune as the car bounced slowly along the rough dirt track which wound its way through the forest of tall eucalypt trees. It was early summer and already the days were becoming hot and stifling.