Thursday 16 February 2012

Trainers


I must have started this story many months ago, in an attempt to write something to match the popularity of "Screamer", but it just wouldn't write.  In fact I have revisited it so many times that I'm not sure if it is the same story I originally envisaged.  The strange thing is that I had the story fixed firmly in my head.  I knew exactly what was going to happen and I felt the fear, panic and (worst of all) the hope that Johnny Sillitoe felt.  It just wouldn't get itself down on the paper.

Anyway I have finally finished it so maybe I can get on with something else now.


Trainers
Johnny Sillitoe knelt down in the hallway to lace up his brand new trainers.  This was going to be their very first outing; just a gentle run to break them in.  They had cost him a lot of money, but he hoped they would be worth it in the end.  They felt comfortable and he was really rather proud of them. 
This was a perfect day for the run.  It was early spring and the sun was bright but not particularly warm.  It hadn’t rained for a few days, so the ground was soft but not soggy.  No one was likely to want to contact him and he intended to leave his phone at home.  This was going to be between him and nature; exactly how he liked it. 
He performed a few stretches in front of the mirror in the hallway watching himself critically as he did so.  Not bad he thought, but then a pretty abstemious life had led to a pretty fit body and one that his last girlfriend had found desirable.  It was a shame that Sarah had been so clingy; if she had simply enjoyed his company for what it was and what it offered, they might still be together instead of breaking up as they had last weekend.  There were tears of course but they couldn’t be helped and now he had this wonderful day to break in his new trainers with no worries about anyone getting in his way.
He stepped outside the front door, turned his face towards the sun feeling its gentle heat on him and started to run towards the nearby woods.
By the time he had reached the edge of the woods he was already in rhythm.  He could hear his breathing in time with the pad of his new trainers.  They were feeling good on his feet.  
He paused at the edge of the wood to fix his MP3 player earphones into his ears, selected a rock playlist and set it to loud.  Right, he thought, here we go, let’s see how the shoes manage off road.  He entered the wood following the rutted track into the heart of this 30 acre patch of greenery.  He became totally absorbed in his running and his thoughts.  The music shut out the rest of the world and he was only vaguely aware of his surroundings.  His thoughts flitted to the relationship that he had just ended.  It was for the best.  People just got in the way.  He hardly got in touch with anyone these days except electronically and even email and the social networking sites got on his nerves now.  He was happiest working from home on his computer and only meeting with real people when he absolutely had to, and at the end of a day with his computer, his nightly runs were the perfect relaxation.
He was really into his rhythm now and hardly felt the ground beneath his feet.  The gentle breeze blew against his face cooling his sweat before it had time to gather on his brow.  His feet seemed to automatically jump over the ruts in the dirt track through the woods landing perfectly on the other side.  He had run this way many times in his old trainers but they had become so worn that they had begun to hurt his feet.  It was with great reluctance that he had gone to buy new trainers, hoping that he could buy an identical pair but inevitably finding that the manufacturers had stopped making that design.  The specialist shop had recommended a pair at a considerable cost, but the assistant had reminded him that they would be worth every penny if they worked well.  The thought had crossed his mind that they would be a waste of every penny if they hadn’t worked but they had felt very good on his feet in the shop and he was secretly proud of the fact that he was such a committed runner that he needed to buy such an expensive pair.
As he ran his thoughts were interrupted by a niggling irritation in his right trainer.  He had somehow picked up a stone and it was grinding against his heel.  He ran on for a while hoping that it would somehow dislodge, but it was no good, it had ruined his mood.  He stopped by the road, crouched down and took his trainer off.
*******
Mary was really taken with Jake.  She’d been twocking with other guys, but that had usually been at night and all they had done was drive around the estate in some beat up Escort or Fiesta or something.  Jake was different, he knew how to drive fast; he could even handbrake turn.  The last car before this one was a BMW and that could really travel.  She loved the buzz of going fast and racing round corners.  Jake always had some great stuff with him as well.  When they’d finished with the car Jake always torched it in some out of the way place so that the law couldn’t identify them.  That meant a bit of a walk back but with Jake that was OK. 
