DISCLAIMER- I OWN NOTHING IN THIS STORY BESIDES THE RIGHTS TO KARL DAEL, HE IS MY CREATION. BAND NAMES, SONGS, GAME REFERANCES, AND SCOOBY DOO GO TO EVERYONE WHO MADE THEM.
DANKE!
-DRESNER
The road twisted and turned before finally straightening to a long stretch of thick naked oak trees leading through the dense back roads of rural northern new england. Snow covered the sides of the road and piled into the drainage ditches like marshmallows. Besides the ever present moon and amber headlights of my Tacoma truck, everything around me was covered by the dark hand of night and seemed to strangle every bit of light around it, but that did not bother me as I drove farther down the country road hitting every pot hole on the way home.
"Damn Yankees, Even the roads in Birmingham are in better condition than this!" I said to myself with a yawn as I drew closer home, the trailer park. It has been over a year since I left rural Alabama for the great white north for a better life as a store manager of Eddie Bauer in new york, to move into a normal town with no battered and broken dreams or memories of days gone by. To live in a house of my own and have a life...
Well at least I have half of it, A trailer is not much but it is something. As are the friends I have met over time. The dimming green of my radio caught my attention as the clock turned over to the new day. "12:00am already?" I yawned annoyingly till the Florissant lights of the old shell station came into view. My failing head lights shined on the bullet ridden sign with numerous holes in and around the shell symbol. I turned into the station lazily and managed to throw some snow about as I pulled in. The old pumps were at least from the 70's or older and the sheet metal roof was twice that, but that did not matter. This station has been here as long as anyone could remember, even since the days of the counter culture or longer. The local outcasts always hang around here to smoke cigarettes and speak of days gone by, people just like me.
The glass and bar door swung open with a loud squeak like a dying rat as I entered. An old brass bell hung above the door and rang vaguely to alert the store manager who was to busy singing a Johnny Cash song to pay attention to my entrance. The clerk was an old man of about sixty or seventy years old with a head full of grey hair and heavy framed glasses covering his face. The clerk was counting his inventory of tobacco products and managed to count to the beat of 'Gods gonna cut you down.'
'Go tell that long tongue liar
Go and tell that midnight rider
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter
Tell'em that gods gonna cut'em down
Tell'em that gods gonna cut'em down'
As the clerk sung and I could not help but greet him with the lyrics to one of my favorite Johnny cash songs. I sang with him in unison till he turned and laughed, "Karl, how the hell was work this evening?" He said reaching out to shake my hand. "The usual Eddy, another night of busting my ass for that dollar!" I said with sarcastic joy as we shared a laugh.
Edward 'Eddy' McDaniel is the local proprietor of this old station and has been the manager, CEO, and owner of this station since 2008. Eddy came from Richmond Virginia with a dream of coming to New york and becoming a business man. But the fast lain life of manhattan and the cut throat price of living only allowed him to become a bartender at a local bar on the unfortunate side of town. Soon he save enough of his money to rent a trailer just a block from me. We drink together on occasion and even I come to work with him when he is in need, either taking a sick day or a vacation just to help my first friend of the north with his business.
"Has another shipment of Marlboro black 100's come in today?" I asked eddy as I hung around the contour checking out the new inventory. Eddy grabbed a clip board on the other side of the contour and flipped through some papers to find my brand. "Nope, not today son. But I do have Red 100's if your interested." Eddy offered kindly. "Nah, I'll just stick to the canuks. Cheaper!" I chuckled, pulling a pack of Canadian smokes.
Eddy through up his hands and laughed as I walked toward the back to pick up my usual coffee and snack for the road before returning home. The windows caught my attention as they began to fog up from the strong heater in the station, a sign that the tempter was dropping further.
"Ugh, more snow!" I grunted as I reached the back where the best pork reins were. "This is nothing, Alabama man! I've seen worse!" Eddy remarked as he kept on counting his smokes. "Yeah yeah." I said rolling my eyes to him as I made my way to the coffee machine. Out of all of the things in Eddie's store, the coffee station, as he called it, was the most up to date part of the station with a six coffee makers placed in rows of three with large coffee pots under each one labeled either Regular, Decaf, Columbian, Euro, Green tea, and an extra for anything else the limited amount of customers that visit his station would want. A metal rack held creamers and milk for the drinks as was a assortment of glass sugar gars like the ones at a dinner that sat by them.
While I was standing by the coffee machines the slight ring of the brass bell rang caught my attention. 'Who's up at this hour besides me, eddy, and the drunks?' I asked myself as I peered over the shelves to see the door.
