Part 5

uXqwAqL.png [https://i.imgur.com/uXqwAqL.png]

She directed me from the shopping center and back onto the main street. We took a long road by the hills. The amber rows of light after light made it look more like a stage than a road. There was no one else on it. Not even the slightest glimmer of distant headlights. We splashed in a puddle alongside.

My grip on the wheel wobbled. I could feel her gaze on me as I looked ahead, pressing, drilling into the side of my head. I tried not to tremble. I took long breaths. I couldn't figure out why I felt so intimidated by her. She had me turn right onto a road which passed by a cemetery. As we went by, her gaze in my peripheral vision seemed to wane. I could tell she was looking out at the cemetery.

She had me enter a small housing tract. Many of the houses were dressed up for Halloween with webs and other decorations. She told me to turn onto a particular street. It curved a bit. Then she ordered me to stop by the curb of a certain house. There was a light on in the front, first-story window. It looked about the same as the others in the tract, pale white with mission tiles on the roof. It was lit by a single lamppost from across the street. The porch light was off.

Angie opened the door on her side and left the blankets on the seat. Neither the light nor the alarm turned on. But I could hear a slight sound as the door opened. She held it open and looked towards the house. I gripped the wheel of the car. She turned back to me, looked at me deeply with her gray eyes, and said, "This won't take long. Stay here."

She shut the door with an audible slam and walked up to the porch. Sitting there, I tried to mentally remember what I may have heard when she vanished from the car. I combed through the moment for every sound. There was nothing even close to the sound of that door opening and closing, no matter how possibly muted or ignored. I would hear it. And, even more, I was sure to feel it. I felt nothing. She vanished into the darkness surrounding the front porch.

I moved a hand down to the key in the ignition. I could just turn it, then release the parking brake and shift into drive. Peel out and spin around to leave. There wouldn't be much room for a turn, and she could probably get to my car if she ran. But I would be in the car and I could escape her hitting on the window. What if she had a gun though? Her clothes didn't seem to have any places for such lumps. But she could be hiding it well.

I suddenly jerked in my seat. If she did have a gun, then I'd just taken her to an unknown location. What if she wanted to kill someone? Those friends at the party perhaps? It was a nuts reason to go kill someone, but I had no idea how crazy she might be. She could do anything. I looked to the porch. I couldn't see her in the shadows. Maybe it was safe. I might have enough time if she was already inside. I moved my hand down the ignition and thought about turning it. I could do it fast.

Part of my mind rebelled at my caution. This was just a frail, young woman and I was a man! What was I so afraid of? I was much more of a danger. Sure, I wasn't that strong, but I had some muscles from all the stocking I did. I didn't have to be scared. But I imagined her aiming right at my eyes through the glass before my vision went dark forever.

My heart throbbed. I had to do something. I glanced back at the house. It looked somehow darker. The light. It was off now. The house was dark. I had to turn the key before she came back. I slipped my hand around it. The car suddenly shook right next to me and I yelled out.

On my side, again. She was at my window. She bent down and said softly through the glass, "Just a few more stops…Come on."

She went around to the other side and opened the passenger's door. I'd been too tense to lock it. I wondered if I had locked it before. I must've just thought about it. She settled into her seat and brushed back her hair. I looked her over. There wasn't blood on her or any other obvious sign she might've done something violent. I glanced at the rise of her chest and wondered if she might be hiding a gun in there. I'd seen that in movies.

Tapping her foot on the floor, she looked over to me and widened her gaze. I turned the key before she said anything. As I was about to shift into drive, she picked up one of the bags of food on the floor and asked, "Aren't you hungry?"

I glanced over at her and eyed the bag she was holding. It was quiet for a long moment. I wanted to ask her what the hell was going on with a determination and strength I could only muster on rare occasions. But she had a presence now which locked away all those possibilities. I responded simply, "Okay…"

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I sat there with the engine idling and quickly ate a burrito from my bag of food. Angie looked at her bag and lightly touched the wrapping. It was more like she was fascinated by it than actually hungry. Eventually, when I was almost done with mine, she set the bag down in the same place.

I put the rest of my food in the back and said, not really to her in particular, "Later."

She made no gesture in response but folded her arms into what looked like an uncomfortable position in her lap with one laced tightly with the other. I wondered about it all. A woman who once looked vulnerable and weak, then like a silly stoner. What was she?

With a gesture of her hand and a look towards me, she commanded me to go on. I felt compelled, but I held back. I looked over at her and said, "No." I didn't yell it. I didn't raise my voice. But, in the quiet of the car, it felt much louder than I expected. I watched her.

At first, she didn't do anything. Then she turned her head towards me, slowly, like a swiveling owl's head. Her eyes found me, still, wide, and consuming gray. She said only, "Oh?"

I suppressed the trembles and responded, "Yeah. This…is a lot of driving. I'm doing this…out of kindness. And…I'll just take you one more place and that's your house or wherever you…live…or you're walking." I tried to fit some sternness into my words, but her gaze was so inhuman and intense that I didn't really feel it.

She was silent. Then she said, "Just four places in all. Two more nearby, then just a little bit further. I can give you some money for it…" She reached into a pocket and came out with what looked like a bill.

Holding it out, a thin smile traced her face as I looked down at the bill. I could tell immediately that it wasn't a normal bill. But it looked like money. It was hard to read the script, but there was something about it which unnerved me. Just seeing it felt like I was staring down into a gaping abyss. I leaned back and she asked, "Don't you want it?"

More than anything I felt so far, I knew that I didn't want to have anything to do with that piece of paper, whatever it was. I shook my head and told her, "Fine…three more places. Then that's it."

She answered, "That's it."

I pulled away from the curb and made my way back to one of the main streets. The next stop wasn't far. I just had to take a cross street which passed between two tracts. The house was just another street over.

I settled against the opposite curb. She made me park facing the end of the street. Harder to drive off. She told me the same as before. This house was a little smaller and there were several lights on, especially the porch one. I sat there, bathed in the dim, amber glow of the streetlight, and waited.

She approached the house. As she did, the porchlight went out at the same instant. I tried not to think anything of that. She slipped in through the darkness. After a moment, I couldn't see her on the porch. If I was going to make my move, it was now.

I eased my hand down to the key but, as I did, I heard a sound like a distant scream. I looked up. The light right next to the door was off now. Then the one next to that. One by one, they turned off. The last one was on the far side. I thought I saw something quickly move towards a window. A shadow with arms out. Reaching, flailing, scared. Then that light went out too. I didn't need to see more.

I turned the key. I darted my hand to the hand brake and pulled it. I shifted gears. I tried not to look left or right or anywhere but forward. I had to get out of here now. Somewhere safe and away from her.

I turned the wheel as tightly to the left as it would go. The car shuddered and trembled and heaved, but I just made it around the curb, skimming the edge, and aimed myself out the opening. I was about to slam on the gas.

And there she was. Right in front of the car. Standing straight with her hood up. A gray figure of doom.

She leaned towards the car and smiled at me through the shadows of her hood. I had to lock the door and go around her. But the button wouldn't work. I had to gun it but, before I knew it, she had the door open and was back inside. She sighed, as though just finishing a quick jog, and remarked, "Halfway there."

There seemed to be nothing I could do. I sighed as well and took her directions to the next location. It was in the same tract but deeper within. The lights in this area looked like they hadn't been serviced recently. Half of them were burnt out. And, on the street she led me to, they were all out. I could just see the shadows of houses with a dim glow from the next street. The house she made me stop at had no lights on at all.