Everything to Nothing (4 page)

As he clambered
in he looked at her and smiled. She returned his smile. ‘Thank you
for doing this.’

‘Not a
problem.’ He made some adjustments to the heater console, turning
the heat high. ‘Didn’t exactly have much else planned for tonight.
Might as well help out a beautiful lady, hey?’

She did not
answer. He looked in the rear-view mirror, saw her turn her head
away and saw the blood rise in her right cheek as she looked out of
the window. He could not help smiling to himself as he slowly drove
out of the garage complex. He maintained a sluggish pace as they
left the forecourt onto the road. He knew this road well and he
usually drove quickly along it, but it was far too wet for those
antics, plus he did not want to scare Sally. ‘How far away is the
car?’

‘About half a
mile.’

‘On this side
of the bridge then?’

‘Yes.’

‘Guess you
wouldn’t have waded the flood,’ his mind flashed to white panties
and naked buttocks, ‘but, erm, ahem, you were wet enough for me to
think that you had! But, then again, looking at this rain, it is no
wonder you were so wet.’

‘Yes, I think
it was heavier before too. That’s where the man tried to grab
me.’

They had just
reached the place and David put the headlights on full beam then
asked, ‘What side where you walking on?’

‘The other
side. Your side.’

David tried to
penetrate the rain with his eyes, looking through the rain battered
window. He could not see anything or anyone. As they topped the
rise in the road he could see in the hazy distance the Mini. David
still had the lights on full beam and as they approached the car
they could both see that all was not well.

The glass in
the front window of the car was not there anymore. Only a few
shattered pieces remained wedged into the frame. There was a big
dent in the bonnet. David stopped the truck nose to nose with the
Mini. They both stared at the battered car. David expected Sally to
get emotional, to start crying. Instead she just sat there
impassively, her jaw set firm and clenched. He witnessed in her
face, in her eyes, a strength that he had not noticed before in
their short time together, a strong resolve and a strong
determination. He glanced at her hands, which were clamping down on
the dashboard in front of her, the knuckles white. ‘Stay here. I’ll
go out and make sure the coast is clear.’

‘No way. I’m
coming with you. If there is anyone out there and they do try to
attack us, you may actually end up defending whoever has done this
to my poor car!’

He was going to
try and object, but then re-noticed the resoluteness in her eyes.
He watched as she unfastened her seatbelt and saw that her hands
were shaking. This time he doubted whether they were shaking with
fear.

They both
exited the car, him being more hesitant than her as she just strode
purposefully to the Mini. They both walked round it, her going
round the driver’s side, him circling round the passenger’s side,
noting the damage to the car in the lights of the truck. All the
windows had been smashed, not just the windscreen. All the panels
in the car had dents, not just the bonnet, including the roof.

‘The bastard!’
Sally strongly stated.

David was
examining the roof. ‘Whoever did this…’

‘I think we
know who did this.’

‘He has jumped
on the roof too. Lots of dents on it!’

Sally seemed
more disheartened as she studied the car. ‘What now?’

‘Put it on the
truck and take it to the garage. Then we definitely phone the
police.’

‘Shouldn’t we
leave it here? The police will want to check it on site.’

‘Yeah, good
point.’

David could not
help wondering how she did not object to calling the police now
when she had found out that her car had been attacked, but didn’t
want to when it was just herself that got attacked. David was now
looking into the interior of the car. ‘Ohhhhh, the disgusting
bastard! That’s sick!’

‘What?’ Sally
made a move to look into the car.

‘No. Don’t
look. It is disgusting, please don’t.’

‘I’m a big
girl… Now don’t try and restrain me from looking in my own car.
I’ll knee you in the balls!’

He stood aside.
‘Okay. Your choice.’

She looked
through the passenger window frame and recoiled back at the sight
that greeted her. On the driver’s seat was a big pile of excrement
and around, hanging on the steering wheel was a liquid substance
that looked white and sticky in the light.

‘This guy is
obviously very sick,’ commented Sally.

‘Very.’

