The Drive

Whoosh! Joe sat up with a start. The phone continued its relentless ringing. "I could've sworn I
unplugged that thing." Joe mumbled. As he staggered over to the phone with thoughts of
slamming it onto the floor, he grabbed a bottle of aspirin hoping that the little white pills
would instantaneously cure his hangover.

The night before, he had drank too much. Trying to erase the memory of what he had done. He
began to wonder if the money was worth the sacrifice of his conscious.

"Hello?" the clock read 11:34 p.m. From the other end of the line, he heard a crackling static.
Then a quiet, calm, raspy voice…"You, killed me..." POP! A large crackle of static caused Joe to
drop the receiver. He looked at it as if it had grown a tail. He picked up the receiver unsure of
what he had heard. He risked listening again, but there was nothing. Not even a dial tone. He
looked down at the grungy apartment wall, and sure enough the phone was unplugged. Not
bothering to hang up the receiver, he left it lying on the dusty ripped couch. Joe rubbed the
back of his neck, and headed for the small kitchen to grab a glass of water. He downed 5
aspirins and hoped for the best.

A glance at the clock show that almost a half hour had past. Try as he might, Joe tossed and
turned but could not get back to sleep. He lay there replaying what had happened in his mind.
The money was picked up as planned, he snuck in the woman's home and then…No! He couldn't
think about it. "Someone saw me" The words were matter of fact. The phone call was a
warning. Someone wanted him to know they had seen what he did.

He had planned to leave at daylight. But decided it was best to leave now. Joe grabbed his
overnight bag, already stuffed with clothes and cash, then headed out the door toward a new
life in Venango County. Small, quiet, unassuming. Just what he needed. With a nod of his head,
he left his old life in Grafton behind.

In the small lit up parking lot, the glare of sweat was visible on his receding hairline. Not so
much from the heat, but rather from the phone call he had received earlier. 12:30 a.m. was an
odd time to leave, but he had a feeling someone had witnessed his crime. As he opened the car
door, he breathed in the fresh West Virginia air. He was coming out of his stupor, and started
to become nervous. A glance around the lot, show that he was the only one up and moving.

Although it was warm out, a sudden cold breeze brushed against his neck as he started the
car. Pulling out of the lot, he heard a whisper in his ear. "You. Killed. Me." With instant
goosebumps he hit the gas & quickly headed out.

"Just my mind is playing tricks on me. That's all."

The four hour drive was going to be a long one. Joe realized he would be watching his back the
whole way, with little sleep. After about an hour driving, he felt safe enough to stop for
coffee. The road was virtually deserted. Small pebbles crackled under the tires as he pulled off
into the dirt drive of a small mom and pop store. The smells of bacon and eggs fill his nostrils
as he walked in, and strait over to the coffee pots. The elderly lady at the counter eyed him
the whole time. He grabbed the coffee, and looked around for a quick snack.

Claire stared at the stranger with no regards to manners. He had the look of a man on the
run. She could almost smell desperation coming from him. But what was he running from she
wondered. Or who. As he approached the counter, she had a better look at him. He looked
familiar to her. His eyes stood out. Brown, soft, and worried. Joe set a pack of cookies and his
coffee on the counter. "Howdy" she said in a hesitant but friendly voice. Her hand stayed close
to the can of mace in her pocket. "Hey." Said Joe. "Can I get you anything else?" "No."
"Thanks." Joe was in a hurry, and was anxious to leave. Claire rang him up, accepted payment
and bid him a good evening as he hurried out the door.

"Such kind eyes" she thought out loud. Behind her on the small black and white TV, Joe's face
was plastered on the late night news broadcast.

His vision was blurry, and his thoughts elsewhere. Joe drove as fast as the steep cliffs and
winding roads would allow. He was unaware that the law was close on his trail.

Yet again, he looked in the rear view mirror. What he saw chilled him to the bone. The corpse of
the woman he had killed, was sitting in the back seat. Smiling at him. With a loud screech, the
car landed sideways across the road. He thought his heart would stop, as he fumbled to get out
of the stalled car. He fell, and quickly recovered. There was no one but him on the deserted
road. He glanced in the empty back seat, shrugged it off as guilt, and got back in. When he
thought of how far down it was, had his car gone off the side of the cliff, Joe couldn't help
but to shiver. He was shaking when he started the engine, and drove away. Shortly after Joe
was eating his cookies and heard a sing song voice coming from behind him. "Yooouuu kiiilleed
meee" He swerved as he whipped his head around to find nothing there.

A sharp curve was just ahead and as he drove toward it, the apparition lowered her head so
that she was looking directly at him through the windshield from the roof!

"Holy!!!..." She was as real, and as solid as the cup of coffee sitting next to him. The last
thing Joe heard as he lost control and his car busted through the guardrail, "Now it's your
tuuurrrnn!" along with a hideous laughter. Joe's screams were cut short when his car hit the
bottom of the rough terrain. If one were looking, they might have seen the ghostly pale blue
glow, drift gracefully away from the demolished car.