Maddie's Curse

This is an entry in the Valentine's Day Contest 2008 -- if you enjoy the story, please take a moment to cast your vote.

* * *

There was a sickening sound of screeching tyres followed by a dull thud. The ominous silence that followed sent ice-cold fear racing through Maddie's veins. Blindly she ran across the street, the gravely tarmac shredding her bare feet - although she barely noticed. Another car stopped and voices buzzed like mosquitoes on the edge of her consciousness.

Sasha was lying in the road, deathly still. Maddie dropped to her knees, dirt scraping her flesh. She touched the familiar silky fur, trying to convince herself that this nightmare wasn't really happening. Not tonight of all nights.

"Come on, girl," she murmured frantically, but Sasha didn't respond. Warm, sticky wetness coated her fingers and panic seized her chest in a vice like grip. She began to shiver violently.

"I'm sorry, love, I tried to stop, honest I did."

Maddie ignored the annoying man leaning over her, his face a ghostly caricature in the harsh glare from the street lamp. She dimly recognised that none of this was his fault, but she didn't have the energy to assuage his guilt right now.

"We need to get her to a vet," she tried to say, but her teeth were chattering too much and the words didn't come out right. There was a small movement beneath her hand and Sasha stirred, her leg twitching a little. This tiny glimmer of hope instantly goaded her into action and she stared wildly at the man still standing there impotently.

"Vet!" she shouted at him, hoping he would understand that there was still time.

"Err..." He hesitated, no doubt contemplating the potential damage to his cream leather upholstery. But since he now had a dog-sized dent in his car, bloodstains on his seats were probably the least of his worries.

"Okay," he said, nodding his head. "I know where the vet is," he confirmed before glancing discretely at his watch.

"Help me then!" pleaded Maddie, trying to slide her arms beneath the limp body of her dog without doing any more damage

The man grudgingly assisted and between them both, Sasha was lifted carefully onto the back seat of his car. She was barely breathing now and Maddie could feel her slipping away, but still she clung on to hope that the vets might be able to save her.

* * *

The veterinary practice was apparently closed for the evening, but as there were still lights on inside, Maddie hammered on the door frantically, praying that somebody would come to assist.

Eventually a shadowy figure appeared behind the frosted glass and the door was unlocked. "Surgery isn't until tomorrow now..." The man dressed in a green surgical gown broke off when he saw Maddie's tear stricken face.

"My dog!" she sobbed hysterically, pointing towards the car.

Not needing any further explanation, the man came outside and ran towards the parked car. Carefully lifting Sasha out, he carried her back inside the brightly lit building. Maddie followed him through the open door of a consultation room. He laid the dog gently on a table and turned to face her.

"What happened?" he asked as he placed his stethoscope on Sasha's chest.

"A...a...car hit her," Maddie said, biting her lip painfully in her attempt not to fall apart. "The side gate wasn't shut properly and she chased a cat on to the road."

She'd been meaning to fix the latch on the gate for weeks as it didn't always catch properly; now it was too late. Fresh tears threatened to fall and she hurriedly wiped her eyes with the edge of her shirt.

The vet removed the stethoscope and shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry," he said gravely. "There's nothing I can do - she's already passed away."

Maddie heard the words, but they didn't sink in immediately. She reached out and touched Sasha. He must have made a mistake -- Sasha hadn't gone. No. She was going to be okay. The dog's eyes were half closed and she just looked as if she was falling asleep. She still felt warm when Maddie stroked her soft ears, salty tears soaking into the matted, bloody fur.

"She probably never even knew what happened," the vet said gently. He walked round the end of the examination table and touched Maddie's arm compassionately. "Here - have a tissue," he said, pulling one from the box resting on the worktop nearby.

Maddie took it numbly and sniffed. Tears dripped down her cheeks as she continued to relive the ghastly moment Sasha had seen the damned cat and run heedlessly out into the road. Over and over again Maddie heard the screech of tyres and sound of her own voice screaming.

