11 – The Abyss
Lyle awakes and looks sleepily at Zoey. “How far are we from the mountain pass, Mother?”
Zoey smiles at him: “Don’t you worry, Lyle. I’ll wake you up. I know you don’t want to miss the ride through the pass.”
She looks in her back mirror and frowns. “I wonder why this lorry keeps trailing us and doesn’t pass. He has been sitting on our tail since we left town.”
Lyle turns around and looks at the lorry. “He’s now showing he wants to overtake us, mother.”
"Thank heavens. It really is starting to work on my nerves. At last!”
Lyle follows the lorry as it overtakes them. Two men are hiding on the open backside against the wind. The lorry accelerates and drives away quickly and becomes smaller in the distance.
Zoey talks to the driver as if he can hear her: “Why haven’t you done it a long time ago? Did you have to pester me all the way?”
"They look as if they are in a hurry, mother.”
Lyle sees something in his back mirror. “Now there is a monster truck behind us, mother.”
Zoey looks in her mirror: “What a strange monster is this, Lyle, it looks like an adapted truck and the driver is hiding behind tinted windows.”
"I’ve seen monsters like this on TV. They rush and jump over high obstacles and they are fast and powerful.”
"The wheels look like tractor tires. I’ve never seen such a thing on our roads! Look at that thick bars right around the thing! He will surely easily bump something right off the road. Wow, what a monster! What make is it? I can’t believe it is locally made.”
"To me, it looks like one or other adapted American truck with a strong engine. It may be a V8 or even a bigger, stronger and quicker version.”
"Oh no! Why doesn’t he pass us? He is now tailing us just like the previous lorry.”
"Don’t worry, mother. I’m sure the driver will become impatient and then overtake us.”
When they reach the 40 km/h sign, Zoey knows she must reduce speed. It is the start of the mountain pass. The monster is still following hot on their heels.
Zoey is disappointed. “Doesn’t this man realize that I’m going to creep up the mountain pass and that he will have to follow at my slow pace?”
Zoey reduces speed and Lyle opens his window completely and he realizes that the bad wind of the city isn’t blowing here. Here it is a sunny, windless, perfect day. The road becomes narrow and steep with the rock face on their right and the abyss right here at Lyle’s side. He puts his head out of the window and inhales the fresh mountain air and listens to the unique sounds of the mountain. He tries to peep to the left over the low boundary wall between them and the abyss but can see nothing beyond the wall. The abyss is straight down and deep.
Zoey drives very slowly while Lyle enjoys the sounds and visions of this high mountain. The noises of birds and cicadas echo from the cliffs and it is if the wall of the mountain amplifies it. He savors the beautiful scenes of lush, green vegetation against the rock face. He wishes the drive could go on forever.
The path zigzags higher and higher up the mountain with the threatening abyss near him. He enjoys the ride here on the edge of danger. He looks back at the monster and wonders how the driver keeps that giant wheels in check within the limits of the road. There will be no room for a lorry that comes from the front.
This time of year few people use the pass. They usually prefer the much quicker toll road. The hostel is just on the other side of the mountain, so for them, it is the most practical route from the farm. Maybe the monster’s owner is a game farmer and uses it for hunting or driving over difficult terrain because that thing can probably drive over almost anything.
The road makes a hairpin bend and they go over a bridge and they come out amongst mountain slopes. This is the last chance to stop for a picnic at a mountain creek.
Zoey looks at Lyle: "I know you always want to stop here, darling, but not today. I want to be back at Chloe before midnight.”
Lyle smiles happily: “I understand, mom, but promise me you will phone me when you are safe at Chloe’s place.”
"But it will be midnight. I might bother your roommate. I’ll rather send you a message.”
"No, please, mother. I’ll put my phone on vibrate and underneath my pillow.”
Zoey smiles at his concern: “Okay, I promise, my Iron Man.”
Lyle looks happy. “I love Chloe so much and am very happy that you are going to stay with her. Chloe is always full of life and fun. You need this breakaway from father’s shit.”
Zoey smiles and winks. “Thank you. You are right. I’m really looking forward to being with my little sister tonight. Fun and surprises are part of Chloe.”
The road turns sharply and they stop just after the entrance to the picnic spot before they take on the most dangerous part of the pass. A man with a long pole with a huge stop sign blocks their side of the road.
He looks familiar. “I think this is one of the men on the back of that first lorry, mother.”
"If that is so, they must have been on the way to regulate the traffic on the pass …”
"Maybe the other guy is at the far side of the pass.”
The monster’s revolutions scream noisily as if he winds himself up and Zoey looks in her mirror and scolds the driver as if he can hear her: "Now suddenly you are impatient! Why haven’t you passed us earlier, idiot?”
The man with the stop sign has earphones and it looks as if he is talking over a radio.
