The Followed

Between the intermittent scrape of the windscreen wipers was the mumbling drone of the radio and the rain hammering on the roof of the car. Against the black sky, Bill became mesmerised by the cascade of rain illuminated by the streetlights as he passed each one on his journey home. The meeting with his manager just before he’d left work for the day, the report he had to write before a 10am meeting tomorrow, the gift he still hadn’t had time to buy his wife for their anniversary and the flooded roads all occupied his thoughts as his car crawled through the city centre, hitting every red light. People fighting with umbrellas crossed the road as he waited at a set of traffic lights which seemed to have been red for hours. Bill tapped the steering wheel with irritation, then switched the radio off with a grunt of annoyance. He tapped the accelerator causing the car to rev in a passive aggressive manner, as if this would make clear his frustration to the lights, make them feel guilty and then change as an apology.

Amber; Bill released the handbrake, checked the car was in first gear and began to pull away. Before he could move more than a few inches, the passenger door swung open and someone climbed in.

‘Go’, the intruder shouted.

Bill had already begun to pull away, his instinctive response was to accelerate as fast as possible as if this would cause the intruder to fall out of the car. He didn’t however, it only caused the passenger door to slam shut.

‘Go’, the man yelled once more, ‘Please. I can’t be alone.’

‘What – ’, Bill gasped, unable to think of a way to deal with the intrusion.

‘I’m being followed. Please, just drive.’

The intruder was male and from the brief glances Bill had managed to steal between negotiating traffic, the stranger had long black soaking wet hair. Bill tried to look at the passengers face but the inside of the car was too dark. The man then switched the radio on and turned it up loud. Bill immediately turned it off, ‘What are you – ’

‘It can’t be silent,’ the man said breathlessly, looking desperately out of the side window, ‘they get in.’ Bill watched as the stranger turned the radio up a little, just enough to make out the lyrics of the song.

‘Who? Who’s following and – getting in?’ Bill started looking out of his own and the passenger’s side windows, looking for some kind of danger.

‘Please just drive and keep talking’. Bill could hear only desperation in the stranger’s voice, feeling everything from panic, excitement, dread and concern for his safety. He checked his rear-view mirror but there were no cars following on the carriageway out of town. ‘Keep talking’, the stranger said with urgency.

‘About what? Who are you?’

‘I can’t tell you. They’ll follow you too. I can’t be alone. They’ll get in.’

Bill’s heart was racing as fast as his mind. The atmosphere in the car felt heavy; murky almost. He made a few more attempts to glance at the stranger’s face as he neared the edge of the city and onto the road leading to his home town. He thought the stranger’s eyes were completely black but couldn’t be sure; the only light being the glow of the radio’s digital display.

‘Where can I take you?’

‘Crowd. Anywhere with people.’ Bill looked at the clock on the dashboard, 5:45pm. The stranger turned the radio up slightly, his breath shortening. ‘You need to take me – ’, he continued, swallowing and holding his chest, ‘please’.

Bill’s train of thought took him to a woman he worked with, Kate. She was always talking to someone; whether she stopped them in the corridor or the middle of the office. Nobody ever seemed to seek her out to talk to, Kate was always the one to seek and start the conversation. She wanted to know everything that was going on. Whenever he took work home and logged onto his laptop in the evening, she was always showing as ‘in a call’ on the communication platform. If there was nobody to talk to in the office, he’d see her on her mobile phone talking to her mother or a friend. Her last resort was listening to music through earbuds. He couldn’t recall her ever sitting on her own in the canteen in silence, reading a magazine. She always had to be talking to someone, usually about herself, anyone, regardless of how well or how little she knew them. She was never this panicked though – not as terrified as the stranger in his car seemed to be. Maybe she’d learned to control her fear?

‘Here’, the stranger said suddenly.

‘A supermarket?’, Bill replied, quizzically.

‘Here’, the stranger spat once more, landing a fist on the dashboard.

Bill gradually brought the car to a stop but before they’d stopped moving, the stranger had swung the door open and disappeared off towards the supermarket carpark. Bill got out of the car, taking his keys with him. He closed the passenger door with a thud, staring off in the direction the stranger had escaped. He’d lost sight of him in the people pushing trolleys and filling their car boots.

As the rain fell, a voice; quiet at first. Then another voice, in his head. Talking but not saying anything. Another. Louder.

‘Stop!’

For a moment, they stopped.

A voice, quiet at first. Another. Another. Another.