Writing Exercise - Carly story

The following is the result of a ten minute writing exercise. I created a character, gave her an age, an occupation and a name. Then wrote for ten minutes without stopping. I have since used a similar scenario in a fanfic scene.

Carly hurried through the empty parking garage. She had just finished work, late again and of course now, there was nobody around. She didn’t like leaving this late, it always made her nervous coming out to her car when the area was so deserted. The place gave her the creeps at the best of times, with its low ceiling and hidden corners.  But after dark it was worse. The lighting was inadequate and the sound of her heels striking the concrete reverberated though the emptiness like gunshots.  Just entering the area caused the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up and like always, she couldn’t shake the feeling she was being watched.

Opening her bag she searched for her keys as she hurried through the rows of parked cars. Not watching where she was walking, she cracked her shin hard on a tow bar of a black four wheel drive and cried out before she can stop herself.  Biting her bottom lip to stifle any further noise, she absorbed the pain and looked over her shoulder for the hundredth time.  She didn’t stop. Her leg was burning and she could feel a bruise starting to form but she wasn’t going to look at it now. There would be time for that once she was safe inside the car.

Almost running now as she neared her vehicle, her heart was beating so hard it was painful. Part of her felt ridiculous for giving in to the as yet baseless concerns, and she tried to tell herself there was nothing to worry about. At the age of thirty she felt she shouldn’t be reacting like a frightened kid anymore, but the fear gripping her was so powerful it over rode everything else.

She had reached her car now and pushed the button on the key to unlock the door. However her hands were shaking so much she dropped the keys as she tried to open the door. Tears threatened, she was so close, but due to her own clumsiness, she had prolonged the agony.  She cursed herself as she bent down to pick up the keys from the ground, breaking a nail on the concrete in the process. Without pause to inspect yet more damage to her person, she straightened and opening the door, clambered inside pushing the central locking with a shaking hand.

Finally feeling more secure Carly collapsed on the steering wheel, her head resting on her arms, as she tried to get her breathing under control. Even though she wanted nothing more than to leave straight away, she needed to be a hell of a lot calmer before she could attempt to drive anywhere. At the moment she was bound to hit something if she tried. As her heart rate slowed she decided she couldn’t do this anymore, she had to tell her boss either she didn’t work back, or someone had to escort her to her car. This nightly ritual was playing too much havoc on her nervous system, not to mention the damage she was incurring to her body. She moved her leg, looking along its length. She couldn’t see much in the low light but was able to make out the lump marring the straight line of her shin. Sighing, she sat up. Ready to go now, she was just inserting the key in the ignition to start the car when there was a knock on her window and she nearly jumped out of her skin.