Due to a combination of work pressure and imminent foreign travel there will be a pause in the output of flash fiction. BUT, as that great cultural icon, Arnie, put it, "I'll be back..."
Wednesday 7 November 2012
Thursday 1 November 2012
Flash Fiction Friday, Cycle 102
Click here for the brief.
L’APPARITION
It was a strange coincidence that I should get a phone call from my old friend, Chief Inspector Pierre Vincennes, just as I finished digesting the terms of this week's Flash Fiction Friday challenge. I explained to Pierre how tough it was going to be to make the keywords - murder, bedchamber, rack, clock, wine, time - fit the story. His response took me completely by surprise.
Pierre told me how the brief reminded him of a case he was working on. After giving me the bare bones he confirmed he had just filed a report with his superiors and asked me if I wanted to read it. Curiosity pricked, I said 'Yes' and 15 minutes later the following arrived as an email attachment.
[The copy I share with you has had a number of personal details either changed or redacted out of consideration for the relatives of the victims and, of course, it is translated from the original French.]
POLICE REPORT
OCT 31, 2012
Officer in the case (OIC): Ch Insp P Vincennes
Sir,
This report concerns my attendance at the scene of a fatal Road Traffic Collision (RTC) as OIC at [location details redacted].
On arrival I found there were numerous members of the different emergency services already in attendance. In accordance with protocol I took command and required the police officer who was first on scene to brief me.
It was explained that the incident involved a single car which had come to rest after a severe frontal impact with a tree. The car was still in situ. The female driver had been confirmed dead by the first paramedic to arrive. Her body, crushed between the steering wheel and the seat, had not been removed.
A female front seat passenger was also still in the car. She was trapped between her seat and the deformed dashboard. A doctor had examined her and expressed the opinion that, although she was alive and conscious, there was no hope of releasing her from the car without causing her death. There was some internal bleeding but a substantial arterial rupture that had been observed through an open wound in her abdomen was being staunched by considerable pressure exerted by the dashboard. The opinion I received was that should the pressure be released for any reason the bleeding from the rupture would be catastrophic, unstoppable and inevitably fatal. The position of the passenger and the extent of other injuries ruled out any possibility of temporary corrective surgery or the application of some form of tourniquet.
I approached the car and spoke to the passenger through the open door window. I established that she was fully aware of the situation and stressed to her the importance of obtaining an account with regard to the RTC circumstances. The following statement was supplied by the witness.
I am Sophie [surname, date of birth and address]. My partner, Claudette [surname, date of birth and address], was driving us to a party. Neither of us had consumed alcohol before departure. The forest road was dark but visibility was good and the volume of traffic light.
As we came round a bend we both saw the silhouette of a figure that had human form on our side of the carriageway but floating about 1.5 to 2 metres above it. I recall Claudette screamed and then the car veered violently as if she had swerved to avoid it. The car left the road and the next thing I can remember is coming round after what was obviously an impact with a tree.
Claudette is a respected physicist working at CERN, the home of the Large Hadron Collider. She stays in Geneva during the week, returning to me in Paris at weekends and other times when she is not working.
I wish to put on record, before it is too late, that I have been wrong to question, as I have over the last several weeks, the sanity of some of the views expressed by Claudette. She has explained to me how she believes that an experiment she has been working on has had the unexpected side effect of causing a rift in the fabric of space-time and allowing entities from another universe to enter our own. Claudette has experienced several apparitions that, for reasons she has been unable to rationalise, she has found to be extremely intimidating. Initially, they were confined to the vicinity of the lab. More recently they have followed her home.
Having not witnessed any of the apparitions myself I tried to be concerned and sympathetic but to my shame I was dismissive of the possibility the phenomenon was real. What I thought was delusional behaviour I put down to the stress of Claudette's job. I now realise it was all genuine.
At this point the witness weakened and passed into unconsciousness. A further medical examination was undertaken and approximately 30 minutes later she was certified dead by the doctor.
I remained on scene until the bodies and car had been cleared and all other members of the emergency services had departed. I decided to take a last look at the point of impact with the tree.
