Watched: When Road Rage Follows You Home Read Free Page A

compromise they had now.
    ‘It has potential,’ was how Charlie kept describing it. He was right, of course, and the house would undoubtedly be worth it when it was finished – it was just the work involved in getting it to that point.
    It was only when Esther took another left that she realised she was about to drive past the turn for the road they lived on, having somehow gone in a full circle. She headed past the junction, resting her arm on the ledge of the open window as the sun burned down.
    At the end of the road, Esther turned right, listening for the faint hum of traffic and heading towards it.
    After passing a nursery, an off-licence and a sandwich shop wafting the smell of bacon through her open window, Esther finally reached the main road. Dual lanes of traffic surged past, spluttering exhaust fumes into the summer sky. She had been a passenger as Charlie drove along the road on their various visits to the area but had never driven on it herself. She was fairly certain the sign towards the town centre would take her away from where she wanted to go, so headed in the opposite direction.
    The road was a mass of lanes, faded arrows on the tarmac, traffic lights, roundabouts, and an all too typical lack of signs. As locals weaved in and out with full knowledge of where they were going, Esther stayed on the inside, continuing in a straight line and hoping for the best.
    Two lanes became three and it was only when she stopped at a red light behind a row of cars that Esther realised she had made a mistake. Because the arrows showing where she was supposed to be were painted on the road, she’d slipped into the central lane even though she needed to turn right. Over her shoulder she could see the pub with the bizarre sign hanging outside. It was the only reason she’d remembered this spot: the multi-coloured image of a sheep with a silver chain and an anchor around its neck was hard to forget.
    Esther waved to try and catch the attention of the driver sitting in the lane outside of her but the woman was busy singing at the top of her voice, air-drumming on the steering wheel for good measure. Esther flicked on her right indicator, hoping the driver behind would be kind and let her in.
    When the lights turned green, she edged ahead, stopping at the solid white line as the person in the car behind leaned on their horn. Esther swore under her breath as the traffic outside of her continued to stream through with a grumble of engines and a steady thump-thump-thump of a stereo somewhere behind. The car that had beeped swerved into the inside lane to go around as the ones outside continued ignoring her.
    Esther could feel her heart pumping, the hairs on her arms rising as a gentle panic began to grow. She had never enjoyed driving at the best of times, largely for reasons like this. People became so angry at the merest things.
    She continued waiting, trying to block out the tyre squeals, pumping stereo and horn-honking behind, focusing on her wing-mirror.
    Finally there was a gap in traffic and Esther accelerated ahead, swerving into the adjacent lane.
    BEEEEEEEEEEEEP!
    In the fraction of a second it had taken her to check her rear-view mirror, a metallic blue car had roared into the outside lane, stereo blaring a pulsing doof-doof-doof sound that felt as if it was throbbing through Esther’s body. It had stopped barely inches from her door, with the driver leaning out of his window, eyes bulging, top lip curled.
    BEEP! BEEP! BEEEEEEEEEEEEP!
    His hand thumped his horn as Esther tried to move ahead, forgetting what she was doing and bunny-hopping the car to a halt just as the light turned red again. The pounding music stopped instantly.
    ‘You fuckin’ bitch.’
    Esther stared straight ahead but the driver’s voice was clear through their open windows: a growling, unconcealed fury.
    ‘You stupid fat cow. Women fuckin’ drivers. Oi – you listening to me?’
    BEEP!
    Despite the summer heat, a shiver slipped along