The vet passed her another handful of tissues and Maddie made a conscious effort to stem the tide of emotion. Get a grip, she told herself. Now was not the time to lose the plot.

"What'll happen to the..." She couldn't bring herself to say the word 'body'. That made it real. Still she clung on to a vain hope that Sasha might miraculously wake up.

"Don't worry about that," the vet replied kindly. "We'll take care of everything. I just need a few details from you before you go."

Maddie sobbed anew.

"But there's no rush!" he added hurriedly. "You can stay as long as you wish. I don't need to leave just yet -- I still have plenty of things to do."

"Thanks," mumbled Maddie. What she really wanted was to be left alone for a few minutes. She needed some space to say goodbye to Sasha properly.

The vet must have read her thoughts. "I'll give you some time on your own," he said. "Just shout me when you've finished." He left the room and closed the door behind him.

Now Maddie was all alone with her chaotic thoughts and the acrid smell of disinfectant. As she stood crying silently, her phone suddenly blipped from within her cardigan pocket and she belatedly remembered James and their romantic Valentine's meal for two.

He had sent a text message some time ago. Realising what time it was and sensing it wasn't a note she'd want to read, she tearfully read it anyway.

Since u couldn't be bothered to show -- I've gone to a club with the lads. Lets just forget it Mads, its not working is it.

Happy Fucking Valentines to you too, she thought bitterly.

* * *

One Year Later.

Maddie grimaced when she glanced at her wall calendar and remembered what day it was. She wasn't the most romantically inclined person in the world at the best of times, but Valentine's Day held a special place in her heart as the absolute worst time of her year.

Every year, without fail, something bad always happened on 14th February. Last year she'd lost her beloved Sasha. The year before, her car had been broken into and taken for a joy-ride round the local council estate, before being set alight. The year before that she'd been made redundant.

The list went on...and on...and on.

So it was unlikely that this year would prove to be an exception to the rule. With a stomach-churning sense of trepidation, Maddie left her small house and headed for work. In an ideal world she would have stayed in bed and buried herself beneath the duvet, but since Maddie's spiteful boss needed no encouragement to sack her, she decided it wasn't such a clever idea.

As it happened, the dreaded day passed fairly uneventfully for a change. A couple of the girls in the office received bouquets of red roses during the morning, but as per usual, Maddie decided that any secret admirer she might have had was probably languishing in a police cell after being arrested the previous night for drunk and disorderly offences. The only male attention she had was when the DHL man gave her a lecherous ogle as she signed for a parcel, but she didn't count him as a potential suitor; frankly she wasn't THAT desperate.

Maddie ignored the sympathetic glances from a few of her colleagues and buried her head in her work. Because she ended up staying late to finish typing a report, by the time she turned the lights out and left the building, the place was like a graveyard. Not that it mattered terribly much, she thought miserably. It may have been Friday night, but unlike the rest of the population, she had no reason to rush home.

No dog to feed and take out for a walk. No boyfriend to dress up for. No...anything. She sometimes wondered what she DID have to look forward to. Certainly nothing sprang to mind easily.

Actually there was a film on the television she wanted to watch, she remembered as she turned the key in the ignition. The old Fiat spluttered uneasily for a few moments and she swore at it loudly. Verbal abuse seemed to do the trick. With a cough, the engine fired into life and she pulled out of the car park carefully, ever mindful of her annual curse.

There were temporary traffic lights along Maddie's usual route home, so she took a diversion to avoid the queuing traffic that stretched for miles in either direction. Whilst this seemed an excellent idea at the time, she soon realised she was becoming increasingly lost after driving round in endless circles for what seemed like forever. Familiar landmarks had given way to run-down housing estates and derelict shopping precincts and she had no idea where in the hell she was.

Eventually Maddie pulled into a side street and stopped the car. She knew she didn't have a map handy, but her SatNav was in the glove compartment. Or at least it SHOULD have been. Unfortunately a quick inspection showed it to be conspicuously missing, and with a sinking heart she remembered lending it to her sister the previous weekend.

