Technophobe!
Page 12
Chapter 2
A part of him was dreading this day for a long time. All his documents were sorted. Now he just had to get in and drive. He had driven before, in all his lessons, but that was with someone sitting next to him, talking him through it. This time he would be alone. What if he got lost? What if the car broke down? What if another driver fell asleep and crashed into him? "Come on Gary. Let's get to work." He told himself. It was a good size - nice and open, lots of space. It was clean and smelt inviting. He turned the key and the engine coughed into life. Gary sighed. "Well it didn't explode on me." After a few minutes he got the hang of the pedals, and drove almost sheepishly to the main road, trying to hide his face as he passed people. It felt like even the grazing animals were staring, trying to follow him with primal malice in their eyes.
The car was going at a steady 20mph down the winding country lanes, until the road quickly split into two lanes, like a forked tongue. Gary worked through the gears, third, fourth, fifth, reaching 50mph, feeling both confident yet a little on edge. It was feeling good, so he decided to try a little bit faster, shoving his foot on the pedal, bringing him up to 70. 'Not bad for my first go' he thought to himself. He opened his window slightly, the wind roaring through the crack and stroking his hair.
After a couple of minutes, he had sped towards a larger car in front, which was going at the correct speed for the road - compared to his speed, this car seemed to be going at an exhaustingly slow pace. 'Bloody idiot' he muttered. Gary slowed down quickly to avoid an accident. He looked straight ahead, and saw the driver's face, hidden by sunglasses, in the driver's rear view mirror. The driver was glaring at him, and the soulless eyes felt like they were burning with anger, judgement, annoyance, which made Gary shudder. Gary swerved sharply round the car and carried on, teeth grinding like footsteps on gravel.
He had to slow down quickly once again. A queue of vehicles stretched and crawled into the distance. Rush hour traffic was something everyone had warned him about, but he always thought they were making a big fuss out of nothing. This was no longer the case. Claustrophobia was crushing him, making it hard to breathe. A few more cars joined the line behind him, trapping him. There was an overwhelming sense that all the other drivers were in this together, trying to pin his Janus into a corner. Gary's fingers gripped the wheel like he was strangling a serpent.
The car behind him crept slowly towards his back bumper, in an attempt to provoke movement in the line. "Hey wise guy, don't get any ideas." Gary spoke. In a flash of anger, he reversed his Janus into the car behind, making a painful scrunch and screech. A car horn bellowed behind him, and the driver jumped out, all arm motions and fast words. Gary took no notice - he just stared into the road ahead, continuing to creep slowly with the traffic. The man walked alongside him, and thumped the car window with his fist. At that, Gary wound his window down, and before anyone could say anything, he slapped the palm of his hand on the man's face, and shoved him back on the side of the road. There were yells, and more horns. Quickly the traffic started to move again. "I'm only trying to defend myself" he said out loud.
After about half an hour of driving, he reached his office car park. He turned the key and the engine ceased, like it was exhausted. He was too. His mind felt like it had been crushed, and was trying desperately to recover. Gary sat back and took deep breaths. Then he noticed the time. His shift was about to start. But how? Surely he had only just left the village. There were no other cars on the road, how did it take more than five minutes? The journey was a blip of memory. Shaking his head, he got out and strode anxiously into the building, taking a quick look over his shoulder.