A bump in the night

The clock read 2.27am. Jeremy stirred next to me.

I reached out along the sheet to touch him

"Was that noise real? Did you hear it?"

I wasn’t sure if it was real. The sound replayed over in my head. It was a terrifying noise.

"That was real wasn’t it?"

"I think so" Jeremy responded.

"Did you hear it?" I asked him again.

"Yeah I did."

"I am scared to look outside I’m frightened of what I will see."

"Don’t look then" he rolled over.

I shook him.

"But what if someone needs help, you’re going to have to look outside. I think I should ring emergency."

Jeremy climbed over me pulling the covers askew as he stood up and walked towards the window. He gently lifted one blade of the blind with his finger. His eyes looked about.

“What can you see?" I asked eagerly

"There's nothing there"

"What! How can that be? That noise, it sounded like a bus crashing, isn't there a crash scene out there?"

"No, there's nothing, look for yourself."

I got out of bed wrapping the quilt around me.

Jeremy pulled on the blind's cord and lifted the whole blind up. Our bedroom was exposed to the night.

There was nothing unusual. In fact a car drove along the highway heading into the city.

The sound of tearing metal crushing and breaking glass replayed in my head.

I thought there would be a wreckage of bodies and metal out there. I doubted I had heard the noise at all.

"You heard it didn’t you?" I asked him again.

"Yeah."

I handed him a jumper and jeans, "Please go and have a look. I’ll ring the police.”

I put on my dressing gown and headed into the lounge. I tentatively lifted a blade of the blind and peaked out.

Nothing was there.

I heard the door bang as Jeremy left. I watched him through the blind, walking away from me along the central driveway. His shoulders were hunched.

I searched for the phone. The numbers didn’t seem to be in the right places, it was really difficult to dial 000.

“Fire, police or ambulance?” the operated asked.

“Police.” I answered

“What’s your emergency the police man said?”

“There’s been a big crash on Warrior highway at Red Park.”

“What number are you at?” He asked

“I’m in a group of flats at 468.”

“We have dispatched a vehicle to that incident. It should be there any minute. What was your name?” He asked.

“Lisa, Lisa McPharlin.” I told him, “I didn’t see anything, only heard it, the crash. My boyfriend has gone out to look err… help.”

“Everything will be fine” the policeman told me. “Go find your boyfriend and tell him the emergency services are dealing with it.”

“Ok thanks.” The phone was dead.

I went into the bedroom, found the keys and Jeremy’s blue jacket and headed outside. The door banged behind me. It was fresh, a breeze moved my hair across my face. I really didn’t want to see or find anything gruesome. The noise of the crash replayed in my mind. I couldn’t see anything unusual. There was nothing out here different from normal. I walked down the driveway and looked up and down the highway in front of me. A white van drove along the highway. I couldn’t see anything different. It was quieter than normal, the trees moved in the breeze. The sky was black, but street lights glowed, lighting up yellow circles along the road.

There was no crash scene, no tangled metal, no bodies, no screaming, no flashing lights, no people gathering to help or look. It was as if nothing had happened. Was I going crazy? I am sure that noise happened, Jeremy had heard it too, and the policeman had said they were coming.

Where on earth had Jeremy gone? I don’t think he was even wearing shoes. Then I realised I wasn’t either. I looked down at my feet. My red toenails looked black in the dark. He wouldn’t have gone too far. I could see the big intersection with South Avenue to the west. It was vacant of life. To the east I could only see to the bend in the road. I decided to walk that way and have a look from there. It was only about 100 metres.

I took a few steps down the highway and hesitated. I remembered I was only wearing my pink dressing gown. There was no one around so what the heck. I noticed a tall hedge I had never seen before. There was a red gate in it and something made me open the gate and look in. On the other side of the hedge was a fantastic art deco house. I couldn’t understand why I had never seen it before. Lights glowed inside the house, there was a drum beat escaping outside. There was a party going on. A few people moved past a window. I looked back to the bend in the road and then at the house. On no, the people inside were now opening the front door, I turned to go back to the flat. I heard the music get louder as the front door opened. The people giggled. I didn’t want to talk to them or have them see me out here in my dressing gown.

But with each foot step I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere. I wanted to break into a run, but I couldn’t. My legs seemed stuck on the spot. I moved a few centimetres when I wanted to run metres. Behind me the party people were coming. I heard Jeremy call my name. Jeremy! Was he at the party?

“Lisa, Lisa wake up everything’s all right you’re having a dream.”


Written for Sunday Scribblings.