Shera's Diary

Chapter 7

Deluge

By Kristen Gupton-Williams

Dear Diary,

I woke up this morning at seven, in the driver's seat of my car as has been the norm. Yesterday, I resolved to kill myself, but that didn't happen since the pills had gone missing. This morning, though, I discovered that at some point during the night, someone had come along and without waking me, covered the broken out back window of my car with a sheet of plastic. It was the sound of that plastic being moved by the wind that actually woke me.

Moreover, there is a sandwich and a bottle of soda sitting on the passenger seat next to me. Maybe the cruel joke is that the sandwich is poisoned. I don't really care. I'm so hungry right now that I'm going to eat it anyway.

I don't know who would have done that. Someone in town apparently has taken some pity on me. Maybe there is some hope for me yet.

Captain Highwind told me one time that everything happens for a reason. It could be that's why those pills vanished yesterday and now this token of kindness has shown up today. For the record, this sandwich is peanut butter and apricot jam. My favorite, honestly, and a strange combination for anyone to have come up with out of the blue. I don't ever recall telling anyone what I preferred in such a manner. Perhaps it was one of my former colleagues from the project-- then again, probably not.

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Dear Diary,

I'm still alive as of nine at night. I suppose that sandwich wasn't poisoned after all. I spent the day doing nothing. It looks like it may rain tonight. At least that plastic over the back window will keep the inside of my car dry. I hope whoever did it understands how grateful I am for that gesture.

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Dear Diary,

My mysterious benefactor must have come by again last night. There was another sandwich on my passenger seat, another bottle of soda, and twenty gil to boot. After I finish my sandwich, I'm taking that twenty to the store to get some much needed supplies.

God I want a shower. Trying to keep clean out of that service station bathroom, the sink to which has no hot water, is not working out too well.

In any event, I'm going to leave a small thank you note on my passenger seat in case they come again tonight. I do want them to know that I appreciate it more than I could ever express.

I still think about the captain. When I went to the service station last night before sleeping, I heard someone talking to the attendant about him, and how he was going to be taking charter flights in his private plane to make ends meet. I admire his resiliency.

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Dear Diary,

I had an awful experience on my way back from the grocery store tonight.

I was walking, keeping my head down, trying to avoid the leers of the town's people, just wishing to make it back to the car without too much trouble. It didn't work.

A man that I've seen around town, usually near the bar, was leaning against a building and I tried to pass him by. He reached out and grabbed the sleeve of my coat.

"So… living in that car must be pretty rough," he said to me.

I couldn't even bring myself to look at him. "I'm getting by."

"There's a way for you to earn enough to at least be able to afford a hotel."

I felt my blood run cold at those words. From his lewd tone, I knew what he was saying. I just wanted to get away and I stepped back, freeing myself from his grip. "I need to go."

"Well, maybe if you won't do it willingly for a buck, I'll just have to come and get it for free sometime," he said, before straightening up and walking away.

I'm so scared. Here I am in this car, alone, on a street that is unlit at night. The locks on the doors haven't worked for ages. What am I supposed to do if he follows through with that threat? I wish I had somewhere to go but there's no place. I happened to see Janice, one of my former coworkers and someone I thought I was close to, walk by a while ago. I got out and tried to talk to her, to beg her to let me stay with her if just for tonight, but she cursed me and ran off.

I wish there were a homeless shelter or something in this town but there just isn't.

I don't want that horrible man to touch me. I don't… that's the last thing I have--

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Dear Diary,

Last night was the most horrible night and yet…

I stayed up out of fear as long as I could, fearing that the horrible man from earlier would come for me. Without having eaten much over the last several days, though, and sleeping in the cold, my exhaustion won out around midnight.

Suddenly, I was pulled from my sleep when I felt the car door next to me open. I opened my eyes to see that man standing there, leering down at me. Rain was pouring, and it was terribly dark, but there was no doubt in my mind that it was him. He held something between he and I, and I found myself confronted with a large knife.

It's ironic that I was ready to kill myself just a few days ago but in that moment, faced with that weapon, the thought of dying ripped right through me.

"Don't you dare scream, you bitch," he growled at me, waving that knife in my face. His left hand, the free one, darted out from his side and grabbed my throat. I instinctively placed my hands against him, to try and get him to let go but he was horrendously strong and I found myself simply out matched.

I still struggled for all I was worth as he started to push his way into the car with me. I felt the blade of his knife pressed below my left ear and I froze. I was so scared…

I felt tears in my eyes and I wanted to scream, but his impossibly tight grip on my neck kept me from being able to do so. His hand tightened, and I felt my world begin to black out.

For the record, being strangled is an interesting event. I don't mean that to be morbid, it's just that it's not so much painful as unnatural feeling, and when you black out, there is really no pain to speak of. Your awareness just begins to fade out.

And mine did.

One last conscious thought ran through my mind.

At least I won't remember this. God, if nothing else, don't let me remember this…

I don't know how many minutes I was unconscious, but it couldn't have been terribly long. I awoke to find myself staring up at the ceiling of my car. I was weak, and very disoriented, finding myself unable to move, or perhaps, I was just too scared.

I heard a commotion, the sounds of two men fighting. There were no words, just the noises of their grunts and grappling. Suddenly, the entire car rocked as what I perceived as one of the two men being thrown into the side of the vehicle.

I was still so incredibly frightened, and thanks to my glasses having been knocked away at some point, when I was finally able to lift my head somewhat, I wasn't able to make out a thing in the darkness. It was raining so hard that I couldn't see out of any of the car's glass, since the water had everything distorted.

I felt someone's hands on me and I just closed my eyes, afraid that it was that awful man again. It didn't take me long to realize that it wasn't, though.

Whoever it was, he was being relatively gentle but I still feigned unconsciousness. He checked my pulse it would seem, and sat me back up in my driver's seat. He then did a few other things around me before moving away and closing the car door again.

I just listened to the rain and picked up the smell of cigarettes on the air. It made me just miss the captain. As much as I hate smoking, in that moment, it was somehow the most comforting scent there could have been.

I didn't dare move in the least or open my eyes for hours. It's funny how fear can completely lock you up like that. I've never been in such a situation. When I did dare look around, the sun was rising. The rain had stopped and I saw no sign of anything unusual outside of my car. Still, on the passenger seat was another sandwich.

When I opened the door to get out and go to the service station a while later, I found the usual bottle of soda that had accompanied the previous sandwiches lying broken on the ground. I can only assume that the one that fought off my attacker is the one who has been leaving them. I'll be damned if I didn't forget my thank you note that I had intended to write to them the night before.

Regardless, I won't spend another night in that car. I will have to do something today.