Michael Hunter - Come Get Me

“It’s about time,” he said anxiously trying to fill the silence in the car.

They topped the thing Maria called a hill and started down. At first Jim saw nothing but after a few seconds of searching the area spread out in front of them he did see a faint light a little bit further down the road. Bouncing and thumping their way down the hill they slowly got closer and closer until they were almost there. It was a good thing too. He didn’t know how much more of this his poor rental could take. The return trip might be it. All they needed to do was stop long enough to get Jill and then hightail it back to town.

Thinking about driving back he found he was actually happy Maria was there. She was the only one that knew how to get back to town. Jill might know, but then again maybe not. She’d come out here during the day when it was easier to see land marks and other things she might’ve used to navigate. It was pitch black now. There was nothing to see but what the headlight could pick out. That wasn’t enough to find their way back. Even though they’d just drove out here he was totally lost which meant Maria was their only hope.

Concentrating on navigating his way down the small hill he was only able to catch quick glimpses of their destination. The house if that was what you wanted to call it stood lost and alone surrounded on almost all sides with trees. The forest was slowly taking back its own. During one of his glimpses he noticed something that sent chill down his spine. From what must have been the front door drifted an eerie glow. He wasn’t even sure he actually saw it but the closer he got the more he was sure it was there. The glow became the center of his world as the car seemed to bounce from one side of the road to the other. It kept getting closer and that was all that mattered.

They finally came to a stop no more than thirty feet from what passed for the entrance. The glow was still coming from the door but now it had a slight flickering quality to it. For some reason this made it seem spookier than when it had just been an undefined glow. As the dust settled down around the car and Jill bounced from the passenger side Jim took a moment to study the place he’d worked so hard to reach. When Jim actually parked outside it he saw that he had been partially wrong.

It wasn’t what he expected. He thought they were coming to some place far off in the woods somewhere not an actual house. What stood before him would’ve almost been livable if not for the fact that half of its upper floor seemed to have been burnt away at some point. The house was fronted by three frames where windows must’ve once been. Above these was an overhang that brought to mind cool summers sitting in the shade but was now nothing more than dirt and decay. Above that, as he saw when he first arrived, was what was left of a second floor. The part that was still standing had one blackened window looking out into the night. He looked over at the burnt part but saw something move out of the corner of his eye. Something had moved in the window. He saw nothing there a second ago, but as soon as he’d turned his head he’d seen something. The creepy crawly sensation of being watched settled over him again. He strained his eyes trying to pierce the darkness but after a few moments gave up. It was just too dark for him to see anything. Shaking his head he noticed Maria standing on the front porch waiting for him.

He couldn’t figure out why she’d sent Jill here. His mother said Tommy was killed in the woods not in a house. Maybe was here just before he died or something and that was why Jill was here. He could see Jill’s car parked off to the side of the house but there was no sign of Jill. If it’d been him he would’ve rushed outside to see who’d arrived. He’d at least want to know whether it was friend or foe. But there was nobody except for Maria.

Well, no Jill but at least now he was sure she’d made it out here. He’d been worried at some points that maybe she hadn’t come and the whole thing would be a wasted trip. What made it worse was the place was so hard to find. He’d grown up here and thought he knew the location of all the old houses still standing around town but this one was a new one for him. If he hadn’t known it was here then nobody else did either. All the more reason to get Jill and get the hell out of here, he thought as he hurried towards where Maria was waiting.

“Isn’t it spooky out here?” she said greeting him as he approached. “I just love it. Sometimes I think I can do anything out here.” She sounded a lot happier than she had a few minutes ago and what was all this about doing anything out here. Had she been here before? He was glad she’d gotten over the scolding he’d given her earlier but she was sounding kind of strange. She sounded bubbly, excited even. Not exactly what you would expect when coming to the place someone was murdered. Then again it was Maria. She wasn’t exactly a normal type of person.

“Yeah,” he said instead of what he was thinking “let’s just find Jill and get out of here.” He didn’t know if he liked the happy Maria or the skulking one instead. Either way he wanted to be gone.

“But Jim, this place is perfect,” She purred sweetly in answer. “We can do whatever we want and nobody will ever know.”

He found he was having an easier time seeing things the closer he got to the doorway. The light coming from inside was making things a lot brighter. By its light he could see the smile that was slowly spreading across her face as she slowly rubbed her one hand over her breasts and the other snaked its way towards her groin.

“I thought we already went over this,” he said shakily. He wasn’t attracted to her but he was also a man. He couldn’t deny that what she offered was tempting but then he thought of the perverse pleasure she seemed to take in everything going on lately and how difficult she’d been about bringing him here. Just that made it easy to resist her spell.

“We are here to find Jill and then leave,” he growled.

“Oh come on,” she cooed. “She could even join in if you wanted.”

“Damn it, I said no! Why the hell can’t you listen?”

“Cause I’m not hearing the right answers.”

“Well, that’s the only answer you’re going to get.”

“You sure about that?” she asked sliding a hand down her pants.

“Yes!” he said breathing heavily. She really needed to stop what she was doing. She was distracting him from what they’d came to do. Jill was somewhere inside and he needed to find her. What would he do if she came out while Maria was putting on her little show? How would he explain that? They just needed to do what they came to do and leave. But the nymphomaniac couldn’t take no for an answer.

“Look let go get Jill and get out of here,” he said. “I’ll take you home and you can do your thing there by yourself.”

“You don’t sound too sure of yourself Jimmy. Sure you don’t want some before we go find little Jillykins?” She pulled her hand from her pants and raised it to her lips licking her fingers.

“I’m sure,” Jim said.

“Last chance,” she said huskily sliding her hand back down.

“Stop! Just stop!” he yelled. “I know you’re a damn whore so just stop shoving it in my face. Let’s just get Jill and get out of here. You can finger yourself silly when you get home if you want, I don’t care. Just do what you said you’d do and that’s it. Nothing else. After that we’re done.”

By the glow of from the house he could see her face turn from sensuous to pouting. He hoped this wasn’t a return to her earlier state. If that was the case they’d never get out of here. She just might make them stay here out of spite.

“Fine. Have your way,” she said as she turned and walked through the door.