I opened my eyes.

The side of my face felt cold and wet. I tasted mud in my mouth as my teeth crunched on sand. I felt like I had the worst hangover of my life!

I realized that my head was laying in a pool of muddy water. The rest of my body was sprawled on the cold gravel of the roadway. My hair was caked in mud, but through squinted eyes I could see my car directly ahead.

What the hell happened?

Did I get into a car accident?

I lifted my head from the muddy water and felt a chill run over my body. My pink blouse was bloody and my gray skirt was torn in a few places. My legs were all scratched and I was missing a shoe. I ran my fingers through my long black hair and came away with bits of grass and dirt.

My brain was clouded and I couldn't think straight.

Every time things would begin to clear up, a new wave of confusion would wash over me.

The last thing I remembered was driving to my boyfriend’s house. I left work and immediately hit the road to Johnstown to get to his place before dark. He was expecting me, he’d be worried, especially if I was so late. I was still dressed in my restaurant uniform. It was probably ruined, but I hated working at that dive anyways. I only worked there to make a bit of extra cash while going to university.

I decided to open and close my eyes four times.

Each time I opened them I was hoping I’d wake up from a bad dream. But no such luck.

I could see a little better after a few minutes and noticed I was sitting in the middle of a country road. It wasn’t night time exactly, but everything was lost in an amber twilight. A grayish forest lined one side of the road. It had an eerie mist that made the trees look like I was on the set of some cheesy vampire movie. The other side of the road was fenced, but had a large open pasture for grazing animals. I squinted, but couldn’t see any animals anywhere.

I felt weird and started to feel panicked.

Where’s my purse? My cell phone… yes, I can call for help!

Some part of me struggled at the thought of lifting myself up off the ground, but I suddenly felt a great deal of determination. I bent my legs slowly to ensure that I had no broken bones. My legs felt pretty good, so I lurched upwards onto my feet - and knew they weren’t broken. That’s when I realized I was standing with only one shoe.

I took it off and put it under my armpit.

Standing, I could see my car better now. My black Plymouth Satellite was still in great shape. No broken glass. No dents. The car looked to be in perfect condition.

I loved my car!

My foster dad had bought this old car for me when I passed my driver’s test. It was the greatest gift I’d ever received. My friend Crystal teased me about owning such an old car, but I didn’t care, I loved it.

Walking over to the driver’s side, I opened the door, and looked down into the front seat to find my purse.

It wasn’t there.

I sat down on the bench seat, searched everywhere, but found nothing. I opened the glovebox and it was empty.

That’s weird. I always had snacks stashed away in the glovebox. I never went anywhere without a chocolate bar.

I looked under the seats and in the back, but still found nothing. My car was completely empty… except for the keys that were dangling from the ignition.

Damn! What was I going to do?

I felt bewildered and started crying softly.

What happened to me? It doesn’t look like I was in a car accident. Was I beaten up… or worse?

While sobbing in the front seat I looked myself over more thoroughly. My hands and arms were bloody with a few scratches. My chest and abdomen was covered in blood, but I had no signs of major injury anywhere. I adjusted my bra and tried to neaten my clothes as best as possible.

Where did all this blood come from exactly?

I adjusted the mirror to look at my face. My eyes looked bloodshot and the tear filled mascara ran down my cheeks. I looked like a bad-scene at a late night rock concert. My hair was in shambles, a complete mess, but nothing a good hot shower wouldn’t fix.

Stop crying, I told myself. That doesn’t help!

I wiped away the tears from my eyes and cleared my throat. I decided that I needed to drive somewhere to find the nearest gas station or restaurant to call the police. I didn’t know what had happened to me, but I definitely needed to contact my boyfriend. He must be worried sick at this point. Sitting in my car crying didn’t do anything.

Just as that thought passed through my mind I saw a set of car lights appear up the road. North, south, I had no idea. I didn’t even know where I was. I just knew that a car was coming towards me and it was the first sign of life I’d seen.

Great, I can flag someone down in this car and maybe they can help me contact the cops.

The lights slowly got closer and so I decided to step out of my car to wave them down. Hopefully I don’t scare the driver away… I’m sure I must look like a drug addict or something!

My black Plymouth was sitting in the middle of the road, so I wouldn’t be too hard to spot.

As the vehicle got closer I realized it was some kind of delivery truck. It looked like a Trans America Courier vehicle. Someone must be out on deliveries. I ruffled my hair and straightened my clothes. I tried to look presentable, as good as I could while covered in blood stains and dirt. Hopefully this driver wasn’t a weirdo. Or one of those people that drives past the scene of an accident and doesn’t stop to help.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Hey, hey, can you help me!” I said.

I continued to wave my hands in the air and started to jump up and down.

The delivery truck slowed down as it came up beside me. I could see that it was an older truck and that the front bumper was missing. It looked extremely rusty around the wheel wells, but otherwise it looked serviceable. The truck driver was sitting in the cab with a light turned on. He was a middle-aged man wearing a company uniform. He wore a dirty old hat stained from years of use. He appeared to be unshaven as his beard stumble stood out profoundly. His complexion was ashen and his eyes were bloodshot red.

He looked like a slob. His uniform was dirty and stained. His appearance instantly gave me the creeps.

I yelled out again.

“Can you help? I’ve been in some kind of accident…” my voice trailed off.

