Into the Darkness

The lights from the road side passed by in a blur, the darkness held back by from the roadway by these lonely sentinels holding vigil at the edge of the tarmac surface.  With his foot to the floor the car was speeding down the road, all thoughts of speed limits and road laws firmly out of his mind.  The blur of a car passing in the opposite direction snapped him back to reality as he realised the danger of the situation he was in and his foot eased off the peddle and the forward momentum of the car slowed slightly.  His mind was a whir of emotions, the piece of paper fallen from her coat had revealed the treachery, his fears that he had dismissed over the years, his self doubt, and yet his trust in her that had kept them at bay before, now ripped away.

Out with friends, that had been the excuse tonight, but the slip of paper with an address in, what he recognised, as a seedier area of town, had told him the truth.  His rage had built slowly and he had managed to restrain himself from throwing thing in the apartment.   He hands had been shaking and it had taken him three attempts to get his key in the ignition of his car, but from red mist had now become a cold calculating white within him as he imagined what lay ahead.

He didn’t know who she was seeing but various images ran through his mind, each time the strawberry-blonde hair of his wife filled the image as she cavorted with the faceless lover.  His hands began to grip the wheel harder and his knuckles now lost all colour as they turned white.  A sudden sharp turn of the wheel and he had overtaken a car that had been travelling along at something closer to the the actual speed limit.  As the countryside began to be replaced by buildings and he entered the city, a rational part of his brain pulled his foot back from the accelerator and he slowed down to something closer to the speed limit.  He dragged the steering wheel to the right to take a turn towards the lower end of town, his wheels barely keeping the car on the road as he fishtailed down the street.

He slowed down as he headed further into the estate, his eyes scanning left and right looking for the road that had been named on the paperwork.  In the darkness he nearly missed the road sign, however he spotted it at the last second and slammed on the brakes before turning into the road.

There was her car, the final proof he needed, he pulled up behind it, effectively blocking any attempts to pull her car away from the kerb.  He turned the engine off and sat there for a moment trying to calm himself, when this failed he grabbed for the door handle and got out onto the pavement.  He resisted the urge to slam the car door and after checking it had locked he turned towards the buildings.

A number of doors were ahead of him, some leading to ground floor flats, others to those above, he walked down the row searching for no. 31 when he reached it, the shock was plain on his face, like all of the other doors, the bell had a small space for the name and whilst he was expecting to learn the name of the man who had stolen his wife from him, he never expected to see her name listed there instead.