Ruby

Beth slammed the door on the hotel room not looking back. If she did she knew she would fall in love with him all over again. She had to hate him for now. It would be the only way she could get herself through this.

She exited the lobby of the hotel into the pouring rain, crying as she ran across the road to her car. She sat at the wheel trying to take in the events of what should have been a perfect evening. That’s how it happened in the films. But this wasn’t a film, this was real life and there was no script. She’d only had two glasses of champagne, but that coupled with the argument meant she was in no fit state to drive. The rain was lashing at the windscreen and she was having difficulty concentrating on the road ahead. Tears were streaming down her face and her head was pounding. How could he have done this to her? She would have preferred to have been told straight. The hotel room, the champagne, it had all created the wrong images in her mind. She felt she had been used for his pleasure and then discarded once she had fulfilled his needs. The more she thought about him the more hurt she felt. Her foot pushing further down on the accelerator, just wanting to get as far away from him as possible.

 The roads were virtually empty of other cars, the deluge of rain laying on the surface unable to run away quick enough. In the darkness she had lost her bearings and the roundabout was upon her sooner than she had realised. She pressed down hard on the brake, the wheels screeching on the wet road beneath. It was too late. The front wheel clipped the roundabout, flipping the car over and over until it finally came to halt against the trees that lined the road. The strong smell of fuel mixed with the champagne in her stomach made her vomit. As she tried to focus on her surroundings the pain began to creep up her legs and into her back. She knew she had to get out of the car but the more she tried to move the greater the pain became. For the first time that night she was glad of the rain. As it came through the broken windows and onto her face it washed the blood from her eyes, enabling her to see the carnage surrounding her. She was slipping in and out of consciousness. Blue flashing lights headed towards her, the sirens blaring in the silence of the night.