TRUST ME

TRUST ME

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Stacking her shopping in the boot of her car Issy had the eerie feeling someone was watching her.

She wished now she hadn’t given in to her insomnia and empty fridge and decided to do her shopping in the middle of the night in the 24 hour supermarket. A

She glanced over her shoulder as she bundled the last bag in and slammed the boot.

 She wished she’d taken the time to put on her clothes instead of just yanking the long wraparound cardigan over her pyjamas. Granted they were more leisure sweats than PJs, but still.

 Her flip flops made an echoing slapping sound on the tarmacadam. It had been raining while she’d shopped. Under the flickering lights the ground looked black and slick. It reminded her of spilled blood, shiny and sickening. She snapped her mind away from the image that rose in her mind. Lightening never strikes twice in the same place, she reminded herself.

Fumbling her key in the lock she still had the feeling of eyes scrutinizing her. Her instinct was to spin around and confront whoever was there. Common sense shrieked at her to jump into her vehicle and lock the doors immediately.

She spun around. She was done running from her fears. Not facing them had caused her to end up in a psychiatric ward. She wasn’t going there again. Her hand closed on the spray in her pocket. She could do this. She could handle it.

Her eyes scurried in all directions. The car park was empty except for a dark green van parked up at the perimeter fence  – just a stone’s throw the main road and the bypass. Close enough for a quick getaway, she thought. She shivered.  It was an odd place to pick to park when the car park was virtually empty. Too far away from the store’s main entrance if you planned to do a big shop. Had the driver left it there overnight?  She couldn’t be sure.

 She flipped her eyes away from the van and sighed in relief. Other customer, a man and woman, were coming out of the store. They were coming her way. Her breathing relaxed. At least she wasn’t alone anymore. About to raise her hand in acknowledgement, she hesitated. What if, it had been the couple, standing unseen in the shadows, who had been watching her?

She shivered. Who could she trust? She wasn’t sure anymore. She had trusted the woman stranded by the roadside in the pouring rain. For her thanks she had received a cracked skull and a knife in the gut.

 Psycho’s looked like everybody else nowadays she thought. She had trusted before. She would act first rather than trust again.

Get in the car, her inner reason urged.

“That would be running away,” Issy muttered.

Her eyes pierced the shadowed silhouettes of the shops across the road. Had someone or something moved? Or was it just the light wind making the black bin bags stacked up against the wall of the building ready for rubbish collection, rustle and shiver?

She swung back to search out the couple. They were gone. Her heart began to knock against her ribs. Frantically she scanned the car park. It was empty. They couldn’t have gotten across it without her seeing them. The van was still there. Had they gone back into the store? Should she go back into the store and ask the security man…But what if it was him? She had thought he had given her a strange look. …

Get a grip. And get into the car, her mind screamed at her.

She would. She’d get in the car, go home and shop during the day in future.

Relieved she had made the decision she swung her trembling legs into the driver’s seat and slid the key into the ignition.

Keeping safe wasn’t running away, she reasoned. It was making the right decision.

The face pressed in her rear mirror stilled her breath.

Then he was at the window. The woman stood in front of the car. It was the couple Issy had seen earlier.

Issy’s blood turned to ice.

“Having car trouble,” the man smirked. “Trust me. I can help,” he said opening the car door.

Issy cursed her stupidity. In her haste she had forgotten to lock the car door.

Her hand found the spray. Rage engulfed her like wildfire, replacing her fear.

 The man screamed as she blasted the spray at close range into his mocking eyes.

The woman, her teeth drawn back from her lips like a feral cat raked her nails down the windscreen. The grating sound sliced through Issy brain like a knife being sharpened.

Hyperventilating with terror, her breath coming in short sharp pants she pumped the accelerator and shot forward.

“Not this time. Not this time,” she gasped, praying she was heading for the exit, the main road and home.

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