Love in the Time of Monsters

6.5K 172 45
                                    

She picked me up somewhere between nowhere and nothing

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

She picked me up somewhere between nowhere and nothing. A series of shitty little towns that didn't even show up on the map. When her car pulled up beside me – violently yellow and coughing like an old man with gout – I'd been fingering the single penny left in my pocket.  I'd spent my last quarter on a phone call, foolishly thinking it would give me some kind of closure. It ended in guttural threats, and me slamming the phone down with shaking hands. What a waste of a quarter.

I must have been drooping by then, too defeated to even thrust out my thumb, weighed down by the blackening sky above me. It looked like rain. But she'd stopped and waved me in, flashing a wide, crooked-toothed smile.  Now here I was sitting in the passenger seat beside her, clutching my limp bag to my chest. "Hey, thanks. Looks like it's going to rain."

"You're welcome." She didn't stop smiling and I noticed the wide gap between her front teeth. "I don't usually pick up hitchhikers, so this is kinda crazy for me. Not going to murder me, are you?"

My shock must have been evident. When she tipped her head back to laugh, her black hair brushed her shoulders and her eyes crinkled at the corners. "You never know what kind of person you'll meet."  She laughed again. "I'm just kidding! I'm Judy, by the way. What's your name and where are you headed?"

"Uh, Sam."  I fumbled with the straps of my bag, feeling awkward. "It's short for Samantha. I'm just going...wherever." I didn't tell her that I wasn't really traveling. I was running. There are some things you don't admit to strangers.

"An adventure, huh? That's totally cool."

We ran out of stuff to say, so Judy turned on the heater and we listened to the hiss of the air escaping the vents.  She kept her eyes on the road, and I took the chance to check out my traveling companion. Judy wasn't an attractive woman, not conventionally. Her nose was slightly off center, like god had been blindfolded when he pinned it on her.  And her jaw was square and mannish. But there was something about her crooked smile that drew me to her. She was magnetic.

Judy had no sense of fashion. She wore a broad-faced watch on one wrist - checking the time every few minutes - and one of those long beige overcoats. Maybe she had more watches under it. Or a pistol.

The thought made me swallow hard and return my eyes to the road. Why had I thought hitchhiking was a good idea?

We came over a crest in the dusty road and tiny shacks began appearing here and there, dilapidated and grey. A sign loomed closer, welcoming us to the town of Barrier and in the near distance the gloomy light painted a large stretch of water charcoal. Population 105. It was basically a cluster of little huts beside a big stinking pond. And that was it.

"Do you mind if we stop?" Judy said. "There's a gas station up here and I'm running on empty."

"No problem."

A total lie. The place was spooky.  In a 'the locals are trying to eat me' kind of way. Plus, I was eager to keep going. The more space I put between me and "home" the better.

Love BitesWhere stories live. Discover now