Having completed my examination I then turned to go back to my vehicle. At this point I noticed a dark humanoid figure levitating about 2 metres above the highway. I pointed my police issue torch at what I can only describe as the apparition. It promptly disappeared.
L’APPARITION
It was a strange coincidence that I should get a phone call from my old friend, Chief Inspector Pierre Vincennes, just as I finished digesting the terms of this week's Flash Fiction Friday challenge. I explained to Pierre how tough it was going to be to make the keywords - murder, bedchamber, rack, clock, wine, time - fit the story. His response took me completely by surprise.
Pierre told me how the brief reminded him of a case he was working on. After giving me the bare bones he confirmed he had just filed a report with his superiors and asked me if I wanted to read it. Curiosity pricked, I said 'Yes' and 15 minutes later the following arrived as an email attachment.
[The copy I share with you has had a number of personal details either changed or redacted out of consideration for the relatives of the victims and, of course, it is translated from the original French.]
POLICE REPORT
OCT 31, 2012
Officer in the case (OIC): Ch Insp P Vincennes
Sir,
This report concerns my attendance at the scene of a fatal Road Traffic Collision (RTC) as OIC at [location details redacted].
On arrival I found there were numerous members of the different emergency services already in attendance. In accordance with protocol I took command and required the police officer who was first on scene to brief me.
It was explained that the incident involved a single car which had come to rest after a severe frontal impact with a tree. The car was still in situ. The female driver had been confirmed dead by the first paramedic to arrive. Her body, crushed between the steering wheel and the seat, had not been removed.
A female front seat passenger was also still in the car. She was trapped between her seat and the deformed dashboard. A doctor had examined her and expressed the opinion that, although she was alive and conscious, there was no hope of releasing her from the car without causing her death. There was some internal bleeding but a substantial arterial rupture that had been observed through an open wound in her abdomen was being staunched by considerable pressure exerted by the dashboard. The opinion I received was that should the pressure be released for any reason the bleeding from the rupture would be catastrophic, unstoppable and inevitably fatal. The position of the passenger and the extent of other injuries ruled out any possibility of temporary corrective surgery or the application of some form of tourniquet.
I approached the car and spoke to the passenger through the open door window. I established that she was fully aware of the situation and stressed to her the importance of obtaining an account with regard to the RTC circumstances. The following statement was supplied by the witness.
I am Sophie [surname, date of birth and address]. My partner, Claudette [surname, date of birth and address], was driving us to a party. Neither of us had consumed alcohol before departure. The forest road was dark but visibility was good and the volume of traffic light.
As we came round a bend we both saw the silhouette of a figure that had human form on our side of the carriageway but floating about 1.5 to 2 metres above it. I recall Claudette screamed and then the car veered violently as if she had swerved to avoid it. The car left the road and the next thing I can remember is coming round after what was obviously an impact with a tree.
Claudette is a respected physicist working at CERN, the home of the Large Hadron Collider. She stays in Geneva during the week, returning to me in Paris at weekends and other times when she is not working.
I wish to put on record, before it is too late, that I have been wrong to question, as I have over the last several weeks, the sanity of some of the views expressed by Claudette. She has explained to me how she believes that an experiment she has been working on has had the unexpected side effect of causing a rift in the fabric of space-time and allowing entities from another universe to enter our own. Claudette has experienced several apparitions that, for reasons she has been unable to rationalise, she has found to be extremely intimidating. Initially, they were confined to the vicinity of the lab. More recently they have followed her home.
Having not witnessed any of the apparitions myself I tried to be concerned and sympathetic but to my shame I was dismissive of the possibility the phenomenon was real. What I thought was delusional behaviour I put down to the stress of Claudette's job. I now realise it was all genuine.
At this point the witness weakened and passed into unconsciousness. A further medical examination was undertaken and approximately 30 minutes later she was certified dead by the doctor.
I remained on scene until the bodies and car had been cleared and all other members of the emergency services had departed. I decided to take a last look at the point of impact with the tree.
Having completed my examination I then turned to go back to my vehicle. At this point I noticed a dark humanoid figure levitating about 2 metres above the highway. I pointed my police issue torch at what I can only describe as the apparition. It promptly disappeared.
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