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The Mornings Madness by Jack Farquharson


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Maybe if he just let himself drift off he would be able to pass the time without going mad. It's not as if he wouldn't be woken immediately – if they started moving again - by the frantic beeping of Mr Angry behind him! As he shifted the position of his head, gingerly placing his forehead where his chin had been resting, he tried to empty his mind of all thoughts of traffic jams and roadworks.
He had long been convinced that roadworks where just someone's malicious plot to drive him insane and some mornings lately he had begun to feel that they were starting to succeed.
The hum from the engine coming up through the steering column and causing the steering wheel to vibrate softly was actually proving quite soothing, and this combined with the drone of the singing on the radio, began to lull Billy to sleep. This brought with it blissful relief from the pain in his head, and the boredom of his situation.

#

He was woken abruptly by a loud blast from a horn. The shock caused him to jerk his head upright, and the sudden motion brought all the discomforts of his previous evenings overindulgence flooding back. He was disoriented, and it took a moment to gather his thoughts. As he was doing so, he noticed the pool of spittle which had formed against the blue of his shirt. "Lovely" he thought as he tried to clear the cobwebs, "Dribbling on myself now, to add to it all! I am losing it"
Once past worrying about spittle, the first thing he noticed was that no-one had moved. Why then had he been beeped? He looked in his rearview mirror and found that the couple were still arguing and in fact seemed completely oblivious to anything else. It certainly didn't look like they had beeped for any reason. To his left, his middle aged friend was still trying to acquaint his finger with the back of his skull, and it didn't look as if he had caused Billy's sudden awakening.
He looked forward again at the car in front. The glare from the sun, which had been reflecting off the rear window when he last looked, was gone now - as the sky had clouded over somewhat - and he could now make out details in the car itself.
He was instantly struck by something odd, but couldn't quite out his finger on what it was. As far as he could make out, the car had only one occupant - a fairly tall man -by the looks of the shape that was visible from the driver's seat. He seemed to be wearing some sort of baseball cap, but other than that, it was difficult to make out any details. Billy still couldn't place what it was that was bothering him, but he couldn't shake the feeling either. He shifted his position to try and get a better view of the car, thinking to himself "this guy is going to think I am a bit of a freak if he has been watching me in his mirror".
That was when the uneasy feeling cranked up a notch as he realised what was wrong. He could not see any reflection in the car's rearview mirror. He should surely be able to see the face of the driver? Squinting to get a better look, he focused in on the mirror, but all he could see was the headrest of the driver's seat! This couldn't be right he knew, but nevertheless, that was what the mirror showed.



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