Abigail's Lover
Preview
Abigail’s Lover
Chapter One
Abigail had been driving for miles that early spring
night. Tall trees and shrubs formed dense hedgerows that flanked the unlit
rural roads she sped along; their existence touched her only on an instinctive
level. Her bright blue eyes stung from crying, but the harder she tried to
control her emotions the more her tears flowed. She had no destination in
mind, only an irresistible urge to drive as far and as fast as she could to
escape her heartache. The pain of a failed relationship matched the mood of
the night. Dark swollen clouds rolled across the heavens, thundering their
payload onto the earth below. Skeletal fingers of lightning tore across the
sky, momentarily illuminating the snaking road that sliced through wood lined
fields and meadows.
Blinded by despair, she barely noticed
the rain dancing in the beams from her headlights as she raced along the
winding country road. As she drove away from bright lights of London and
deeper into the dark countryside of Buckinghamshire, the rain grew heavier.
She blinked to clear her blurred vision in time to see a fox standing in
the road ahead. She swerved to miss the rain soaked canine and screamed as
she smashed through a hedgerow. The sound of branches snapping suddenly gave
way to the roaring noise of her surging engine. For a moment she felt weightless
and screamed again as she realised that her vehicle was airborne. For a split
second she caught sight of her headlights being reflected by what appeared
to be large white framed windows. In that instant she heard a final horrific
crash followed by darkness and silence. Her thoughts had ceased, her physical
senses had shut down; time and space had become an irrelevant concept.
She sat limp and still behind the steering
wheel of her Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet. As Abigail emerged from the depths
of unconsciousness, an opaque white light filled her vision and she wondered
if she had died. An excruciating pain in her ribs quickly brought the realisation
that she was alive. Pulling a deflated airbag from her face cleared the deathly
opaque light. She peered into a swirling mist beyond her cracked windscreen.
A single headlight had survived the crash and illuminated the haze ahead of
her crippled car. The smell of fuel filled her nostrils and in a moment of
clarity she switched off the car’s ignition. Slumping back in her seat, she
gathered her senses and surveyed her surroundings.
Shards of glass and a thick layer of
dust covered the front of her car.
‘Oh shit!’ she muttered beneath her breath.
She looked at what was once her mobile phone, but was now several pieces of
useless plastic scattered along the top of her dashboard. Twisted plants
and splintered shafts of wood were everywhere she looked. As she peered
into the murky scene before her, the remaining headlight flickered out with
a loud pop, making her release a brief, startled scream. As Abigail’s eyes
adjusted to the dark, she saw a pair of glass doors beyond the rubble in front
of her distressed car. Gathering her handbag from the foot well of the passenger
seat proved a painful exercise, but she managed to get her belongings then
slowly climbed out of the car. Her coat snagged on the door as she went to
move away from the car. As she released herself from the vehicle, a large
pane of glass crash down in to the path she would have taken.
Dazed and in pain she stumbled through
the wreckage, holding her side. Looking around as she made her way towards
the doors, she realised that she had crashed into someone’s conservatory.
Rain poured through large gaps in what was once a glazed roof. Having lost
her left shoe in the crash, she found walking difficult and painful. Abigail
winced with every other step as she trod on sharp pieces of rubble and glass.
She hobbled towards the safety of the house and prayed that someone inside
could help her.
She peered through the French windows,
but saw no sign of life, only the shadowy outlines of furniture. She was
about to shout out, but a sense of foreboding made her stop. As quietly as
she could, she tried to open the doors but they were locked.
‘That’s just great,’ she sighed, then
shrugged her shoulders and glanced back at her car. She took a long deep breath
as she examined the doors and noticed that several panes of glass had been
broken. Reaching in through a jagged hole, she opened the door and went inside.
As she crossed the threshold she tripped and fell. For several seconds she
lay face down on the carpeted floor. A dry musty smell made her wrinkle her
nose as she lifted herself. Pains in her ribcage grew with intensity making
her groan as she moved forward.
As she crawled further inside, she heard
the horrific crash of the conservatory roof falling in on her car. A cloud
of dust billowed into the room. She choked and gasped for air as the cloud
settled and silence filled her ears. Looking back at the resting-place of
her car; Abigail groaned at the sight of the wreck. Had she stayed in the
driver’s seat, she would surely have died, since her convertible was now a
permanent open top filled with broken glass and wood.
Her vision was blurred, her legs felt
weak, but she managed to pull herself to a standing position. She removed
her right shoe and tossed it into the wreckage. She stood in a large room;
a dining table and six chairs occupied the centre of the floor. She used one
of the chairs to steady herself while she caught her breath. Abigail saw
another pair of doors at the opposite end of the room and decided to venture
further inside the house.
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That's all for now folks...