Zoey is worried. “I don’t hope there is storm damage and the pass is closed. I haven’t heard anything over the news. You never know with these mountains, because they sometimes have their own storms.”
Lyle tries to calm her: “Maybe they are doing some repairs or safeguarding someplace along the way.”
Zoey concurs. “You are right, Lyle. Sometimes there are rock falls and they must clean up the loose rocks and stones before it fall down on the road. Or maybe there was an unsuspected rock fall and now they must have one-way traffic until the road is cleared.”
Two cars pass them from the other side and underscore Zoey’s explanation. “Yes, I’m right. We now have one-way traffic.”
The man with the stop sign also underlines her theory by lifting the stop sign and he waves his arms to indicate that they must go ahead.
Zoey doesn’t obey his gestures and show with her thumb to the monster behind them. “Let him pass first, please!”
She hops in her seat when the monster suddenly and bombastically blows his horn impatiently.
“Damn, you pig …” She leans out of her window and wild and angrily waves to the invisible driver to pass them. “Don’t be an idiot. Go now.”
The monster remains motionless, just idling and waiting for her to go. Zoey becomes unsettled as she looks at the ominous, giant, black monster with the tinted windows. She doesn’t want the thing at her tail. It looks as if he is just waiting for the right moment to jump on them. She now sees that another car has come up behind the monster. Well, someone will watch us from behind.
Zoey looks back at the man with the sign and he now frantically gestures to her to proceed.
She swears angrily: "You damn backward idiots!”
She puts the Venture in gear and tackles the steepest, most dangerous part of the pass. The monster follows hot on their heels.
In her mirror, she sees how the monster stops just when he has passed the man with the road sign. She sees how the road sign lowers and blocks the car behind the monster. Then the monster accelerates and in no time comes up right to their tail. She sees that the car behind the monster is now being held up by the stop sign. Funny, she wonders worriedly. Why only let two pass? Then she remembers that only two cars from the front passed them. A little comfort.
They drive up the steep and narrow road. The road had been dynamited out of the vertical rock face at the crest of this part of the mountain. The rock face is vertical on their right side and the abyss very near them on the left side. Lyle only sees blue sky on the other side of this feeble wall between them and the deep abyss as they crawl upwards; higher and higher.
Lyle tries to peep through the front window up the vertical cliff but it is too steep and he becomes dizzy. From here you can’t see where the highest peak is. This place must be a rock climber’s dream. He recalls a documentary he had seen over the weekend of a mad rock climber who climbs cliffs like these without any ropes and he shivers involuntarily.
They are nearing a hairpin bend at the peak. This is the highest point. From here they will be going down. He wonders where the part is with the road damage. He looks back at the monster and sees it has slacked off and is well behind them.
As they start their descent the revolutions of the monster suddenly shoot up and it roars as if it is charging up for action. Upset Zoey looks in the mirror.
"Lyle, I don’t like this a bit. What is his plan? He’s working on my nerves!”
Lyle turns and looks at the monster. Suddenly it shoots forward and hits them from behind with such force that they jerk in their seats. Zoey screams terrified as the monster starts to push them faster and faster and she has difficulty in staying away from the wall. They just survive the first bend and the road straightens. The monster still pushes them faster and faster. They are going downward hopelessly too fast for the next bend lower down.
Zoey yells and tries to stem their speed by putting both feet on the brake pedal and pushes with all her might. The tires yell dissatisfied while the Venture waddles from side to side over the tarmac. Zoey realizes it becomes too difficult to avoid the wall and she is compelled to release her push on the brakes to get a little control.
Like a merciless devil, the monster accelerates and they are going into the next bend hopelessly too fast. Only a feeble, low wall separates them from the abyss with only blue sky on the other side. Zoey feels powerless against this onslaught and sees no escape.
Distressed she yells at Lyle while she desperately tries to keep the Venture from the wall.
"Lyle, I can’t do anything! He is going to kill us! Jump, Lyle, jump! That’s your only chance! Save yourself, my son! Jump now, Lyle! Just jump! Come now!”
Lyle freezes in his seat and pushes with his feet on the floor as if it is brake pedals. The abyss comes so near so quickly. The bend is too sharp. They will never make it. It feels unreal. It feels like a bad nightmare, but he realizes it is no dream.
Are these their last moments on earth, he wonders as the tires yell and the revolutions scream in his ears as they are pushed violently to their end.
They are going to crash through the barrier and the abyss is thousands of meters straight down!
Why must they die in this horrible way?
The Venture bursts violently but ridiculously easily through the feeble wall and they shoot over the edge of the abyss. The effect of weightlessness hits Lyle in the stomach as he and Zoey look at each other for a short moment and read the disbelief and panic in each other’s faces.
Is this the way in which he will see his mother for the last time?