Night Terrors by Julie Hubbard - January 2008
The trees reared up in the moonlight, revealing their skeletal forms. He knew he had to leave now, to make it back to the car. Wiping the cloying mud from his hands onto his trousers in an effort to clean them, he got up and started to run. It was so difficult as his legs seemed to be held back by an invisible force. The faint moaning had turned into a high pitched wail now and sliced through the woods. Running flat out, his lungs wrestled to gain more air as his breathing got faster. He could see the Corsa parked at the side of the lane, just a little bit more and it would be alright. Grappling with the door handle he jumped in and tried to start the car, it spluttered and coughed then died.
Come on! Come on, come on, please, please, please!
Then it finally fired up, he smashed his foot to the floor just as a dark shape sprang out in front of the car. Rearing up over the bonnet, the terrible demon was despatched by a bone crunching crack.
He stopped the car a little further down the lane, engine still running, feeling compelled to take a look even though to do so was repulsive. Shivering violently as his clothes clung with their cold damp embrace and head pounding, he struggled with his conscience. After what seemed an eternity his hand instinctively reached out for the door handle. Cautiously he walked around to the back of the car, it was hard to see anything now the clouds had shrouded the moon.
Straining his eyes back along the lane, he saw nothing but a deserted road. Impossible. His nerves hanging by a sinew he legged it back to the car and sped away from the scene.
Sunlight lasered through a chink in the curtains. Alex awoke, feeling a little worse for wear, stretching and yawning he turned to kiss Lily, but was not surprised to see she had already left. All that remained was the soft imprint of her head on the pillow next to him. Sighing wearily, he dragged himself out to the shower where the blistering hot water peeled his pale freckly skin. Going to his wardrobe he selected a shirt for the office amongst a huge collection, all arranged in colour order. Alex was a very orderly person.
Feeling a little more awake he went to the kitchen to get his high powered vitamin fruit drink. Her note was pinned to the fridge with the sun magnet as usual.
Darling Alex, see you around seven as I have another meeting today, will go out to Harry’s bar tonight, my treat. Love Lily.
This did not lift Alex’s mood though, these meetings were becoming more and more common, he hardly saw Lily nowadays. Everyone around thought they were the perfect couple, after all they had the necessary trappings of success. Grand house, flash cars, exotic holidays and designer clothes. Both had good careers but as Alex got
older he felt something was missing from his life. He had tried to talk to Lily about this, time and time again. She would just laugh and kiss him. Alex would smile back weakly and push it to the back of his mind.
He turned on the radio to catch the traffic report. The news reader started to talk about a hit and run incident, involving a young woman. Alex did not pay much attention until the mention of Heathton woods. An involuntary shiver ran down the back of his neck.
Hurrying out of the house he went to the garage, surprised to see Lily’s runabout blue Corsa left outside. Lily usually took her car to work, walking around to the front, he noticed that she had had an accident, the front bonnet was badly dented. Typical he thought, Lily was not renowned for her careful driving. She must have took the bus today, instead, that explains why she left so early. Swallowing down his rising anger, Alex went to the garage to get out his car.
As Alex was driving, he listened to the radio, another news bulletin came on about the hit and run incident. Alex was not paying any obvious attention, rather struggling about today’s deadlines. The image flashed into his mind so violently that it caused him to swerve across the road. Skeletal trees and scrabbling in the ground. Alex pulled into the lay by to collect himself. Faint memories of a dream coming back in broken pieces.
He knew it, that’s why he had been feeling so shitty this morning, he hadn’t had one of those bad nightmares for such a long time now, not since he had been on the medication.
A niggling in the back of his mind refused to give him peace of mind and he tried to
recall the whole of the dream.
It was 9 o’clock in the morning when police detective Steven Watson dropped into the office. Alex did not like his shifty eyes and the manner with which he addressed him.
“Mr Price, I would like to have a word with you please?”
“Right now, said Alex annoyed, I am in the middle of something important.”
“I have some rather bad news, I think you need to sit down.” replied the detective.
“I have to inform you that your wife Lily Price was found dead this morning in a ditch next to Heathton Woods.”
Alex reeled backwards, he felt light headed and disjointed, the news bulletin, the hit and
run incident, it was Lily?
“I am sorry there must be some kind of mistake, I was with Lily last night, and she left me a note this morning saying she would see me at Harry’s bar tonight.”
“I am sorry Mr Price, it is indeed Lily Price as we retrieved her mobile phone and diary from her.”
“Furthermore Mr Price, I need to question you down at the station, so if you don’t mind shall we leave?”
Alex followed in a trance, his mind trying to fit the pieces of the jigsaw together. His head throbbed even more now, promising to be the mother of all headaches. Oh my god Lily dead? No he could not accept this abhorrent fact, they were wrong they had to be.
Waiting in the small prison cell, Alex sat eerily quiet, the smell of vomit and urine would normally have turned his sensitive stomach but he sat trance like, trying to recall. Lily
had not been there this morning, the dented car, skeletal trees, the dark shape rearing up.
Alex could not take much more of this, he loved her, it was not possible, you did not kill those you loved.
The detective came in to see Alex that afternoon allowing him plenty of time to contemplate. He did not offer any sympathy. Instead put Alex through an intense questioning. Alex’s lawyer objected but the evidence was mounting against Alex.
The forensics had been sent to strip every detail from the house and cars. Alex felt he
was losing his mind. His friends had tried to help but even they had avoided seeing him now. Police detective Steven Watkins came in wearing a triumphant grin on his face. Alex stared unseeing or caring anymore.
“Well Mr Price, have you come to your senses, are you going to tell us what happened that night.? No, well I have some new information for you to digress.” It seems that your wife Lily was not a victim of a hit and run incident at all, the post mortem revealed that she received several serious injuries not consistent with being hit by a car. The forensic team found a hammer in a shallow pit not far from were she was found. Your fingerprints have been identified on the hammer.
“What about the note on the fridge?”, Ah! It seems your wife was very efficient and we found several notes all very similar, written in advance, to save time I suppose.”
The DNA found on the front of the blue corsa also match those of your wife Lily. Alex opened his mouth in a silent scream, the pieces clicked into place, he saw the whole scene replayed before his eyes. How he had fought bravely with the demon, dragged the body out of the house and into the boot, took it to Heathton woods and dumped it there, hid the hammer and made good his escape. The demon was not dead though and chased him to the car, whereby he hit it as it tried to stop him from getting away. Alex nerves disintegrated, sobbing uncontrollably the detective became disturbed.
“You had better call for the physiatrist Gina, and prompt.”
The physiatrist spent many hours with Alex and announced his verdict. I have never witnessed it before as it is so rare but I think this is a case of Automatism. I truly believe that he was sleepwalking when he carried out this crime and in his mind he was fighting a monster. The police detective stood open mouthed unable to believe that this could be feasible.
Alex sat quivering in his cell, repeating over and over, it was just a dream, just a bad dream.
