Long Way Home

The sun peeks over the mountain giving life to the day. The radio blasts music, Nina sings her favorite song trying to stay awake for the long 8-hour drive. Tree after tree she sees going by, the road empty; she looks over at the GPS and immediately sighs. She turns off the music.

“Alright! You’re close, can’t miss it. Stay awake!”

She takes a long sip of her lukewarm coffee. Her phone vibrates in the passenger seat. She looks over and sees a text from Alisa, asking for the 100th time is she there yet. Nina rolls her eyes; as soon as she looks up, she sees another car in front of her, driving full speed with the driver screaming.

“No brakes!” He shouts

Nina screams and swerves the car off the road; the car flips, and the airbags eject.

Nina undoes her seatbelt and falls. The car was still intact, but it didn’t look like it could run.

She takes a deep breath in and looks over at the road where she thought she was going to see the car that almost hit her, but the road was clear again. She scratched her head in confusion.

“I know that car wasn’t going that fast.”

Nina plopped down onto the grass and waited for help. The adrenaline must’ve kicked in because she was no longer sleepy.

Thirty minutes passed, and nobody came down the road, so Nina decided to walk to find help. She walked about a mile before she saw a gas station. She rushed over once she saw the cashier.

“Hi, I need some help.”

The man looked at her, seeing her torn shirt and bleeding forehead, and immediately gave his undivided attention.

“What happened, young lady?”

“I was in an accident. A man came out of nowhere, and I swerved to get out of the way.”

“Okay, I’ll get the phone and call the sheriff. Stay right there.”

Nina thanked the man and watched him go to the back room to get the phone. The store was strange. It was like the wallpaper was falling off, and underneath, it looked like flesh. It made her easy; everything felt unsettling. She began to hold herself; she noticed the cashier was taking too long.

“Sir?”

Nobody answered.

“Did you get the phone?”

Still, nobody answered.

Nina didn’t know if she should leave the store until she felt a pair of eyes on her; she was being watched. She noticed a shadowy figure staring at her from across the road.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable staring, she worked up the courage to walk towards it; but as soon as she got close to it, it vanished.

“What the hell was that?”

She turned back toward the gas station, but it had disappeared.

“What is going on here?”