Short Stories

The Accident

I sat on the bench, hand in hand with three of my friends, looking over at the grave of the women we hadn't seen in a very long time. We didn't personally know her, yet here we were. It had took my friends a great deal of convincing to get me to come to this town again... After what had happened a year ago. 

Running my fingers over the ragged name of the tombstone, I heard the watchman say that it was past visiting hours and decided to go back to our old vacation home, where we would be spending the next week.

We'd gotten back home, buying some alcohol and snacks on the way, I could tell that my friends were trying hard to cheer me up. I decided to go with the flow and not be a party pooper. Here I was, laughing and chatting about the old days, mind tipsy with a little too many drinks. 

We were just about to discuss our last trip to this town when we heard a thud in the living room and everyone suddenly went quiet.

"You heard that?", Stephan asked as he walked over to the door, trying hard to listen for any other sound. No one replied, yet Stephan had the answer to his question when another thud sounded; this time a little closer to the door.

Wordlessly, Stephan, the strongest of us all picked up the basketball bat from his closet and cautiously walked to the door, cringing as the door creaked when opened. He closed the door behind him which made me anxious but I did not have it in me to speak at that very moment.  

A minute passed and there was absolute silence in the room. I relaxed, the thud had sounded close to our room. He would've caught the intruder by now. We waited for him to get back when a bloodcurdling scream of a very familiar voice pierced through the darkness. 

One moment, I was sitting on the ground with my eyes wide open and the other, I was being dragged out of the window by one of my friends.

"Move it John! We need to get the hell outta here.", Damon whisper-shouted as he nudged me out the ground-floor window. I wanted to tell him that we should help Stephan, but I guess there was a mutual agreement that the damage done was probably out of hand since the screaming had suddenly stopped.

"I'm calling the police.", Raymond said as he dialed a number on his phone before speaking into it in an urgent manner. Damon and I were already out of the house and were helping Raymond out. Panic rushed through our bodies as we started hearing the thuds again, coming closer and closer towards the window. Raymond was stuck and he knew what was about to happen.

"You guys need to go. I'll try to hold this person off. Call the police.", Raymond said, his voice full of strain, face showing contradictory emotions.

"We can't leave you!", my voice was finally working as I gripped his hand and tried to tug him out but it seemed as if he wouldn't get out.

"You know you need to go...", Raymond whispered as he wriggled out of my grasp. "Take care of Anna.", was the last thing I heard him say before I nodded and was pulled by Damon towards our car parked in a distance. The wind was sharp on our faces as we ran for our lives. I looked back as I heard screaming, only to find an empty window with a trail of blood flowing down.

We didn't have a lot of time and we knew it. Damon quickly got into the driver's seat, knowing I refused to drive since the accident happened. He quickly turned the machine on and reversed back to the driveway, speeding through the trees on the main road. 

Our way was empty this time of the night and it wasn't surprising. For the first time we both realized what had just happened back home and none of us seemed to be very talkative about it.

A couple minutes passed before we heard a weird static noise from the radio.

"Turn that shit off.", Damon grunted, sparing no glance at my side. I tried but it just didn't work and I expressed my concern to the guy but he had bigger problems to worry about. The steering wheel was moving which wasn't new but my eyes almost popped out of their sockets when I realized that he had his hands in the air. A weird force was making the car steer, trying to get us off the road but Damon retained his grip and tried his best to get us safely to the nearest police station.

"Holy Jesus...", Damon whispered, eyes fixed on the road as I tried to search for what he could see. I could only make out the all-so-familiar woman's pale face as Damon steered clear off the path and the car banged into a tree. 

'This isn't possible, she died an year ago.', I thought as I struggled to open my eyes. Hot liquid flowed down my forehead, blocking my vision as I tried to assess the damage that had just happened.

I looked over to my side and saw Damon lying unconscious, head mounted on the wheel in front of him. I gasped as I realized that there was no pulse. I quickly jumped out of the car, hands on my throbbing head as I tried to calm myself and get some Oxygen into my lungs. The fact that this road was all too familiar did not calm my mind.

I tried to run but my legs wouldn't move as I squinted in the sudden blinding light. A car was headed straight towards me. My eyes shot wide open as I saw myself and my friends driving the car towards me that I had just got out of. I only had time to look back at the wrecked car to make sure that I wasn't hallucinating before the collision happened and the car zoomed away.

It was painful, oh so painful. I groaned as I tried to get to my feet, failing miserably. I knew this was the end, yet I did not wish to believe it. The only thing I saw before my eyes turned to black were the skid marks from a year back when me and my friends ran over the innocent woman and sped away from this very place.

THE END