The Stranger

(by John Gabriel)

Episode 2

Switching to Medium Wave as it looks like there’s no reception on any other frequency. It’s the type of snow that fires straight at you with no sound. Like flying through space or through an asteroid shower. Not that I’d know, I’m just guessing from my screensaver. It falls too softly to keep me awake and I soon find myself drifting, trying to concentrate through a constant flurry that massages my eyelids ever lower.

There must be other traffic on this road, but all I can see is a staccato of snow ahead and fogged up whiteness through the side windows. Not a light has passed by in ages. I did see a shape at the side of the road earlier, but as it had no lights I assume that it must have been a barn or an abandoned lorry.

And then I see it. Too late, but I saw it. Just as I hit it. The solidity of its form was my first thought and how it threw the car from the road and shattered the windscreen. It must have vaulted part of the car and then hit the windscreen with full force before bouncing over the roof and onto the verge. I sat for a couple of seconds in the debris of the car and took stock.

A spider’s web of split glass in front of me began to fill with snowflakes that skittered down the rough surface and collected in rivulets across my view. From the side window, the onslaught of driving snow continued. All was quiet. Not a sound. I half expected a murmur from behind the car or an angry shout from witnesses or the victim. Was it a person? Oh, god, maybe it was a person. I’d assumed it was a stray cow or a sheep or something, but actually, now it makes more sense that it’s a person.

And now my head hurts. It’s starting to throb quite alarmingly. I also feel incredibly hot and there’s a rushing sound in my ears. I feel other-worldly, like I’m staring down on the events unfolding, but have no control on their outcome. I must be badly injured. Maybe even more badly injured than the thing I’ve hit. Which, I’m just realising, hasn’t moved or appeared anywhere. A sudden thought occurs. Maybe I just glanced it. Maybe it’s fine. Maybe it just looked back and gave me a hard stare and continued on its way. And then I look at the windscreen again. Surely nothing that caused that much damage could get up and walk away. Is it a person? What are the rules if you’ve hit someone’s cow? How do you find out whose cow it is?

I have to assume it’s a person and, therefore, I can’t leave them here, even though there’s not a soul for miles around. I have to get out and see what it is I’ve hit -or even killed.