Mary had skipped out of school today and met up with Jake in the town.  They had taken some stuff and hung around for a bit until Jake had suddenly said he was bored and that they should do something different.  We need to nick a car he said, but not the usual crap, something else.  He must have been thinking about it for a while because he said he knew what he wanted and where he could get it.  He led her out of town a short way until they came to a tree lined street with cars parked all along it.  There was no one about and he walked up the middle of the road in that confident way he had.  Mary walked on the pavement keeping pace with him saying nothing.  She’d done this before.  She kept an eye open for anyone coming up the pavement.  Jake stopped opposite what looked like an old Land Rover that had been stripped of some of its body panels.  It had an exhaust that pointed into the air and had very fat chunky tyres.  Almost before she knew it, Jake was in the car with the engine running.  She climbed up into the passenger seat and Jake let in the clutch and sped away down the road.
This was so different to the other cars that they had ridden in.  It was very high off the ground and the ride was uncomfortably bouncy.  Jake drove out of town towards the woods in the distance.  He said that this car needed to be off road.  Mary sat in the passenger seat mesmerised by Jake’s handling of this strange vehicle.  They drove along until they came to a ninety degree bend in the road beyond which were the woods.  Instead of following the road Jake carried on at the same speed and crashed through the old wooden fence that bordered the wood.  Mary screamed in delight and glanced over at Jake.  He was grinning madly and fighting the steering wheel as the car bucked over the rough ground.  He tried to maintain the speed, but realised that he could not manoeuvre round the trees unless he slowed down a bit.  After a few minutes he came upon a track and steered the Land Rover onto it.  He could get his speed up now and pushed the car as fast as he could, crashing through undergrowth and breaking saplings as he went.  The car hit a large tree a glancing blow and shook them both about a bit but they weren’t hurt.  Mary took out two cigarettes and lit one of them with a lot of difficulty, partly because of the bouncing of the car and partly because she couldn’t stop giggling.  When she had managed to light the first cigarette she leaned over to place it in Jake’s mouth, but just as he opened his mouth for it, the car gave a huge jolt and she dropped the cigarette in his lap.  Jake took his hands of the wheel and patted at his lap to knock the burning cigarette onto the floor.  Mary joined in, giggling.  Without Jake’s hands on the wheel the car bucked and weaved all over the track bouncing off trees and throwing them all over the cabin of the car.  Jake managed to get a grip on the wildly spinning steering wheel and slowed the Land Rover to a stop.  He clambered out of the cab and looked back where they had been.  They had rutted the soft earth and there were signs of damage on a number of the trees and rather absurdly, a single trainer lying by the side of the track.  He got back into the Land Rover and joined Mary who was still giggling.  He drove more carefully out of the woods and headed for a country lane not far from the town.  He set fire to the car and they started to walk back.
******
Johnny never heard the Land Rover coming and never felt the impact as it flung him through the trees and scrub to lie half in and half out of a ditch some ten feet from the edge of the track.  When he came to, he felt the pain in his head but couldn’t seem to move.  He passed out again.
When he came round again darkness had fallen.  He felt no real pain, but was cold and frightened.  He was thirsty.  How long was it you could live without water?  Someone would find him.  This was the UK for goodness sake; people didn’t have accidents and then not get found.  But how will anyone know he was here.  He wasn’t on the track and there may be no sign that he had ever been in these woods. There was his trainer.  He remembered.  He had stopped to shake a stone from his shoe.  He had taken his shoe off and then whatever happened had happened.  His trainer will be out there; a brand new expensive trainer.  Someone will notice it and investigate.  He drifted off into unconsciousness again.
When he came round again it was day.  He was aware of how dry his mouth felt, and how disorientated he felt.  His mind wandered into the most bizarre daydreams.  All he could see was the branches of the trees above him.  He watched the birds and could hear them talking to each other.  He could see two magpies talking to each other.  Was it two for joy?  Someone would come.  He could hear the rooks in the trees above him cawing as if they were a concert orchestra.  He imagined that he could hear the melody as it washed over him.  They were all calling for help for him.  Why was no one listening?  The magpies had come down from the tree and were walking towards him.  Magpies have such purposeful walks.  One came right up to his head.  He could just see him if he turned his eyes to the extreme left.  The other one hopped onto his chest and cocked his head sideways to look at him.  He couldn’t watch both of them together.  He felt a sharp peck on his left ear.  He turned his eyes to the left again and the magpie moved away cautiously.  He felt a peck on his chin.  He turned his eyes on the magpie on his chest which moved to the right side of his head.  This wasn’t really happening, he was just imagining it.  A peck on his left ear, then on his right ear.  Moving his eyes kept them back.  He must keep moving his eyes.  They were afraid to attack him while he was alive.  He kept his eyes open and watched the magpies.
*******
He was found a few hours later by a man walking his dog who called for an ambulance.  He was still alive, but died later in hospital of multiple wounds consistent with being struck by a vehicle.   Two things puzzled the paramedics who attended him: how unlikely it was to have been run over by a vehicle in the woods, and how and why both eyes had been removed.