The Accident 

The Accident 

The narrow road was dark and desolate. The rain had incessantly been falling all evening and had only gotten worse. She usually avoided the street unless she was in a rush. Cursing herself under her breath, she tried to navigate her way through.    

She shouldn’t have ventured out on such a night, she thought. All this just to impress her husband’s boss, who was coming for dinner to their house that night. Her husband owed her one for this. The sound of howling wind and furious raindrops pelting on her windscreen broke her reverie. The only sound disrupting the otherwise malevolent emptiness.  

 She hadn’t seen him coming. It was as if he had emerged from the darkness, his form outlined by the brilliant shine of the headlights. Braking didn’t help; the car just glided over the surface of the water, walloping him. She was flung forwards. He was lifted by the impact and thrown on the windscreen, his face only inches away from her. Maybe for just a flicker of a second, she felt his eyes scanning her face, penetrating her soul.    

 He slid down onto the side of the road as she tried to reverse. A chill gripped her heart, and she broke into a cold sweat. The silvery-white lightning ripped across the inky sky, illuminating his face. The blood was gushing, puddling under him despite the relentless efforts of the heavy downpour. 

He couldn’t have survived that! 

She had killed the man! 

In that moment of madness admixed with dread, horror, and panic, she jammed her foot onto the accelerator. She had decided to cut her losses and run.    

  

*****  

The shrill ring of the telephone made her jump. It was from her husband.  

 “Sorry, Darling! Got held up in the office, the boss would be reaching any moment, I’ll be home soon after. “  

 The doorbell rang. Bracing herself to endure the boss’s company, she opened the door. A gust of cold wind hit her on the face; a grim form stood at her doorstep. A sliver of moonlight fell on the guest…that face. The face of the dead man… 

The man the accident stared maliciously and perfidiously at her. A loud raspy whisper reached her, “At last, I found you!”   

 He had come to square accounts…to exact retribution. The ghost had come to wreak vengeance. His grin became a snarl, and he inched closer. Her heart pounded as if ready to explode. Her breath was sucked out of her body as she opened her mouth to scream. The room swirled around her.  

 *****   

 “What happened, Darling? The boss thought he probably caught you unawares. He was quite embarrassed to have caused such a fright”, her husband exclaimed, crouching by her side. Sensing a question in her eyes, he elaborated. “The boss! he had to leave early; he got a phone call reporting a hit and run accident involving his twin brother.”   

 

 

 

-copyright reserved

I wrote this story for a prompt-based contest by the Asian Literary society. The prompt was to weave a story around ‘Accident.’ This story was chosen as one of the winners. You can see the certificate here-

https://supriyasbanter.com/outstanding-performance-short-story-contest/

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