Carly Story

This is the final part of this story. 

Carly was so terrified, she didn’t react for a second. She couldn’t believe what was happening. It only took two tries for the window mechanism to give and the window was down. The man was already reaching in to unlock the door and within seconds, she was sure he’d be pulling her out. She knew she had to do something now, once he had her out of the car she had no hope. Then without any awareness of having moved she heard him cry out. Shocked she looked down and saw the long metal car key, still gripped in her hand, protruding from his forearm. It had penetrated his jacket and shirt and gone into his skin. “You bitch” he yelled as he withdrew his arm.

But Carly hardly heard him, taking advantage of his automatic reaction to the pain she’d inflicted, she moved. She shoved the key into the ignition and turned on the engine. Then throwing the car into gear she put her foot down. Her whole focus was on fleeing. However as the car started to move, Carly was horrified to see the man reach out and grab the door. She screamed and spun the wheel as she reached the end of the row. But still he held on. Blood was running down his hand from below the cuff of his shirt and was being spread over the inside of the door in his effort to retain his grip. She wanted to pry his fingers off but she didn’t dare take her hand off the wheel. If she hit something the car would stop and she’d be stuck. So she just continued to drive and finally when she turned to go down the ramp to the exit, the man’s hand slipped and he was flung off, hitting the ground with a thud. Crying out with relief, Carly didn’t look back, she just kept driving. Even when she reached the street, she hardly paused.  She just pulled straight out onto the road and hoped that nothing was coming.

  At first Carly drove fast, not caring where she went, her only thought was to get as far away from the carpark and him as possible. But as she sped along the dark streets, she became aware of a low moaning noise that sounded like someone in pain. Terrified for a minute that the man had somehow got into the car, Carly was shocked to discover that the noise was coming from her. She bit her bottom lip, and tried to stop the emotion that was rising within her.  Just getting away wasn’t the solution, she needed to do something.

So moving with direction now, she headed for her local police station to report the incident. The man needed to be found and stopped before he did it again. She knew she’d been lucky, even if she didn’t feel it at the moment. Minutes later she pulled over outside her destination. Turning off the engine she left the keys where they were, and clambered across the centre console before climbing out the passenger side.  She didn’t want to touch the driver’s door where his hands had been, she didn’t want anything to do with it. She didn’t want anything to do with the car at all now.  However on her feet for the first time since the attack, her legs felt like jelly as she walked. She stumbled into the station, and taking one look at the man in uniform behind the desk, burst into tears.

Carly story

Here's the next installment of the piece I posted earlier. Initally it was only an excersise and I didn't intend continuing it but as the next part presented itself, I couldn't help myself.

Carly’s head snapping around, she stared at the man bending next to her car and looking in the window at her. He was clean shaven, with brown eyes and short brown hair and given how far he had to bend down, she knew he was tall. Dressed like a business man in a conservative grey suit, white shirt and grey tie, Carly guessed he probably worked in one of the offices above the carpark just like she did. However she was certain she’d never seen him around.  He was a powerfully built man. She could see the muscles in his arms bulging where the fabric of his jacket was pulled taught across his bicep. As she looked at him and deliberated about what to do, her heart was racing. She didn’t know him and was therefore wary about winding the window down to find out what he wanted. There was no way she was going unlock the door. Nervous, she looked around, but the carpark was deserted. Taking a deep breath she lifted her hand and rested her finger on the button for the window as the man continued to wait.  Finally lowering the window just an inch, she was disturbed to see his hand come up and rest on the top of the glass, his thick fingers protruding into her vehicle up to the first knuckle.

“Yes” she said, her voice a little higher than normal as in an unconscious action, she moved her body away from the door a little.

“Hi” the man said in a friendly sounding voice “sorry if I startled you. I was just wondering if you could do me a favour?”

Even more wary now, Carly said “what is it?”

He smiled and looked a little sheepish, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. They remained flat and hard as he said “I’ve come back to the car without enough money to pay for the parking. Could you let me have a couple of dollars? I can get it back to you if you tell me where I can send it.”

Carly just looked at him for a minute. She didn’t really want to help him, despite his friendly manner, he made her feel uneasy but she didn’t want to say no either, in case he took offence. With no one else around, she didn’t want a confrontation. And there was no way she would be giving him any details to send her the money. What she wanted was to get out of there, so deciding that the easiest way to do that was to just give him what he wanted she turned away to reach for her bag on the floor of the passenger seat. But as she looked away she caught the sight of movement out of the corner of her eye and with dismay she saw the man’s other hand come up and yank down on the window.

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.