Haunted Nights ✅ Completed

Chapter One: Hurricanes and Honda Civics Do Not Mix

Maya cursed as she threw her windshield wipers on full power. She couldn't see a damn thing in this storm. No one in their right mind would've gone out in this kind of weather...at least no one with half a brain she grumbled to herself. Anyone with a functioning frontal lobe would've known driving out of a rain storm in Louisiana during hurricane season was like trying to outrun an avalanche on one ski in Nepal.  

Did Hurricane Katrina teach people nothing?

God, she was such an idiot. She should've never followed that gas station attendant's directions. She'd figured a service station employee would be an expert at getting lost motorists back onto the Interstate. Then again, he'd been so damn cute she should've suspected he was incredibly stupid – it was the law of averages. There was a reason super geniuses didn't appear on the cover of Super Hot Quarterly.  

His shirt tag had read Des, and with those dreamy eyes and easy smile Maya had almost forgotten why she'd stopped in the first place. As the first drops of the storm had started to come down, she'd finally snapped out of her visual stupor and gotten directions. They'd seemed pretty easy, or maybe she just thought so because Des's southern drawl had been so sexy. He had the sort of voice that could make open heart surgery sound like a walk in the park.

But as she looked for the turnoff he'd told her would be on the left a few miles from the gas station, she'd only seen a thin gravel road. She'd gone down a few more miles but there weren't any other turn offs to be found. Maya turned the car around and headed back. She figured the gravel road she'd first spotted had to be the one Des said would lead her back to the interstate. It was at this point, once she was on the narrow dirt road, that the rain had really started to come down.

The rain fell like pure sheets of water, obscuring everything past the hood of her car. Her wipers were fighting a losing battle against the torrential barrage. Now she couldn't help worrying about her poor little Honda Civic. It wouldn't take much for it to wash away in this storm, with her still in it! Leave it to her to get caught up in a flash-flood in the middle of bayou country at the worst possible time in her life.

And leave it to her boss to send her out to Louisiana at the start of their hurricane season.

Her boss was a corporate fascist. The only reason he'd tolerated Maya was because she was the best at what she did. There wasn't another person in the whole company that could whip a brand new store into shape like she could. But one slip and she was done. If she didn't get to that new store in Houston for her visual walk-thru before its grand opening in a week, she could kiss her last chance at a promotion (and getting out from under her boss's thumb) good-bye. She'd be stuck driving all over hell's half acre for the rest of her natural life.

"Screw it." Maya muttered to herself. She eased on the brakes, stopping in the middle of the road. She couldn't be that far from the gas station – probably less than ten miles. She'd just head back, get out of the rain for a while, and try again once she could see where she was going.

Maybe she'd shamelessly throw herself at Des this time around.

Her little dry spell was turning into a downright drought when it came to men. Unfortunately most of the men she'd dated weren't too keen on seeing a woman who had to answer her boss's calls in the middle of dinner, or a movie. Hell, even sex. Besides being a corporate fascist Gary was also a psychic sadist – he always knew the worst possible time to inconvenience her. Maya was almost positive the man got his kicks by keeping her from enjoying any semblance of a normal life.

Even Paul, her hey-I'm-not-looking-for-anything-serious-just-a-good-time-baby neighbor, had folded under the constant intrusion. What she needed was a nice little meaningless fling – preferably with a person who didn't really know her. Someone who didn't care that she would never be normal.

Someone she wouldn't end up freaking out.  

Shaking those incredibly non-helpful thoughts from her head, Maya took a deep breath and backed up slowly, turning the wheel and getting her car pointed back in the other direction. The wheels crunched on the hard gravel as she accelerated. A few seconds later she heard a weird popping sound. It took only a heartbeat for her stomach to fill with dread as she realized what the familiar sound was.

Flop. Flop. Flop.

"Oh God, not now. Please, please God don't do this to me now," she prayed aloud.

Maya begged for anything: locusts, boils, anything except what was most definitely happening right now. God, for his part, seemed amused to keep silent. Her car swerved sharply as the rear driver's side tire went flat. Maya eased off the accelerator, braking just as she heard another muffled blast – her other back tire blowing out as well.

"Dammit," she cursed, slowing to a complete stop. Maya threw her car in park and flicked on her emergency lights. Grabbing her jacket as cover, she opened the door to check the damage.

The rain was brutal, her flimsy jacket offering no protection against the onslaught. Maya quickly ran to the back of her vehicle, looking over each tire as best she could. The dread that built in her chest made her feel like a scared little kid again. Both tires were toast and she only had one spare. There was no way she could even limp back to the gas station for help with only one tire replaced.  

What the hell was she going to do now?    

Refusing to give in to her freak out, Maya jumped back inside her car and grabbed her cell phone. Ever since she'd entered the county she'd been unable to get any reception. Holding her breath, she prayed she'd gone far enough to pick up a tower somewhere in the middle of swamp country. She woke up her phone.

No reception.

Maya ground her teeth to keep from screaming. She needed to get some help. She couldn't stay in her vehicle. She'd seen too many news briefs of idiots staying in their cars during a flash flood, only to be swept away and needing to be rescued by emergency personnel. In this little piece of backwater nothingness, she was pretty sure no one would even know she was out here. She hadn't seen anyone on the road the entire time she'd been on it.

Taking a deep breath she willed herself to stay calm. The road had to lead somewhere. If she could find someone to help her before the rain got any worse she might be able to salvage her trip. She grabbed her waterproof messenger bag, essential for the modern-day road warrior, and checked to make sure her wallet, cash, and other bare necessities were inside. Turning off her car, she tucked her car keys at the bottom of the bag so she wouldn't lose them. Steeling herself for what she was about to do Maya grabbed the door and jumped out into the rain once more.

She ran down the gravel road, praying she'd run into some help pretty soon. Sure she had no life other than her dumb job, but it wasn't so bad that she wanted to die on some back country road in the middle of a hurricane.

She'd never even shaken what-her-mama-gave-her for beads at Mardi Gras yet.  

Gritting her teeth against the rain, Maya ran for all she was worth. 

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*A/N: This chapter was inspired by my sister's Honda Civic, which I once drove in a heavy rainstorm (though thankfully not a hurricane). It was not fun. =cp