the wheels spinning frantically for several seconds before they regained traction.
Careful to keep her foot well away from both brake and accelerator, she allowed the car to slow naturally, her hands shaking as she tentatively straightened the wheels. Surely the temperature hadn’t dropped enough, yet, for black ice to have started to form on the road.
She risked a quick glance at her watch and did some mental calculations, immeasurably relieved when she realised that she must be little more than five or so miles from Edenthwaite now.
Tentatively, she pressed on the accelerator again, reassured by the tyres’ renewed grip on the road. She should arrive safely long before the weather became a real problem, even if it was dark by the time she reached her destination.
She’d only travelled another mile when the dark car swung around the bend in front of her, travelling far too fast for the road conditions. Almost in slow motion, Laurel saw the moment when the driver lost control, his headlights veering towards the unforgiving stone wall at the side of the road. The tyres squealed and she held her breath as he tried to steer the heavy vehicle out of the skid. For just a second she thought he’d been successful, only to realise that he was now heading straight towards her.
Reflexively, she twisted the wheel, her only thought to avoid the impending crash.
Suddenly everything was happening too fast for her to register each individual event. She had an impression of hands frantically turning the steering-wheel in the other car, eyes and mouth open in matching horror, her own car striking the limestone wall a glancing blow as the black car screeched its way along her paintwork.
Then the black car disappeared from her sight as her car began to spin. It seemed as if she was whirling around for ever, going faster and faster as she travelled down the slope of the hill. The headlights picked out a wildly spinning kaleidoscope of images right up till she broadsided the wall for a second time, then all she could see was the dark arc of the sky as the car toppled onto its side, crashing through the top of the wall and down into the field below.
‘OhGod, OhGod, OhGod,’ Laurel heard herself whimpering when everything finally stopped moving and she realised she was still alive.
It took her a moment to catch her breath and realise that she was virtually suspended from her seat belt, hanging almost completely upside down. Even so, something made her grab hold of the steering-wheel to drag herself close enough to switch off the engine.
It was awkward to reach, especially as she had to be careful not to cause any further damage with the restricting seat belt.
‘Was that the right thing to do?’ she whispered into the sudden silence, curving her hands protectively around herself. One half of her brain was telling her that it was the best way to minimise the risk of fire. She didn’t yet know how long it was going to take to clamber out of her awkward position. Having survived the crash, she certainly didn’t want to burn to death. There was more than her own life at stake here.
It wasn’t until she realised how completely dark it was outside now that she wondered if she might have made a mistake.
Without the engine switched on, she couldn’t have any of the lights on, so no one would be able to see her.
‘Especially with the car tucked behind the wall like this,’ she muttered as she craned her neck to try to look around.
The car gave a metallic groan as it shifted in response to her movement and she froze, suddenly aware that while she knew there was a wall close to one side of the car she had absolutely no idea what lay the other side.
Long-ago geography lessons flashed into her mind and she actually remembered drawing diagrams to explain the way glaciation had shaped the scenery around Edenthwaite.
‘Flat-bottomed, U-shaped valleys with steep sides,’ she whispered, the illustrations clear in her head. She groaned when she remembered looking at the map that morning as she’d planned the fastest route north. She’d seen the switchback wriggles of the smaller side roads as they fought their way up out of one valley and over the rocky limestone tops before plunging in an equally dizzying drop into the next.
Depending which bit of road she was on when that car had headed straight for her, the scene outside her window could be a flat valley floor, a limestone pavement at a thousand or more feet up, or any point in between.
‘Well, whatever’s out there, I can’t stay here all night,’ she declared firmly. ‘It would be one thing to stay with the car if I’d broken down at the side of the road, but if I just hang around in here, I might still be waiting for help when Christmas comes.’ She gave a wry chuckle at her unintentional pun. ‘Hanging around…like a bauble on a Christmas tree.’
She stretched out one hand to reach for the release mechanism for her belt, needing to relieve the pressure across her body. She was going to have some bruises but at least the belt had prevented her from sustaining a broken neck.
‘And how about you?’ she murmured softly, still cradling the swell of her belly with her other hand while she tried to work out how to release the seat belt. ‘I bet you’re glad you were cushioned by all that amniotic fluid.’
As if in answer, a tiny limb gave her hand a resounding thump.
Laurel smiled as she circled the spot with her fingertips. ‘All right. It shouldn’t be long before I get us out of here…although what difference it will make to you, I don’t know. You seem to have spent the last few months turning somersaults, so hanging upside down is no novelty.’
Frustrated with her lack of success with the belt, she twisted to get her other hand close enough to help and the car shuddered again, this time almost feeling as if it had shifted a little way along the ground.
Laurel froze again with her heart in her mouth. For several endless seconds she held her breath, only releasing it when all stayed still and quiet.
Only it wasn’t quite quiet. There was a strange new ticking sound, now that she concentrated. It wasn’t the sound of the engine cooling down, or the regular metallic sort of sound that a clock would make. It was far softer and more random against the window beside her.
It took her several moments to track the source down, and the answer sent a shiver down her spine.
‘It’s started snowing!’ she whimpered.
She’d thought it too dark outside to see anything but as she stared in disbelief at the swirling flickers of brightness that had begun to land on the window beside her head, she knew she’d been wrong.
So far, most of it seemed to be whirling around in the air. There was little more than a sprinkle settling on the ground or over the vehicle, but that could change all too quickly.
‘Please…no! Don’t do this to me!’ she moaned.
Her situation had been bad enough before. If it carried on snowing, it would become impossible.
She shivered as she forced herself to take an inventory.
‘For a start, it’s getting colder,’ she stated aloud, knowing that it wasn’t just because she didn’t dare risk running the car heater. ‘And if it keeps snowing, not only will it cover the car, but it’ll cover up any signs of where I went off the road, so no one will know where to look.’
Another sound interrupted
