I’m at the stage where I think my latest WIP – the eighth Jordan Carr is a load of Tosh. I was keen when I started and a lot of it has been really fun to write but now I’m in the soggy middle. This is always a bit lowering. I hope it passes, it often does. This is chapter 34 Raw and unedited.
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It was full dark now and raining. The lorries thundering past were rocking the smaller car and Benno was quiet. Leaning forward and peering through the rain-swept windscreen. Now and then, he would hiss through his teeth.
“How much further on this bloody motorway?” He said.
“Not far. It’s just up here. Take the A590 at junction 36. Then we have to watch for the signs.”
“Well, you’re gonna have to watch out. I’m busy, like, just watching the road.”
“It’s not for a bit yet. I’ll tell you.” Stick gazed out of the window at the hedges and fields with the odd farmhouse lights beaming through the dark. Suddenly, he sat up.“There, there that roundabout, the sign that says, Crook.”
“What?”
“We need to head for a place called Crook. We go past the Sun Inn pub, we always used to stop there. This is brilliant, this is.” He was behaving as if he was on holiday. Benno just wanted it all to be over.
Once away from the motorway, visibility was reduced even further.
“I can’t see nothing,” Benno said. “It’s dark. They must have had a power cut or something. There’s nothing.”
“Have you never been here? You’ve never been to The Lakes?”
“No, why would anyone come here? There’s nothing.”
“Where did you go for your holidays?”
“We went proper places. We always went to Spain or Majorca.”
“Well, we came here and stayed in the caravan. It was good. My dad’s mate had a canoe and there were bikes. ‘Course, once he left, that was it. We didn’t come no more. Me mam always wanted to go to places like Amsterdam and London and then since she had the kid we haven’t been nowhere. That bloody bloke of hers doesn’t do nothing but work. Work and moan and use his fists. I used to like it here, with my dad and the boat.”
He directed them down roads more and more, winding and narrow. Trees blew and shook in a growing wind, and leaves and detritus skidded across the tarmac. Streaks of silver rain filled the cone of light from the headlights on full beam, making it yet more difficult to see. It was quiet save for the sing of the wet road under the wheels and Benno’s heavy breathing. There were no other cars in the inhospitable darkness. When a low, dark figure scuttled across the road, Benno swerved wildly, colliding with the bank, sending sods of grass flying and stalling the engine.
“Oh shit, oh shit. What the hell was that?” He lay his head on the steering wheel, his hands covering his eyes.
Once it was clear that they were safe, Daz began to laugh, a proper amused sound that they didn’t often witness from him. Normally, his hilarity was forced and cynical, but now he was just laughing. Benno raised his head and stared across the car. “What the hell are you laughing at?”
“Your face, you wuz. You should see yourself.”
“Yeah, but there was a bear.” This made Daz laugh louder. The tension of the last hours exploded in hysteria. After a few minutes, Benno reversed onto the carriageway and pulled onto the verge.
“Shut the fuck up. Just stop it right. Just don’t laugh at me. What was that? Bloody bears and God knows what else and you’re sitting there laughing like some daft bird.”
“It wasn’t no bear, you plonker. It was a badger. Just a lickle weenie badger and Benno was frickened.” Daz laughed again.
Benno threw open the car door and pushed himself out into the rain. Daz leaned across. “What you doing? Get back in, it’s freezing. You’re letting the rain in.”
“No.” Benno snorted through his nose and turned back and forth, shaking his head. “No, that’s enough. I’m not doing this no more. I didn’t want to be here. I’m not going off with you. I want to go home. This place is bloody horrible. I hate that you hit the old woman, then that old bloke, and we’re in his car. I hate we left Stick and he might even be dead, and I hate you, Daz. I really do.”
He knew as he said it, he should have kept his mouth shut. It was shock and sadness and despair and he knew it could end in disaster.
He didn’t know what to do. His hair was plastered to his head by the downpour and his shoulders were soaked, the hoody sagging with water.
Daz wasn’t laughing now. He slid across the seat and out of the driver’s door. The blade glinted in the glow from the interior light as he raised it in front of him. He twisted it back and forth in his hand.
Benno backed off, holding up his hands. “Stop it, Daz. Just stop it, right.”
Daz stepped closer. He bent forward, his arm outstretched, the knife weaving from side to side.
“You can’t drive. If you hurt me, what you gonna do?” Benno whispered. “How are you going to get to this precious caravan without me?”
Out of the darkness came the bright beam of headlights as a car swept around the corner. The big SUV slowed as it approached and crept forward. Daz had the knife by his side and Benno dragged his dripping hood over his head.
They moved to the side of the road to let the chunky vehicle pass, but it slowed and stopped. The driver’s window lowered with a quiet shush. “You got a problem?” The driver, a middle-aged man, glanced back and forth, peering at the parked car. “You got a flat or something?”
“No, it’s nothing. My mate just freaked when we saw a badger,” Daz laughed. “He’s okay now, though. Thanks?”
“Where are you off to? It’s late, a foul night as well.”
Benno held his breath. Daz didn’t take kindly to being questioned, ever. He couldn’t cope with yet more violence. Daz stepped closer to the big car.
“We’re going to my mate’s caravan, but we got held up earlier. It’s over near Windemere, but it’s sound now. Thanks though.”
“Okay, well, take care, lads.” And it was over. The taillights faded into the distance and the heat had gone from the moment.
“Come ‘ead, soft lad. Get back in the car. We’ll get some chips first place we see and a couple of cans for when we get to the site.”
There was no real choice, and Benno slouched back to the car and pulled away, heading into the darkness.
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