Short Story : Stop!

“Are you sure you know how to read that thing?” Mother asked.

“Don’t worry about my map reading abilities,” Father replied, “Just concentrate on the road.”

“I wouldn’t have to concentrate on the road if you could drive," Mother said bitterly, “Are you ever actually going to bother to learn?”

“I’ve got my learners licence.”

“You’ve had that for seven years,” Mother said, ”Seven years? When are you going to bother to sit your test?”

“One day,” Father replied, turning the map upside down to get a better idea of where they were going. He looked out the windscreen into the gathering dark, hoping to spot a road sign that might indicate where they were, but there was nothing.

“Can you two please stop arguing?” their 8 year-old Daughter said from the back seat, “I can’t hear my programme when you two are shouting so much.”

“We’re not arguing,” Mother said, looking at Daughter in the rear view mirror.

“Well it sure sounds like you are,” Daughter replied.

“What are you watching anyway?” Father asked, “It better not be that stupid Freezing movie again.”

“It’s called Frozen,” Daughter glared at the back of Father’s head, “and it is NOT stupid.”

“Well, it sure looks stupid to me,” Father said, “I think Disney are running out of ideas.”

“They never had ideas,” Mother said, “Disney just steal old fairy tales and books that most kids have forgotten about.”

“Just shut up!” Daughter shouted, “I like it, so just shut up.”

“Don’t you dare talk to your mother in that tone,” Father warned, “Now, apologise.”

“Doubtful,” Daughter muttered.

“If you don’t say you’re sorry right now, I’m pulling over until you do,” Mother added, watching her daughter in the mirror.

“Fine,” Daughter said, turning back to her iphone, “I didn’t want to go on this stupid holiday anyway. You’re the ones who are having trouble with your marriage.”

“Where did you hear that?” Mother said, spinning round in her seat.

“Watch the road, honey,” Father said.

“Quiet,” Mother shouted, glaring from her husband to her daughter, “Where did you hear that we were having trouble with our marriage?”

“At school,” Daughter replied, “Some of the kids said they’re parents were talking about how your marriage was failing since daddy lost his job, and that’s why you’re taking this trip.”

“That’s not true,” said Father, “This is just another family vacation, like any other.”

“What about the marriage therapist you’ve been seeing?” Daughter asked.

“You mean marriage counsellor,” Father corrected.

“So you admit it,” Daughter smiled.

Mother rolled her eyes, “We admit, we have been seeing a counsellor, but there’s nothing wrong with our marriage. It’s not like we’re getting divorced.”

Daughter’s eyes widened, and she actually looked up from her phone, “Divorce?” she repeated.

Father groaned, “Now see what you’ve started?” he said to his wife.

“Look, sweetie,” Mother said to her daughter, leaning over the head rest of her seat, “your father and I are not getting divorced. We love each other, despite what you may think, and we’re going to be together until the day we – “

“Stop!” Daughter cried, pointing with her phone towards the front of the car. Mother turned back to see the car had swerved into the wrong lane, and an oncoming truck was coming towards them.

Mother hit the brakes, turning the wheel away from the truck. The car spun towards the side of the road, jumping the curb and bouncing onto the grassy verge. Daughter phone jumped out of her hand, hitting Mother in the head. She clutched the steering wheel, watching helplessly as the car bounced down the verge, hitting boulders and branches, then hitting the side of a tree. The car catapulted into the air, tumbling end over end, until it came to a stop, right-side up in a clearing at the bottom of the verge.

Mother blinked away a streak of blood that was running down her forehead into her eyes, turning to her husband.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“I think so,” Father said, rubbing his arm, “I think I’ve hurt my arm, but otherwise I’m fine. You?”

“That iphone hit me in the head,” Mother reached to her forehead, “Man, that hurt.”

Mother turned in her seat as best she could, “Sweetie, are you okay?” she said, trying to see their daughter in the backseat.

There was no reply.

“Sweetie?” Father said, turning like his wife to check on their daughter.

Daughter wasn’t moving. Her head was lolling at an unnatural angle, a nasty purple bruise running the length of her neck. Her eyes were open, but they saw nothing.

“No,” Mother said quietly, “No, she can’t be… no… NO!”

Mother tried to undo her seatbelt, but the buckle had warped and it wouldn’t come out of the socket. As she struggled, she realised that her legs were trapped under the dash and she couldn’t move from her seat.

Father said nothing. He looked at his dead daughter, then at his struggling wife. Finally, after what seemed like an age, he spoke.

“We have to get out of here,” he said, undoing his own seatbelt which came away with ease.

“What are you doing?” Mother asked as Father opened the car door and staggered out, “We’re not leaving her – not my little girl.”

“We can’t stay here,” he said, slamming his door shut and running round to the other side of the car, opening the driver’s seat door, “Haven’t you seen where we are?”

Mother turned to look back out the windscreen.

The car had stopped on a train track.

“I’m not leaving her in the car,” Mother sobbed, “Get her out.”

“She’s already dead,” Father said, “We have to move quickly before a train comes.”

He reached in through the driver’s side door and tried to undo the seatbelt.

“It’s no use,” Mother said, “I’ve already tried, it’s stuck.”

Father looked around, seeing some broken glass that had come out of a side window and picked it up. He pulled the seatbelt out a few inches and started to slice at it with the piece of glass. It took a few minutes, but Father soon had the seatbelt cut through and he slapped the lose piece of material aside and tried to pull his wife free.

She screamed.

“My legs!” she sobbed, “They’re stuck under the dashboard.”

Father peered in the dark under the dashboard, seeing that the force of the crash had pushed the dash hard against her leg. Part of the steering column had come lose, and it looked like it had pinioned Mother’s ankle.

“Does it hurt?” Father asked.

“What do you think?” Mother wept, “Just leave me here. Get to safety before a train comes.”

Father stared long and hard into Mother’s eyes, giving her a look that spoke volumes as he crouched down beside her. After about a minute, he stood up and disappeared from sight.

Mother sat in the car, staring out the windscreen. In the distance she could see a faint light – it was probably the headlights of an approaching train heading towards her.

As she watched the train lights growing larger, her impending death heading her way, she felt the car judder. Her husband was trying to push it off the tracks.

It moved about an inch before it stopped. Then she felt the sharp judder again, this time it might have moved half as much.

She heard the passenger door open and turned to see her husband climbing back into the passenger seat.

“What are you doing?” she asked, frowning.

“I was trying to move the car,” Father said, “but it’s caught on the track. It won’t budge.”

Mother frowned some more, “I meant what are you doing getting back in the car?”

Father looked at her, taking her hand in his, “My daughter is dead,” he said, “my wife soon will be, and I don’t have a job. What have I got left to live for?”

“Don’t do this,” Mother said, her frown turning into tears once more, “just get out the car and get away.”

“I’m not leaving you,” Father said, his eyes starting to well up, “we’ve had a hard enough time without your last thought being that I abandoned you and left you to die.”

He leaned towards her and kissed her on the lips.

“You are such an idiot,” Mother smiled sadly, squeezing her husband’s hand tightly as the light of the oncoming train grew brighter and brighter…

Originally Posted 10/4/2015

Result - Joint 1st Place