The Scary Car

“The Scary Car” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Sanjaykumar S/O Vijayakumar, Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil, Kedah, Malaysia.

The Scary Car

It was a breezy night in December. The rain was beating on the car roof as Gabriel and Maria Moose drove through the empty country roads towards the house of their friends, where they were going to attend a party to celebrate the engagement of the Harrison’s daughter, Lisa.

They were about 1.5 kilometres away from their destination when the music on the radio was stopped by a news announcement.

The Cheshire police have issued a serious warning after a man escaped from Colford Mental Hospital earlier this evening. The man, Samuel is a killer who murdered six people before he was arrested two years ago. People in the Cheshire area are warned to keep their doors and windows locked and to call the police immediately if they see anyone acting weirdly.

Maria trembled, “A mad killer. And he’s out somewhere. That’s scary.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said her husband. “We’re almost there now. Anyway, we have more important things to worry about. This car is slowing down for some reason. If it’s gets any worse, we’ll have to stay at their house tonight and get it repaired before we go back tomorrow”.

As he spoke, the car began to slow down. They moved to a half, as the engine died completely. Just as they stopped, Gabriel pulled the car of the road, and if came to rest under a large tree.

“Well, you’ll have to wait a while. I run to the nearest house and call the Harrisons. Someone can come pick up,” said Gabriel.

“But Gabriel! Have you forgotten what the radio said? There’s a murderer out there. ! You can’t leave me alone here!

“You’ll have to hide in the back of the car. Lock all the doors and lie on the floor in the back, under this blanket. No one will see you. When I come back, I’ll knock three times on the door. Then you can get up and open it. Don’t open unless you hear three knocks,” Gabriel opened the door and left in to the rain.

Maria quickly locked the doors and settled down under the blanket in the back for a long wait. She had not been waiting long, however, when she heard a strange scratching noise. It was coming from the roof of the car. Maria was frightened. Then she heard three slow knocks, one after the other, also on the roof of the car. Then she heard another knock, and another. This was not her husband. It was somebody or something else. She was shaking with fear, but she forced herself to lie still. The knocking continued, bump, bump, bump.

Many hours later, as it was morning, she was still lying there. She had not slept for a moment. The knocking had never stopped, all night long. She did not know what to do. Where was George? Why he had not come for her?

Suddenly, she heard the sound of three or four vehicles, racing quickly down the road. All of them pulled up around her, their tires screeching on the road. At last! Someone had come! Maria sat up quickly and looked out of the window.

The three vehicles were all police cars. Several policemen jumped out. One of them rushed towards the car as Maria opened the door. He took her by the hand.

“Get out of the car and walk with me to the police vehicle, miss. You’re safe now. Look straight ahead. Don’t look back. Just don’t look back.”

Something in the way he spoke filled Maria with cold horror. She could not help herself. About ten seconds from the police car, she stopped, turned and looked back.

Gabriel was hanging from the tree above the car, a rope tied around his neck. As the wind blew his body back and forth, his feet were bumping gently on the roof of the car, bump, bump, bump…