Putting the key in the ignition made the music come on. He turned up the volume and tore away. Even if tires hardly ever screeched these days, he still loved the powerful forward motion of the car, the feeling of being pushed back into the seat. His fingers drumming the wheel in time with the bass, he pulled onto the main road.

It appeared out of nowhere without a moment’s warning. Just as he was exiting the corner by the ravine, the oncoming car appeared in his field of vision. It was rushing straight towards him at high speed across the black ice.

At the same moment he caught sight of it, he knew it was all over. For one or both of them. He had snow tires and wouldn’t be able to dodge the car, wouldn’t be able to stop even if he slammed on the brakes. He just wanted it to be over. Quickly.

4

Jeanette

HER HANDS TREMBLING, she brushed off the worst of it. Earth, clay, twigs, rotting leaves. There was broken glass strewn all over the ground. All this glass and dented metal looked unreal when contrasted against nature. She was so shaken up that her body wouldn’t obey her, fits of shivering taking hold of her, her teeth chattering. She still had enough presence of mind to get out her mobile. To immortalise what seemed most unreal about the picture.

The blood everywhere inside the car. The man stuck in the driver’s seat with a large piece of glass in his throat.

Once again, she noted that he was presumably already dead. The large shard of glass was like the blade of a knife between cartilage and tendons, and surely made it impossible to breathe. He had an open wound on his forehead, and judging by the angle, his neck might very well be broken.

Jeanette debated with herself once again. What was the point of calling emergency services if the man was already dead? She would be obliged to disclose who she was, as well as having to explain under police questioning why she had been in this out-of-the-way location in the middle of winter. It would all come out, her husband would find out—everyone else too. The affair really wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny in the light of day, her reputation would be damaged and her future . . . No, you made your own luck, and she had a crucial decision to make here and now.

She did it. She laboriously pulled herself to the boot—the door was wide open after the passage through the air. She picked up the bag and forced the strap over her shoulder. She threw a regretful glance at the smashed-up car and its driver. But the decision had been made. She started to climb out of the ravine.

Darkness was falling quickly now, and it began to snow heavily.

5

Sandra

AT FIRST, she was more or less paralysed and didn’t know what to do. She was overwhelmed by a feeling of unreality—that she wasn’t present in her own life. Was it just a bad dream? She knew the answer, but couldn’t take it in.