ON ANOTHER NIGHT

On another night, Lily would not have seen the girl. On another night, the sales conference would not have run on so long, and the Regional Manager wouldn’t have wanted the quick word afterwards that proved to be anything but quick. On another night, Lily would have stuck to her original plan and made it home before it was fully dark.

When Lily and Mark lived in the city, there wouldn’t have been any question of driving home; she would have booked a room for the night in the hotel where the conference was held and even joined in with the other reps to have a few drinks afterwards. These days, since they had moved to the countryside, and so considerably nearer the hotel, the temptation to get home to her husband, her child and her own bed was too great. The Spring conference wasn’t so bad, but getting the timing wrong at the Winter conference meant a drive along winding, narrow lanes in complete darkness, with her headlights on full, illuminating the spectral shapes of moths, bats and the occasional rabbit, as they darted in and out of the hedgerows. Lily drove more cautiously than she would during the daylight. Even though she knew the lanes very well now, they

She caught sight of a shape in the road ahead

looked completely different at night and there was no way of knowing what might be around every bend. Harriet Webb, who ran the village shop, had run into a deer one night. The deer had escaped apparently unharmed into a field, but it had written Harriet’s car off, and seeing as she’d only had her Audi for a few months, Lily had no intention of that happening to her.

The clock on the dashboard said it was nearly nine when the rain started. At first, it was just the occasional spot, not even enough to bother with the wipers, and Lily hoped she might get away with it, but within minutes the rain was battering down on her windscreen, making her visibility so poor that she had to slow down still further. Poppy, her daughter, would now be not just in bed, but also asleep and the whole purpose of driving home instead of staying over was defeated. Luckily she had rung Mark before she set off to warn him she would be late, so at least he wouldn’t have started worrying yet.

As she rounded the next bend, she caught sight of a shape in the road ahead. At first, it was hard to make out what it was through the rain, but as she got closer, she saw something that made her slam the brakes on. The Audi skidded on the rain-slick, potholed tarmac and came to an abrupt halt on the wrong side of the road, narrowly avoiding a ditch. Someone was standing in the middle of the lane, caught in the white glare of the headlights. She stared through the water cascading down the windscreen and then, leaving the lights on and the engine running, climbed out of the car. She couldn’t believe her eyes; it wasn’t just someone, it was a child, a little girl, no older than her own Poppy. The child was not moving, seemingly impervious to the rain, her white dress (surely

it couldn’t be a nightdress?) billowing around her.

‘Are you OK?’ Lily called. ‘Sweetheart? Hello? What are you doing out here?’

There was no reply, so she started to edge closer, moving carefully, trying not to alarm the girl.

‘Are you on your own? Where are Mummy and Daddy?’ The child remained motionless and silent.

‘Don’t be afraid. Shall we see if we can get you home?’

Lily crept closer and could make out a pretty face with pale grey eyes. The wavy brown hair that tumbled to the girl’s shoulders was not plastered to her head with the rain, like Lily’s own. The child’s face was blank, betraying no expression. Maybe that’s why she’s out here, Lily thought, maybe she’s...

Her thought was cut short as the girl’s mouth opened and her face contorted in a silent scream. Lily could hardly bear to look at the anguish on the girl’s face, but still drew nearer.

‘No, sweetheart,’ Lily said. ‘Don’t. It’s OK.’

As the girl continued her soundless scream, Lily, to her horror, saw a light illuminating the hedge further up the lane, heading their way. She could hear the sound of an engine and froze. There was another vehicle coming and it was approaching fast. She abandoned all attempts at stealth and rushed forward; she had to get the child out of the way now.

‘Get out of the road!’ she shouted. She ran towards the child, waving her hands and yelling, as the lights grew brighter and brighter. She had just about reached the girl when the approaching car was on her, music blaring and speeding on the wrong side of the lane. Lily tried to grab the child, but her reaching hands grabbed at nothing. She screamed and hurled herself into the hedge at the side of the road, the car passing by so close that it knocked the wind out of her. There was a thump as the speeding car clipped the wing of her Audi, but it raced on without stopping, or even slowing down. She tried to free herself from the hedge, but caught her heel in the muddy verge and stumbled, falling to her hands and knees. When she looked up, there was no sign of the child.

The shock only sank in later. How she drove home, she would never know, but she did somehow. There was a dent in the wing of her car, but it didn’t feel like it mattered. She only broke down when she told Mark some of what had happened. She didn’t tell him the whole truth. She didn’t tell him why she had stopped on the wrong side of the lane; just that it was lucky she did because the speeding car would surely have hit her head on if she had been on the left. She didn’t tell him about the little girl, or that while she was on the ground by the side of the road, she felt something sharp digging into her arm. It would always be her secret that when she tugged at whatever was poking her arm, she pulled out the decayed remains of a bunch of flowers, and that, through the rain, she could just about make out the writing on the sodden card attached to them.

To our darling daughter Ellie Taken from us too soon Love forever, Mummy and Daddy

She told Mark none of this, but on her way to bed, she crept into Poppy’s bedroom, knelt by the side of her sleeping daughter’s bed and prayed for the little girl who had saved her life.