Loss and Longing

The car finally came to a stop facing the wrong way on the other side of the road up against the trunk of a huge gum tree. Stevie squealed as the door behind her took the brunt of the impact. She hadn’t hit it hard but she knew there would be damage. She also knew she couldn’t afford to have it fixed. She sighed and rested her forehead on her arms on the steering wheel as she waited for her heart rate to slow. 

But just as her heart was returning to its normal rhythm it nearly flew out of her chest as a knock sounded on the window next to her. Startled, Stevie’s head span around and she gazed at the face looking in at her. The man was bending down to look in the window and given the degree to which he had to bend, she knew he was tall. His hair looked dark, but it was hard to tell as it was so wet.  She couldn’t have said what colour his eyes were either in the low light. He looked to be about thirty and he was motioning for her to lower her window. Stevie, still feeling a bit rattled, did as he requested without thinking. All her mother’s warnings about not talking to strangers, particularly on a dark lonely road, went straight out the window.

“Are you alright?” the man asked in a deep voice laced with concern.

Stevie nodded, “yes” she said but as she did, reaction set in and she was horrified to feel tears form in her eyes. She bit her lip in an attempt to stop them but it didn’t work and she turned her head away. If he hadn’t turned up, she’d have been okay, but the concern in his voice was just too much. 

After a minute she got herself under control and lifted her hands intending to wipe her face. However she found her right hand was restricted and turning her head to look at it, she realised the man was holding it. She hadn’t even been aware of him taking it off the wheel, even though she noticed her own fingers were wrapped around his. Mortified, she glanced at his face. She noticed he had crouched down next to the car.