"Damn you, Laura!" she yelled in frustration, thumping the dashboard hard for good measure. "Ouch!" she cried when she belatedly realised that hitting rigid plastic hurt quite a lot.

A couple of hooded teenagers were lurking nearby, smoking, and Maddie saw them pointing towards her car. Since there was nobody else in the vicinity, she suddenly decided that sitting here, all alone, was probably not such a clever idea.

Just to make her feel even more vulnerable, the streetlight that was currently providing yellow illumination above her car flickered before dying. The dingy street was immediately plunged into gloomy darkness, but for the small orange glow of two cigarettes heading in her direction.

Carjacking was a new misfortune even for her, so she hurriedly rammed the car into first gear and sped back out towards the main road. Because she was too busy watching the teenage thugs out of the corner of her eye, Maddie didn't pay a whole lot of attention to oncoming traffic.

When the sleek black car appeared from nowhere, she had no way of avoiding a collision. There was a crunch on the passenger side and she felt her car being shunted alarmingly sideways. Oh shit, she thought with a sense of déjà vu.

A quick check was enough to determine that she had no injuries at least. Not that the same could be said for her car. No doubt the insurance company piranhas would write it off and send her a measly cheque after making her wait for at least six months. That was usually how it worked; she had plenty of experience in 'claims' -- particularly at this time of year.

With a sigh, she opened her door and climbed out to face the music. If the other driver turned out to be an elderly man who chose this minute to drop dead from a heart attack, her evening would just about be complete.

"Did you not see me coming?" The other driver looked rather pissed off as he approached Maddie.

"Look, I'm really sorry," she began to say, before the words dried in her throat. There was something familiar about the tall, dark haired man.

"Don't I know you?" she asked, peering closely at him.

He stopped and stared at her with one eyebrow raised curiously. "I think I'd remember if we'd met before," he said with a faint smile.

The penny dropped and Maddie suddenly recalled the last time she had seen this man.

"You're a vet, aren't you?" she blurted.

He looked surprised. "I am, yes - at the Holmefield Clinic. Are you one of our clients?"

Maddie sniffed; it still made her sad to think about Sasha. "Kind of - my dog, Sasha, she was run over this time last year." Tears pricked her eyes and she looked away, not wanting to make a fool of herself -- or at least no more than she already had done.

"Oh I remember," he replied, "the retriever that didn't make it. Sorry -- it was a bad night."

"Valentine's is ALWAYS is a bad night for me..." Maddie saw the two teen hoodlums hovering nearby and wondered how long it'd take them to strip her car down to the bare metal the minute her back was turned.

"Yeah -- me too," commiserated the vet with a rueful glance at his own dented car.

Maddie caught the direction of his look and wished a huge hole would open in the cracked pavement and swallow her up. "Sorry -- it's my fault," she repeated, aware that admitting blame at the scene of an accident was very bad, but not actually caring any more. She was fucked whichever way she played it.

"Look, it doesn't matter, the car isn't mine anyway. It belongs to my brother-in-law, and as he's a total wanker most of the time, I won't be losing any sleep over this accident. Since we're both unhurt, would you like to stop beating yourself up about it?

"In fact," he continued hurriedly, "shall we adjourn to less salubrious surroundings before one of us is mugged?"

Another three characters were now loitering with intent nearby and Maddie began to feel nervous. "I don't think my car is very drivable," she said worriedly. Steam was hissing from beneath the bonnet in a rather discouraging fashion.

"Would you be upset if I suggested you abandon it for now?" the vet said.

"Devastated," she said dryly.

"In that case, jump in Roger's nice BMW with the very attractive dent," he said with a laugh.

Maddie didn't need asking twice. She grabbed her handbag and locked the doors as it seemed churlish not to make vandalising-her-car more of a challenge. It was probably the only mental stimulation these poor boys got.

