Tandem

Raechel Harchey

Raechel awoke early the next morning. Light seeped through the curtain along with a surprisingly mild breeze. Alpha remained un disturbed by her shuffling around as she gathered her toiletries and made her way down to the communal showers.

"Good morning love," Reggie called. He was manoeuvring a large black bin bag around the side of the Stack towards the bin store. "You're up earlier than usual."

"My friend and I are going on a trip," Raechel replied. "We thought it would be a nice opportunity for a change of scenery."

"Very nice young lady. You have a good time!" He said, disappearing behind the building.

Raechel proceeded to enter the public showers. It was virtually empty at this time in the morning, except for a few mothers bathing their babies. One of them smiled at Raechel as she walked past and the baby emitted a sort of gurgly greeting. Raechel smiled at the mother before entering a cubicle at the far end of the corridor. The water was so beautifully warm as it rained down upon her. She made a mental note to use the showers as early as she could muster the energy to get out of bed, as it seemed that there was more hot water at this time of the day. She washed her hair before drying off and returned to her Nook to get ready.

"I'll put your dinner and breakfast out at the same time Alpha because I don't know what time I'll be back tonight. We can't have you being hungry now can we," Raechel said as she poured the cat biscuits into two bowls and set them down in the corner of the Nook. Alpha merely lifted his head, let out a muffled grumble and adjusted his position. "Don't eat it all up at once though."

She bundled her jacket and evidence notebook in a bag, slung it over shoulder and made her way over to Holt's Nook. She called out to him to announce her presence before peeling back the curtain.

"I can't believe how exci-." Raechel stopped mid-sentence at the sight of Holt's empty Nook. Her eyes searched the tiny space around her in case he was still asleep and nestled amongst the pile of blankets in the corner. Raechel made her way over to the blanket pile but it was clear Holt wasn't there. She approached the entrance to the Nook and peered over the edge in case he was already waiting for her on the ground but there was nobody down there but a few people walking by.

"Really Holt?" Raechel sighed. Her phone vibrated in her pocket and her heart leapt at the thought that it could be him. The notification that popped up read 'Hire Car Now Available'. Holt had just disappeared without a trace on the day they were meant to be getting some answers. She would have been tempted to wait for him had the hire car not been waiting. She quickly composed a message telling him that she was going to go ahead with the trip and to let her know that he was alright. She pressed send and began her descent down to the awaiting car. She looked up at Reggie's Nook and instinctively raised her hand to wave but he wasn't there. He was probably still emptying the bins round the back.

"You must be Raechel," a young man said as he approached her. "I'm Chris."

"Hi," Raechel said, slightly taken aback that he knew who she was. "That's me, yes."

"Don't worry I'm not a stalker or anything,' he smirked and held up the screen of his phone. "It's the profile picture on the Hire a Tyre app. It helps us decide who we trust to rent a car and who we don't. So if you look like a criminal then unfortunately there's no way you're getting a car."

"Right," Raechel said slowly.

"I'm just kidding. We're not as judgemental as that!" He started laughing at his own humour, or what he perceived to be humour. Raechel smiled at him nervously. She hadn't found what he said to be witty or funny and wasn't quite sure how best to react.

"Where are you heading if you don't mind me asking?" "The booking was for two people right?"

Raechel nodded and instinctively glanced quickly up at Holt's Nook. A part of her expected and secretly hoped that she'd see his flustered face navigating his way down the ladders on the front of the Stack. Her heart sunk a little when she realised that was impossible. She'd seen that he wasn't in his Nook, so unless he ran up to her in the next few minutes she was going to have to leave without him.

"Are you waiting for them to arrive?"

"They've decided not to come actually."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, it was a bit last minute but something came up and they had to stay behind."

"That's a shame. Road trips are always better with company in my opinion. There's always someone to pass you the snacks whilst you're driving."

"True, but that also means there's someone else to dictate the music. The beauty about driving alone is that nobody can complain about your song choices."

"That is also very true. There's nothing worse than a moany passenger," he tapped on his phone screen and held it out towards her. "If you could just sign this for me then that would be great. It's just the disclaimer to make sure you know the consequences if you ram the car off a road or someth-."

Raechel paused halfway through signing her name on the screen. Chris' voice grew quieter and quieter until it sounded as though he were speaking underwater. The sound of screeching tyres and crumpling metal, the smell of burning rubber, the sensation of rolling over and over and over again until there was nothing but darkness. It was all still there in her memory as clear as the day it happened.

"Is that ok?" Chris' words brought her back to reality. She looked up at him a little puzzled but nodded her head anyway.

"Yes, that's completely fine," Raechel finished her signature. "No ramming cars off roads. Got it."

Chris smiled at her and slotted the phone back into his pocket. He held the keys out in front of him and Raechel took them.

"You have the car today and tomorrow. When you're done with it, if you could park it here and notify us on the app. We'll send someone over to come and collect it from you once we know it's ready."

"Amazing, thanks."

"Have a safe trip Raechel, it was nice to meet you."

"You too." With that Raechel watched Chris walk away before stepping into another car. She walked round to the driver's side of the hire car, opened the door and sat herself inside. She removed the bag from her shoulder and placed it on the passenger seat. She glanced once more up at Holt's Nook but this time she knew what she would see. She placed both hands on the steering wheel and closed her eyes, waiting for the flashback to start again. She was relieved when the acrid smell of burning rubber failed to materialise. She told herself that she was going to be ok. Once she'd gathered herself, she reached for the key in her lap and placed it on the magnetic key pad panel. The dashboard lit up in front of her and the engine grumbled to life. She typed in Hollydew House into the built-in PathFinder and a map sprang up. An automated voice spoke 'Your journey to Hollydew House has now been programmed. Please drive safely." Raechel took a deep breath in.

"You can do this Raechel," she whispered to herself. "You're going to be ok." 

She placed a finger on top of the handbrake button and pressed it in. The car made a soft clunking noise as the handbrake disengaged and Raechel put her foot gently on the accelerator. The car moved forward slowly and began to pick up speed as she placed more pressure on the pedal. She was in control of the very machine she'd feared for so long. She felt oddly at ease with each metre that she drove, and she couldn't quite believe that she was doing this. Nothing bad would happen to her if she was cautious, she just had to remember that. The car wouldn't do anything that she didn't tell it to do. She pressed the button to roll down the window and relished the breeze that rustled her hair.

"Let the journey begin."