DARKNEES
SHORT STORY “DARKNESS”
Automatic traslation from the original story in Spanish. Not checked manually
Tonight, without a moon, darkness had erected its fiefdom on the winding road that, not submitting to Fernando’s effort… on the contrary, the light from its headlights seemed insufficient to him… Looking at the end of the beam of light, because of the atavism it caused him, had made him narrow his eyes several times. He felt insecure and exhausted, but he couldn’t find a safe place to rest, maybe sleep for a while…
The image
Suddenly, his narrowed eyes snapped out of his lethargy and a startling image came into sharp focus in front of them…he rubbed them trying to be sure of what he saw. A woman, of a certain age and gray hair, was raising her hand asking him to stop.
He smiled confused; she was too old to be the girl in the corner … he stopped the car and the woman, obviously cold, climbed into the back compartment. He was surprised, he thought that she would sit next to her and keep her company…
After a couple of kilometres, the woman’s voice sounded, tremendously familiar; she reminded him of her grandmother’s voice, who had died five years ago…
Her voice said: Fernando, now go down this road to your right or tomorrow you will be with me forever…
Fernando stopped short and turned his eyes back… There was no one there, surely he had fallen asleep unintentionally… He smiled and, clearer, decided to continue. Then, just then, to the right of him a local road was shown… Fernando hesitated, but decided to take it… A few minutes later he found a hotel and stopped the vehicle, a while later he lay in the arms of Morpheus… .
The next day, when he got up and went to pay the hotel, the concierge told him… Follow this road, don’t go back by general. Shortly after you arrived yesterday, there was an accident involving several vehicles and six dead… They’re still clearing it out. Fernando seemed to see, transparently, above the employee, the affable face of his grandmother, who greeted him with her hand, while she smiled…
Darkness – Short stories series – Copyright ©Montserrat Valls and Juan Genovés