‘What’s that on
the steering wheel? Looks almost like, like egg white?’ She turned
to look into his gorgeous blue eyes and saw him blush.

He tried to
look into her eyes but could not. ‘I’m not sure.’

‘Tell me! I
know you know. You just blushed!’

‘I think, well,
I’m not sure. Look, why don’t we…’

‘Tell me!’

‘Okay. Brace
yourself.’ He paused for a few moments, thinking of the best way to
say it. He decided that the direct way, to get it over with, was
probably, hopefully, best. ‘I think it’s sperm.’

‘Oh God! I feel
sick!’

Suddenly, her
strength and strong resolve deserted her and disappeared into the
rainy haze. She spun round and vomited onto the grass verge.

Chapter 7

‘It’s a
tragedy! An absolute tragedy!’

Simon was
slumped at a bar in a club, sipping what looked like water but was
in fact vodka, straight, on the rocks. He was not quite drooling
and dribbling but he was not far off. Talking seemingly to someone
about a tragedy, it would have only been his vodka that found out
about the tragedy he was discussing because there was nobody within
listening range to hear his words of wisdom.

Next to Simon
was one of his friends. He looked like he was quite happily having
a little nap. Theoretically, he was. An alcohol induced nap. He had
passed out almost as soon as they had entered the club. The rest of
Simon’s friends were pretty much in the same state, all except one
though, Peter.

He was happily
walking around the club on his own, chatting and joking, shaking
hands with lots of people who he seemed to know and be friendly
with. He was not completely sober though, just pleasantly tipsy.
Earlier in the night he only seemed to be very drunk. Claiming a
shortage of money he had avoided going in a round with his friends
and he purchased his own drinks. At first, he drank with his
friends, matching them pint for pint, shot for shot. He drank
enough just to get himself drunk, not inebriated, just happily,
confidently, tipsy.

His appearing
to be drunk was an act, which is surprisingly easy to do when
surrounded by people who are really very drunk. When he reached a
stage of drunkenness he was happy with, the stage were his
confidence is high and his tongue loosened, he practically stopped
drinking.

Un-noticed by
his friends, the few drinks he did buy usually went unfinished. He
acted drunk and as boisterous as the rest of them but as soon as he
entered the club he lost his friends and seemingly sobered up in a
flash yet he maintained his happy, confidently tipsy state with an
occasional vodka and coke. Peter’s logic was that one is not going
to acquire female company for the night by being like Simon, that
is slumped at a bar talking to yourself.

Peter was
talking to some people near a bar close to the entrance when he
noticed a group of sexily clad females enter the club. He was
disappointed to see that Michelle who he had spotted earlier that
night had borrowed a cardigan from one of her friends as he enjoyed
watching her breasts. That was as far as his attraction towards
Michelle went though. He knew he stood as much chance of scoring
with his own mother tonight as he did with Michelle. Michelle’s
last boyfriend, a friend of Peter’s, had firmly closed and locked
the gate to that tunnel. No, Peter was interested in another one of
Michelle’s friends, Sarah. She was building up quite a reputation
in their college for putting her tunnel about and he had intentions
of driving along her tunnel that night.

Peter was not
incredibly good looking, he was just average. The traits he did
have going for him were that he was a good speaker, gift of the gab
so to speak, and he was naturally funny and witty. His strongest
personality trait though was his confidence. He was supremely
confident. For every knock back he received tonight he would bounce
right back and try to pull another woman. He stopped talking to his
acquaintances, leaving them laughing, and went to lean on the
railing of a balcony that overlooked the dance floor.

He watched the
group of ladies descend a crowded flight of stairs and he noticed
at the bottom how they all separated. Sarah went straight to the
dance floor and Michelle went to a bar. Peter watched as a couple
of drunken male dancers tried to dance with her, one of them trying
to dirty dance with her, sliding his crotch up and down the rear of
her body, stopping at her buttocks on his second pass then he
started to grind his pelvis into her soft flesh.

