Chapter One.
It was a Thursday when it happened, after several long phone calls and even longer board meetings reaching the plush leather interior of her car offered the same heavenly delight as making it to the coffee machine did in the morning. She dipped into the driver's seat and pulled the car door shut in one swift movement. The car was like a cocoon, blocking out the sounds that resonated in her head, chasing around a headache and reminding her of the looming deadlines that were clawing at her job security.
With aching hands she rubbed her face. Feeling out of sorts today she was tired and distant, unable to focus and feeling as if she had not woken up enough for touch and thought and to fully be interpreted. For several long moments she enjoyed the silence of the car before turning her key in the ignition and bringing her cocoon to life with tiny informative lights and the gentle music of her 'Chill out' compact disc.
Reluctantly she pulled out of the shelter of the car lot and into a cold wet evening in the city centre, she flicked on her window wipers. With almost futile efforts they fought to push the rain out of her vision. The night was alive with lights, all of which bounced of the window screen with incredible dancing color, but never the less, blinding her.
It was alright, she told herself, she had driven through worse. But she had never driven with such a heavy cloud in her head, slowing her every reaction and thought. She pressed her eyes shut and opened them again trying to focus on the road of head.
Finally near home she drove, with speed, down the narrow lane where she lived. On one side fields stretched out into the darkness, a gulf between her and them made her feel some how safer. The deep ditch on her right caught a lot of rain water, thus, it had not been filled in by the residents of the winding private road. She enjoyed living here, it was quite and peaceful, with very little traffic. But, privately regulated, there were no lamp lights and she drove only with the light of her head lights to lead her.
The first row of houses drew to and end and the anticipated the turn up ahead, the bushes reared up on her left and to her right came the row of old and twisted oaks that loomed above the road, their roots threatening to break through the tarmac as they grew bigger and bigger each year.
She rounded the corner and immediately her headlights illuminated a sheep, almost screaming in shock she jumped out of her seat. Unable to stop in time she slammed of the break and tried to avoid hitting it all together, it was a silly mistake. Her car tires slid on the wet tarmac, and the ditch, wide and deep, welcomed her vehicle with icy claws. Filled with a few days worth of torrential down pour it swallowed her car almost whole.
Without her belt to protect her she was hurled from her seat, the car not lay horizontally on its side. It was no easy feat but the fell all the way into the other passenger seat, her elbow hit the window that was face down in the water hard, and she heard it crack.
Panic swept through her from head to toe, the passenger door seemed to be miles away, and out of reach. The angle of her landing had left her in a very awkward position, her feet were above her head and the window, on which all her weight was pressed, was slowly starting to crack. Fighting to move she tried to pull herself up, all she needed was enough room to get her feet down beside her and she could climb out.
Her heart was trembling; her hands shook as she reached for the headrest, surprised that she could even pull her own weight. But she could not alter her position, and only made it worse. Frantically she started to worm about, trying to do anything to pull herself out of her upside down tomb, but she couldn't orchestrate any sort of self-rescue attempt. Her head was swamped with sheer panic and a sickening sound reached her ears as she felt the window beneath her break, the glass did not penetrate her, at least, but there was certainly about a foot of water on the other side of that window and now it was seeping in. The car wasn't airtight, other wise she would have been safe, and now cold murky water began to surround her without mercy. Tears streamed down her face as she felt the icy rain water push through the window.
She screamed, frightened now that she might actually be in mortal danger.
"Oh God" she breathed, "someone help me!" no one could hear her but she continued to pray for help, muttering to herself as she scrambled, if she could reach something, anything and pull herself out.
Then there was a loud creaking, and if it were possible her heart froze. She gripped the seat belt, her knuckles turning a brilliant white. The car seemed to be sinking further into the ditch, and thus, the water level rose. She cried, begging for the car to stop moving but some how it sunk further and further. This can't be happening, she reasoned with herself.
But it was as if the earth was swallowing the car, soon the water was lapping at her ears, and still she fought to get out, desperation clawing at her. Maybe if she was stronger, if she spent less time typing and working, maybe if she was less of a panicky person she would have found her way out. As it was, she could not think.
"I don't want to die." She whispered to herself, shutting her eyes tight and clutching the chair. Slowly the car sunk into darkness and the water lapped about her, rising every second, soon she would be trapped beneath it and she would drown.
The light of the moon faded away and it became so dark she could not see a thing. She shivered in the cold, cold water unable to see her hand in front of her face and the only sound that accompanied her was her own shallow breathing.
Everything had stopped.