"I'm Maddie," she offered when she flopped into the passenger seat of the vet's car -- or Roger's car to be exact she reminded herself.

"I'm Luke," her vet said, turning to smile warmly at her.

The car pulled away smoothly, seemingly unaffected by the collision with Maddie's clapped out Fiat. It just proves the superiority of German engineering, thought Maddie with admiration.

"Are you in a hurry to get home?" asked Luke.

Maddie gawped at him in surprise.

"I mean -- is there a boyfriend or husband waiting for you at home -- it IS Valentine's Day after all?"

She snorted derisively. "Yeah right! No, there isn't." No way. She hadn't bothered after the sorry demise of her relationship with James.

"What about you?" she heard herself asking curiously. "Is there a Mrs Vet sat at home with a roast in the oven?"

"No, Mrs Vet walked out on me this time last year."

Maddie wished she had more tact as she caught his pained expression in the glow from the headlights of an oncoming car.

"She liked the lifestyle of being a vet's wife, but she DIDN'T like the hours I had to work. Last Valentine's Day was the final straw. I forgot the card and present, missed our anniversary meal out and, well, she blew a gasket."

Maddie felt partly responsible - she must have kept him at work that night. "Sorry..." she said softly.

"At this rate you're going to break the world record for the number of times one person apologises in the space of an hour!" He turned to smile at her again and she felt a warm tingle shoot through her body. Maybe the Valentine's curse had finally been broken?

"Anyway," he continued, "Victoria is more than happy these days. She finally found a man who was happy to give her unlimited credit, and I get to work all the hours I like. It's great!"

"I'm glad," Maddie said with some relief.

The car rolled along smoothly and Maddie suddenly realised where they were. She hadn't been as lost as she'd initially thought. "I don't live too far away," she said, feeling sure that this nice man must be dying to get rid of her -- she'd probably ruined his evening.

"Actually," Luke said carefully, "I was wondering if you fancied a drink, or something?"

She looked sideways at him in surprise.

"With me?" she squeaked.

Surely he had to be joking? Maybe he had banged his head in the impact -- perhaps he had concussion and was about to keel over with delayed brain damage?

"Yes, silly, I thought maybe we could sooth our nerves with a glass of wine. I dunno about you, but traditionally this night always seems to go horribly wrong."

"Funny you should say that," agreed Maddie, "I've always had that problem too..."

* * *

Another year later...

Luke raised his glass of wine as they sat opposite each other in the restaurant. Two candles plus a vase containing a simple red rose sat between them on the white damask tablecloth. All around the small, intimate room were seated other couples staring into each other's eyes blissfully.

"I'd like to declare a toast to us," he said gravely.

Maddie thought her heart would burst with happiness. If somebody had asked her a year ago if she liked Valentine's Day, she'd have probably hit them with a blunt instrument before bursting into hysterical tears.

But fate had thrown a handsome veterinarian across her path this time last year and her curse had finally been vanquished. Her Fiat may have died that night, but true love had blossomed in the wake of its sad demise.

"To us," Maddie said dreamily, before taking a huge gulp of the rather dry chardonnay. As the wine sloshed down her throat, something banged inside her mouth and she bit it, hard. There was a distinct crack in one of her teeth and she quickly spat the offending foreign object out on to her plate in alarm.

"What the?" she spluttered before looking down and seeing a dazzling diamond solitaire ring in the remains of her linguine carbonara.

"Well that wasn't quite how I thought it would go," sighed Luke in exasperation, "but Maddie, will you marry me?"

Maddie couldn't reply immediately - she was too busy nursing a broken crown - but she managed to nod vigorously as mascara streaked tears ran down her cheeks.

"Mmhmmyygghhh," she mumbled through her napkin.

"I'll take that as a yes then," Luke beamed.

Okay, the curse hadn't been COMPLETELY lifted, thought Maddie as she smiled goofily at her husband-to-be, but an expensive visit to the dentist was a small price to pay for being obscenely happy for the rest of her life.

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Thanks for reading!