It was hard to
tell whether Sarah was enjoying the unasked for attention from the
distance Peter was observing from, but when the male dancer grabbed
her breasts it became clear that she did not enjoy that kind of
attention. She turned round and he could see her gesticulating at
him. He made a move to try and start dancing with her again by
grabbing her buttocks and he tried to pull her crotch against his
crotch. Sarah managed to break free of his grasp, took a step back
and hit his drunken, leering face. Not a slap, a fist fully
clenched powerful punch.

She drew her
arm back and launched a venomous straight right that caught the
young gentleman on the point of his chin. Peter physically winced
and made a wincing face as he witnessed the punch connect, and then
he started to chuckle and then laugh out loud as he witnessed the
male slump to the floor. Sarah calmly turned around and continued
to dance.

All this had
unfolded so quickly, and the punch executed so quickly that the
club security did not witness it. All they eventually noticed was a
young man lying on the dance floor. Two of them made their way
through the multitudes of dancers, picked him up, and carried him
off the dance floor and out of Peter’s view. Sarah discreetly left
the dance floor on the other side and walked under the balcony on
which Peter was standing.

Peter turned
quickly and made his way through the crowds to a flight of stairs
that would take him to the same level of the club that Sarah was
on. He quickly descended the steps and walked over to the side of
the dance floor and then turned so he had his back to the dancing
area. He immediately spotted her. She was standing at the bar
trying to order a drink but was being continually ignored by the
bar staff.

He stood for a
few moments contemplating the nice, long legs he was going to lie
between tonight. He imagined the feel of the smooth, soft flesh as
he ran his hand up her leg, up to where the heat and the pleasure
lay. He shook his head, trying to clear the image and walked over
to the bar where he squeezed in next to Sarah but did not say
anything or acknowledge her. He gestured to one of the bar men who
was in one of his classes at college and shouted, ‘Hurry up Andy
you arse!’

Andy quickly
flicked up his middle finger in Peter’s direction, but after he had
finished serving a customer he came over to him. ‘What’ll it be
Peter?’

‘Vodka and coke
please Andy. And you Sarah?’

Sarah looked
surprised. She did not think he had noticed her, never mind offer
to buy her a drink. Sarah stood up on tiptoe so he could hear her
answer and said into his ear, ‘The same.’

‘Two vodka and
cokes Andy. Make them big!’

Andy poured the
drinks and gave them to Peter who paid with a ten-pound note. No
change. ‘And Dick Turpin wore a mask,’ muttered Peter under his
breath.

He gave Sarah
her drink and she mouthed thank you to him. He pointed over to a
set of doors, but she shook her head. He jabbed his finger twice in
the air towards the doors, took her arm and forcibly pulled her
towards the room. Peter looked at her and saw her roll her eyes.
She knocked his hand away and followed him towards the doors. They
passed through the solid wooden doors and after a couple of paces
there were a set of glass doors. Peter held open one of the doors
for Sarah and followed her into the club’s chill out room.

There were
sofas all round the edge of this room and also big, comfortable
lounge chairs. There was a small bar stocking only bottles of
various alcohols and water. Instead of the heavy dance music that
was playing in the main part of the club there was ambient music
playing in the background that went almost un-noticed. A few of the
sofas were occupied, but the room would fill up as the night wore
on. Peter led them over to a sofa in the corner of the room and sat
down. She remained standing.

‘Why have you
dragged me in here?’

‘Because I
wanted to speak to you. I didn’t force you.’

‘You seem to
have the wrong idea about me Johnno…’

‘Please,
honestly, I hate that name. Please, Peter.’

‘Okay then.
Peter, you seem to have the wrong idea about me. I don’t like you.
I think you are an arrogant, cocky git. Just because you have
bought me a drink doesn’t mean I want to spend any time with
you.’

‘You don’t even
know me Sarah. You’ve just said those hurtful things about me,
which I think are unjustified by the way, and you don’t even know
me. Now, will you sit down and tell me why you think like
that?’

Sarah rolled
her eyes and sat down next to him. She crossed her legs and ran a
hand through her blonde hair. Her brown eyes were slightly glazed.
‘I think like that because of the way you are with your friends.
The way you’ve spoken to me in the past.’