Georgetown's Windmill

Claudia hit the back of her neck against the head restraint, once, twice and thrice. She closed her eyes and threw her phone onto the passenger seat next to hers with a sigh. 

How could she forget to check the battery?

How?

She fetched her bag and rummaged through the wrinkled receipts and sticky gums to find the round screen that remained of her worn-out leather watch. It read eleven thirty. She only had one hour left to reach the viewing site and she barely remembered the name of the street were the windmill was located. Somewhere in Georgetown.

She opened the glove box, in search of her old notebook that contained a map of the region. Her finger followed the grey roads, the yellow lines and the black and white signals. Georgetown did not show.

Hm.

She fetched her pen and scribbled the way to the viewing site from what she could recall. The real-estate agent had mentioned a large forest to the east of the windmill and a lake to the south over the phone. The description on the website also alluded to a river - Darnault? Dernaugh? Dor... No. Even the river's name she couldn't remember. If only she did, she could have found it on the map and figured a way to the venue following its stream.

Let's be logical.

He said the forest was to the east - which meant that... Wait. She frowned. Did he say east? or did she hear east? How silly she never took notes. She hit the wheel of her car with her palm.

She had to go back home to get her charger for without the directions from her phone she would never reach the viewing site. No viewing, no new house. No new house, no new life.

But home was an hour away at least. Which would imply missing her slot for the viewing. The agent was expecting to sell the windmill on that day given thirteen couples were lining up already. Twice times thirteen more convincing buyers than her and her modest nurse salary.

Claudia rolled down the window glass and gasped fresh air as it settled into her little car. The crops in the fields that surrounded the tight tar band where she had parked, on the sideline of the empty country road, swayed from side to side under the spell of a quiet wind. She leaned her elbow on the edge of the window and, as she watched the fields, she listened to the subtle whisper of their dance.

Did the refurbished windmill also stand in the middle of such beauty? Living in such a place would brighten her evenings after long hours in the hospital and definitely change her life.

She flipped a coin to decide whether or not to drive back home.

Flip.

Fine, she'd have to keep going.

Claudia pressed the pedal with her green sandal and dove through the lines of apple and pear trees that decorated each side of the empty road.

She didn't pay much attention to the clouds growing more threatening and heavy ahead of her. Her mind was too focused on the plan ahead - what she'd do if she couldn't reach the place on time, how she would convince the agent to allow for another viewing, how she would camp by the windmill to not miss her second chance and how she'd convince her banker to approve the loan she would never be eligible for.

Arf.

If none of that were to happen, at least she already knew what she'd do. She'd sit on her sofa facing the TV with a bucket of peach ice cream. It wouldn't be her first evening of the sorts, anyway.

Claudia stopped abruptly as she reached a crossroad. A tiny placard, rusty and shaky, pointed to a thin road through the fields and read “Georgetown”.

Hm. A shortcut?

Without a second thought, Claudia geared the wheel towards the tiny path and accelerated under the shade of the dense grapevine arch that covered the way.

Thunder started to roar above her head and droplets to drip as she followed the next placard to Georgetown.

Claudia kept riding for miles without encountering a single house or soul. How long had she been driving? The screen of her broken watch was out of reach and she didn't want to waste more time so she kept going.

The rows of fruit trees had vanished : no more lines of pear and apple trees only muddy fields and electric wires that stretched across the horizon – over an empty land were no soul seemed to need electricity.

The road twisted increasingly with each mile and by the time Claudia reached a pine forest, it had shrank into a one-way road. Claudia slowed down to better scrutinise the trees flanked on each side of the road. Pines were rather unusual on that side of the country. But even more unusual was the line of smoke cutting them at mid-height as if drawn with a hookah pipe.

Was that the forest to the east of the windmill the agent had mentioned?

Claudia's nails clenched the gearbox, for reassurance certainly, and she pressed the pedal gently. The car sped up slightly as it entered the forest. The rain started to pour and the wipers of her car to cringe as they swung from side to side. The thunder grunted again and Claudia turned on the heater.

Through the mist that formed on the windscreen, lightning struck and flashed her eyes.

Something bump against her car and Claudia startled, almost letting go of the wheel.

She stopped the car and slowly turned towards the rear-view mirror. The window above the trunk was too foggy for her to see anything. But she heard something and her heart froze.

She heard a wail. 

She glanced at the side mirror where she could only see the wet and curved tar through the determined curtain of rain.

Another wail.

Her hand reached for the door but she stopped herself from going further - she was in the middle of nowhere without her phone.

She fastened her belt back and bit her lip.

"Sorry", she whispered as she pressed the pedal to advance through the forest, leaving the anonymous creature behind. 

Claudia's arms and throat tensed as she drove forward, carefully avoiding the rear-view mirror. The fog on the windscreen had dissipated and she could now focus on the intricate turns of the road. As the memory of the wail resonated in her head, she pressed the pedal further as if the roar of the engine could cover up the sound of guilt. 

The sky was now turning dark and Georgetown was still nowhere to be found. The more she drove, the more alike the trees, the more familiar the bumps. The stronger the wail.

Her eyelids felt heavy and she caught herself nosing down a couple of times. She pressed the wheel tighter to stay awake and cursed herself for having never fixed the radio of the car.

Her lids weighted down. 

The wail was now a whisper. 

Her neck was numb. 

Her fingers soft on the wheel, as if ready to let go.

Her fingers softer and softer... 

Her forehead smashed the wheel and she felt its warmth against her cheek.

The hazard lights and horn flashed rhythmically the dark pines of the forest and the silence of the night.

Something smelt of gas - she had to get out.

Her hands shook as they tried to unfasten her belt. She pushed the door open and slumped across a shallow puddle. She wiped her eyes and nose and pushed her wet hair backwards.

As she did, she looked up and realised her car hadn’t crashed against the trunk of tree but into a pillar made of grey stones.

A building? In the middle of nowhere?

The building stretched towards the sky. Gigantic above her. She couldn’t see the top of it, but two triangle arms floated in the air. 

She rubbed her hands and stood up slowly, shaking and walked towards the pillar of the building. A soft music was coming out of it.

She knew that music.

From where?

No idea. 

She limped, still shaking, towards the building under the rain, and the more she limped, she further the building.

Another flash of light struck and Claudia found herself in front of the grey stones that constituted its. Two doors stood out through the pile of stones, two doors that faced each other symmetrically. Above the two doors, a bronze sign stretched horizontally and read "Georgetown Windmill".

Claudia remembered the windmill turned into a modern house by a lake that she wants to buy. She remembered the appointment and her car. She turned around to check on the road behind her: no car.

She brushed the hair off her sweaty temples and came closer to the doors. What did she have to lose anyway? She just had to pick a door.

Claudia pushed the left door and stood still on the doorstep, watching it open and unveil a staircase that spiralled downwards amidst white stones. Torches lit up the walls and warmed up her limbs incredibly efficiently, despite the wet outside. Claudia noticed the sound of the rain had stopped. She turned around and noticed she was now in the building and the door was locked behind her.

Had the windmill swallowed her in?