"Ma'am you do understand that it is way to chilly to wear just a long dress and a hoody right?" Eddy asked a feminine figure in full southern accent. I herd a slight hiss and the 'click-click' of boots against the dirty tile floor coming toward the back of the station. The sound of hands rubbing against each other caught my attention as well as the cold air that rushed through the store as she entered the store. Soon the figure came down to the coffee station with her green dress moving side to side showing off her pale legs little after little. Her purple ankle boots gave her an extra inch or two to make her at least my height, but were covered with white snow to show me that the snow had picked up outside.
She wore a black hoody over the top of her dress with her hood up coving her head and face from the cold and maybe from others around her. I could not see her eyes as she was keeping her head to the floor to avoid the people around her it seemed like. Her finger nails were painted black and seemed to fit perfectly with her pale skin as well as the rest of her clothing. As she drew closer I felt something awaken in me, something that wanted me to meet her and talk with her.
"Ugh, is there anything beside coffee and green tea at this thing?" She hissed, annoyed at the selection in front of her. "Hmmm..." I hummed as I reached into the rear where eddy would place the coffee cans and pull out a few packets of Coco mix and held them out to the peculiarly dressed girl in the hoody. She looked up at me and in the florescent lighting I could see her face outside of the black hood. Thick black eye shadow was painted over her dark eyes, inthralling me with their beauty at first glance like a hunter stumbling on to his trophy. From her eyes I looked down at her beautiful golden blonde hair that soon gave way to the two tone black and green lipstick that she was wearing on her lips.
"Oh..." She said, defiantly not expecting a response from me. "Thank you." She said as she looked for a cup around the mess that was the coffee station. I gave a little chuckle as I found a cup for her and poured a cup of hot water for her. She gave a little laugh as well and thanked me once more before pouring two packets of coco into her cup and string it quickly. "This place needs to be cleaned some day, that or just organized." I remarked as I poured a cup of euro blend coffee into my cup. The girl nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I've seen my sisters rooms look better than this." She said with a brief smile before coughing into her hand.
I looked over to her and took another brief look at her before she took a quick drink of her coco. she breathed in relief after the first gulp of the hot coco and I could sense some happiness as she stood there with the cup in her hand. I could not help but smile and took a sip of my coffee as well. But soon I saw her searching her pocket franticly for something. "Where is it?! Where is it?!" She whispered loudly as she search her hoody pocket for something. She then grabbed something in her pocket and then breathed another sigh of relief till she remembered something.
"Fuck, no money.." She said as she looked back to Eddy at the front of the store and then saw me and started to back up a little bit. Amused I reached into my back pocket and grabbed my wallet, "Here, I'll pay for your coco. By the look of the weather your going to need all the warmth you can get." I said in a friendly and caring tone. She looked at me a little strange but closed her eyes for a moment. It was strange, but something about felt... Right almost. After a tense moment, she gave a smile that showed off her perfect smile with two large fang like teeth on the side of her smile. "Thank you..." She said as I motioned my head toward the register.
Eddy gave me a discount since I was a on and off employee of his, It was not much but it saved me a little at a time. "Y'all be save now, you here!" He said as we walked into the December snow. I looked around outside to see only my tacoma and eddies F-100 sitting in the parking lot.
"Excuse me miss, but where is your car? I only see mine and eddie's trucks out here." I said as I pointed out to our trucks. The girl paused and started to stutter with her response, "Well um you see that... Uhh.. Oh forget it, I don't have one." She admitted and her pale face turned red in embarrassment. "Wait a minute, Did you walk here?" I asked her. She looked down to the ground with her face pointing to the ground. "Yeah... I was... kicked out of my home today..." She said with a small tear falling from under her hood. "I see, well do you have some where to go?" I asked her as a cold wind covered us with snow. "I don't know!" She said as the wind picked up and I could barley hear her for a moment. "Maybe to canada or some where far away from my sisters. Somewhere to..." "Get way from it all? From the memories?" I asked her as the feeling I had inside returned. "Yeah... How did you know?" she asked me as she turned to me with her beautiful eyes and a tender smile.
"It's something I would much rather keep to myself..." I said drifting off into thought till the wind picked up again. "But, I digress, would you like a place to stay till the morning? It is a better alternative than freezing in this weather." I offered to her as the snow began to pick up.
The girl held out her hand to collect the fresh snow in her palm. She let out a sigh and calmly she nodded her head, "It beats freezing in this weather." She gave me a smile and walked with me to my truck, stay close to my side with her hands in the front pocket of her hoody.
"I'm Karl by the way, Karl Dael. It's a pleasure to meet you, ms..." I said giving a late introduction as I turned around and began to walk backwards. I let out my hand to shake hers, but she hesitated for a moment once more. But as before, she let out a smile and shook my hand with a surprisingly firm grip.
"Muffy, Muffy "