The door to the delivery truck opened and I could see inside more clearly now. The man looked dead faced straight at me, as if he was analyzing me like an entree at a cafeteria. His eyes grew wide and an unearthly shrill emanated from his throat. Octopus-like tentacles flowed out of his mouth. The tentacles wiggled as the shrill grew louder. The noise started to hurt my ears.

I just stared at him for a few seconds. I was stunned.

“What the… oh my god!” I mumbled silently.

I immediately dove into my car for safety.

Panicked.

“Got to get the keys… got to get the friggin keys!” I said to myself.

Found the keys.

They were still dangling from the ignition.

I fumbled and dropped the keys.

I dared to look up. The thing in the delivery truck screamed even louder. Its tentacles waved and spittle flew from its mouth. Scared witless I covered my ears with my fingers and tucked further into my seat. As if that would do anything!

The tentacles reached out, grabbed the door to the delivery truck, and slid it shut. The courier truck's wheels spun on the gravel, accelerated, and it sped away down the road. The vehicle quickly disappeared off in the distance.

What the hell was that?

My mind spun in all directions. Am I high on drugs? Did I really see that or was that all in my imagination?

I decided that it didn’t matter and all I wanted to do was get the hell out of there. Go anywhere, rather than wait for that thing to come back this way.

I grabbed the keys and turned the ignition. My Plymouth Satellite purred like a kitten and the dashboard lights brightened up the inside of the car. I looked outside on the ground one last time. I couldn’t see anything else that I hadn’t noticed before.

I looked in the mirror.

“Just friggin go!” I said out loud.

I hit the gas and drove away. Speeding down the road I suddenly felt a lot safer. My car gave me a feeling of invincibility. Like it was some kind of bullet proof vest protecting me from the outside world.

What the hell was that thing? I was still completely unsettled.

I fiddled with the radio, but all I got was white noise. There were no radio stations at all. Weird. Usually I can pick up some kind of station noise in my old car… even if it wasn’t clear. The radio was very old, but I’ve always been able to pick up radio stations before.

I hit the brakes hard!

The car came to a dead stop.

Which way was I going?

I realized that I was driving in the same direction that the courier truck had come from.

Was that smart? Shouldn’t I be going in the other direction?

I basically had two options as I hadn’t seen any other roads. I could continue in the same direction, or I could turn around and drive towards the courier truck. Neither of the options appealed to me, but going away from that thing made more sense to me than going towards it. I realized that it could have all been in my head. Maybe I was hallucinating the whole experience with the Trans America truck. Regardless, I didn’t want to find out if I was wrong.

If I could only remember where I was and what I was doing on this road.

The lights from my Plymouth danced on the horizon as patches of fog floated across the road. It was nearly dark now and the brume was getting thicker. I passed several open fields that looked like they once held crops. There was nothing. All I could see were the chopped stalks of corn or wheat. The patches of forest also continued and I saw no signs of life. There were mostly deciduous trees, but occasionally I could see an evergreen sticking out of the canopy. There were no other cars, driveways, houses, road signs, or side roads anywhere. It was only myself, my car, and the seemingly supernatural world outside.

I was scared.

I was supposed to be at my boyfriend’s place before dark. He was such a great guy and I looked forward to our intimacy. I hadn’t seen him for over two months. I knew that going to Vanderbilt university would keep us apart. He was attending Clemson and lived several hours away. My school work was keeping me extremely busy. I wanted to be a doctor, but I also played in a small rock band. It was only my second year of school, and I knew that I still had a long way to go.

My stomach growled. I was getting hungry.

The strange car drive continued for what felt like an eternity, but eventually I spotted lights in the distance.

I came out of the heavy fog and saw a Mega Mart with a gas station.

“Yes!” I said.

I rolled up to the parking area and found a spot. There was another car parked off to the side. A really old Dodge Aries, colored white, with oversized tires.

I got out of the car and walked up to the Mega Mart. There was a nice looking old man behind the counter smoking a pipe. He kind of looked like Santa Claus, if Santa dressed in Hawaiian shirts and smoked like a fish. The rest of the store was a typical Mega Mart. Filled with snacks, candy bars, drinks, gum, smokes, ice cream, household supplies, and hot dogs on rollers.

I figured it was okay to enter.

So I did.

The door rang as it opened and the old man looked up. He smiled briefly at me and immediately went back to reading his newspaper. He didn’t seem to notice that I was covered in dirt and blood.

I walked up to the counter and stood directly in front of him.

“Um, excuse me sir, but I’ve been in an accident… or something. I need help. Can you please call the police?”

He looked up from his newspaper and smiled again. It was a pleasing smile. Just looking at him made me feel better. His cheeks were rosy and his eyes glinted with the reflection of the neon signs hanging in the window. He leaned back on his stool as if he was noticing me for the first time.

“You’re new aren’t you?” he said.

What does he mean? New to what?

“I’m not from around here. Sir, do you have a phone I could borrow?” I said politely.

He smiled again. I was almost spellbound by it. It made me feel safe and secure.

“Sorry dear, there’s no phones here. At least none that work.”

“Oh damn!”

“You’ll have to excuse me, I was asking if you’re new to this realm.”

Realm? What was this old guy talking about? Who uses the word realm anyways? Am I in ancient Sumeria?

“What do you mean?” I asked.

He cleared his throat and chuckled to himself.

“It’s been a while since I’ve run into a fresh one such as yourself.”

He smiled again, but this time his smile was even more powerful. It made me feel happy from head to toe.

“My dear, I hate to break the news to you, but you’re dead.”

I’m what? What the hell was this old guy talking about?

“Welcome to Limbo my dear!”