Stories Based on Songs #4 - Voting

Caledonia Calling Me Home

The Mitsibishi L200 stormed north up the M6, the driver dressed in a green blouse and cotton trousers bobbing her head in time with the music as she headed back to a home she hadn’t seen in almost a decade. As the evening sun dropped her eyes drooped and for a split second she could swear she was somewhere else, as another very different car sped southwards.

**

Stirling, Scotland - 10 years earlier

Allison finished packing the last case of clothes into the beat up Renault Clio, before silently closing the door, the late summer sun only just peeking over the hills to the East. Last night had been strange, almost like the bad blood that had been spilled over the summer had finally been cleared up. Stories of Alyson and her sister’s antics from yesteryear had been told by their mother and father, after dinner they’d even played a quick game of touch rugby. Only Alyson’s glances to the south and east were indication something was happening, almost as if she was somewhere else, or at least that was wishing she was somewhere else.

“Goodbye Mum, Dad, Lizzy and Paige.” Allison whispered as she slipped into the Clio’s driver’s seat. “I’m not coming back just like Mum told me back in April.” She added as she remembered her mother’s angry rant stating that ‘if she went off to university and abandoned her family, not to come back’.” Starting the engine, Allison saw the curtains twitch slightly before the sound of running feet echoed around the house. Driven on by fear of being caught, of being chained to the life she was fleeing Allison put her foot down on the gas and screeched off down the abandoned street.

As she turned round the bend, she caught a slight glimpse of her mother standing on the road in her nightdress, her silver hair still tinged with red flying in the wind. What Allison couldn’t see was the tears running down her mother’s face. As she joined the westbound M80, Allison turned the radio on, the ancient tape deck screeching slightly before a familiar tune sounded, almost instinctively Allison joined in her thoughts now firmly on the future.

“But if I should become a stranger, know that it would make me more than sad. Caledonia is the only thing I’ve ever had.”

**

Durham, Three Years after ‘the Flight’

Allison ran out of the block of flats, her eyes streaming with tears as she ran for the car, a stack of printed pages under her arm. In one foul swoop university and her relationship was over, and while the former had been a joyous affair, the later was quite the polar opposite. After coming home from a long night’s work at the local petrol station, Allison had walked in to the apartment she had shared with her boyfriend Keith, only to find him in-bed with another woman. Slamming the door of the Renault Clio shut as she got inside Allison was seething with rage, while the pair of them had been having relationship difficulties, she hadn’t realised it had been this bad.

Awakened by the noise Keith came barrelling out the front door, his hands spraying out over the driver’s side window. “Aly Cat baby, I didn’t know that you were going to be home so early.” He spluttered, as he tried to open the car door, only for Allison to slam the door locks on.

“Let go!” Allison yelled as she placed the manuscript marked Onca the Jaguar Girl onto the passenger seat and turned the key into the ignition. “At least tell me where you’re going!” Keith grunted as the radio turned on, the tape starting up at the most ironic point it could.

“I have moved and I’ve kept on moving.”

Quickly Allison turned the tape off and wound down the window, the smell of alcohol wafting into the car. “Babe I made a mistake.” Keith stated as he leaned in for a kiss, only for Allison to punch him in the lip, the Celtic style ring she was wearing now watered with blood.

“Don’t ever talk to me!!” Allison hissed as she drove away. Keith yelled something after her, but his words were lost as Allison turned the radio back on.

“I’ve kissed the fellas and left them crying.”

“Sounds about right.” Allison mumbled as she shot a look at the manuscript. “A lot of what was written was her own work, but out of love for her boyfriend she’d agreed to let him collaborate on the project with her. And while it wasn’t stealing passé, there was no doubt that the dream they had shared for two years was now over. As she headed southwards with the wind, Allison thought about what she’d lost, not for the first time and definitely not for the last.

**

Winchester, 7 years after the break-up

Allison sat in the garden of the house she lived in contemplating the bad news she had received an hour previous. Since leaving Durum she had worked her dream job, lost it and then found it again on multiple times, proved that she was stronger than anyone could ever have imagined and made some true friends to boot. Looking down at the pile of ash at her feet, she fed the last page of the manuscript onto the pyre before taking a deep breath, she knew what she had to do. With a deep sigh she went into the kitchen of the house she had shared with a few old collage friends, although now their rooms were now vacant.

“I will disappear.” Allison mused, as she remembered the last few lyrics of an old song. “Though there was no-one here Allison knew that if there was, her departure would be very different to the ones she’d had over the years. Walking through the quiet house, Allison pulled out a box labelled ‘University Memories’ and pulled a beaten up old tape. Smiling she slotted the cassette into an old fashioned Bush radio and pressed play.

“Let me tell you that I love you that I think about you all the time.” Pressing pause, Allison’s thoughts went back to that street on Stirling and her mother watching her sneak away at the crack of the dawn. As she did a question gnawed at her brain, one that she had mused on many times before. What if she had stopped, talked to her mother, would she still have gone to university or would she have been told to stay.

“There is one thing I have to do.” Allison whispered as she walked over to the wall phone, the key-pad dusty from months of disuse. Carefully and with guilt and fear rising in her throat in equal measures Allison dialled home. After three agonisingly long rings someone picked up on the other end.

“Hello, Sheila speaking.” A woman’s voice announces in a familiar accent.

“Hi Mum.” Allison replied in a quiet voice as she fought to prevent herself from slamming the phone down and running.

“Allison?! Are you okay!” Her mother’s voice gasped in equal parts shock and relief.

“No mum, I’m not okay.” Allison replied, her voice wavering. “I’ve got cancer and I don’t know what to do.”

“I do.” Her mother whispered.

“Mum?! Are you okay, when did you…” Allison gasps, real concern evident in her voice.

“The week before you told me about Durum.” Her mother replied quietly. “I was so frightened, I didn’t know what to do, the stress was eating me alive, and it only got worse with every day I kept quiet about it.”

“If I had known I would have stayed.” Allison gulped as she remembered that heated shouting match in late April. “I feel so selfish.” She added.

“It’s not your fault Allison, if you need to talk about it then I can be here for you.” Her mother stated, her words biting through the last barrier between Allison remaining strong and her breaking down from the weight of the emotion.

“Can I come home please?” Allison asked, tears streaming down her face.

“You could have always come home.” Her mother whispered. “You could come home tomorrow if you wanted to.” She added, as she too broke down into tears. “I’ve missed you.”

“I missed you too.” Allison answered between sobs.

**

In the brief second her eyes drooped Allison missed the sign on the side of the road proudly displaying the white cross on the blue background, the Gallic words Failte gu Alba written beneath the English translation ‘Welcome to Scotland’. As the Mitsubishi crossed the imaginary line between two nations, the car hit a bump, the bucking motion activating the CD player with a hiss.

“Caledonia you’re calling me, now I’m going home.”

With those words Allison smiled as she realised that she was finally home, if only for a short time.

This is a story based off the song Caledonia