Water flurried across the windscreen as she turned off at the next exit, ripples of silver rain trembled across the glass and phantom winds writhed franticly up against the sides of the car, coming at her from all angles as though they might try anything to force her off the road.

The air felt thin, and as she accelerated along the curve of the road she noticed how the clouds gathered in the north-west with a biting chill that grew more and more intense. The black mass of clouds undulated and wrestled, twisting together as if in fury and agony. Flickers of white lightening stabbed through them, and still she pushed down on the accelerator.

She glimpsed another sign for 'The Table'. Her stomach winced and her head felt light. It seemed so long ago that she and Rita had entered that bar.

She slowed as she reached the small car park, pulling up as near to the entrance of the bar as she could. She cut the engine and with one sudden breath out she collapsed back into the seat, gasping for breath as though she had been running. She closed her eyes, and for what seemed like too long she listened to the hiss of the rain on the roof.

Finally she opened her eyes. She would go in, she thought. She would go in, and she would drink, and she would show the squalling mess of a person she had become that she wasn't afraid...

With trembling fingers she fumbled with the door, pulling the handle and opening it, and it was only when she stepped out into the cold that she realised she hadn't thought to wear her seat belt. She clenched her jaw, imagining for a moment her own body thrown through the windscreen of her car, almost broken in two...

She slammed the door shut and glanced up at the sky. Almost overhead now the clouds were tumbling, swirling clouds that changed from black to a terrifying greenish-purple. They seemed to draw themselves together, and then stretch out across the whole sky, lower and lower as though trying to reach the earth.

She drew her coat tighter about herself and dipped her chin into her collar, squinting against the rain that was gradually turning to sleet, and the wind that blew her hair into her eyes and mouth until she could barely see to reach out for the door handle.

-.-

Any guesses as to what (or who) she'll find inside? xxx