Jeff Gunhus: Night Chill

“Thank God,” he mumbled on seeing the sign. He slowed down even further and moved over to the right hand lane. The flooding was worse here and he felt the water pound the undercarriage of the SUV. He leaned forward over the steering wheel and squinted to try and make out shapes in the night. “Come on. Come on.” A crash of thunder tore through the sky, sounding like someone tearing into the roof off the car with a fire ax. Jack glanced in the rearview mirror expecting to see some shocked faces. He couldn’t believe it. The girls were sound asleep. “Ah, here we go.” Jack took the off ramp and drove into the rest area to wait out the storm.

Nate Huckley watched with only casual interest as a pair of headlights appeared at the far end of the parking lot. As he predicted, the car turned and parked in the spot nearest the rest rooms, in an area that was better lit than where he parked. With the weather he doubted that the people in the Jeep could even see him.

He leaned his head back and was about to shut his eyes to nap when it hit him.

Like always, it started in his gut, like nausea. Then it burned and spread out from his stomach, hot pain racing up his body. Into his chest and throat, the pain was a claw scratching its way up his windpipe. A gurgling sound escaped from his mouth as his larynx convulsed.

Then it was in his head, a hailstorm of nails driven into his skull. A roar hammered against his eardrums. His hands squeezed the sides of his head to block it out, but it wouldn’t go away. The roar became a voice. The voice telling him what to do. How do to it. His eyes bulged outward from the agony inflicted on every part of his body.

But something was wrong. It never lasted this long. The pain was too intense. He clawed at his ears, willing to tear them from his head if it would just stop the voice. He screamed from the pain.

His body twitched in his seat. Huckley knew he would go insane if it didn’t stop.

Then it was gone.

No pain. No roar. No voice. Just the incessant beat of rain punctuated by the random bass of the thunder. Nothing of the visitation remained.

Nothing except a new interest in the contents of the vehicle across the lot. And a word. Two syllables that repeated over and over in his brain. He drew in a deep breath to bring the word to life. Exhaling slowly, he hissed the first syllable through clenched teeth, enjoying the way he could undulate the sound. Then, with a burst of air, he let the word out.

Ssaaa - rah.

Huckley knew what he had to do.

“All circuits are busy. Please—”

Jack snapped his cell phone shut and tossed it on the dash. He knew Lauren would be nervous when they didn’t get home on time but phone coverage was horrible in their area on a good day. Tonight he’d have a better chance sending her a homing pigeon than getting through on the cell. Still, he felt awful about making her worry. He should have thought to call her before leaving the Dahls.

Straight ahead of him, next to the restrooms and a boarded up concession stand, was a pay phone. He twisted around to look at the girls. Sound asleep. He looked out each of the windows, even stretching over to the passenger side to get a better angle. There wasn’t another car in the lot. He figured there wouldn’t be any harm in leaving the girls in the car for a couple of minutes, especially since they’d be in full view the entire time.

He popped open the door and raised his jacket over his head to block out as much of the rain as possible. Hoping not to wake the girls, he didn’t shut his door all the way, but let it rest against the latch so it was closed just enough to keep out the rain. He took off on a sprint to the pay phone, splashing through puddles that came up over his ankles.

The pay phones were under a short overhang but the wind was so strong that it provided little protection. Jack fished around in his pocket for change but came up with only pennies. He dialed ‘0’ for the operator and waited as the phone went through a series of clicks. A computerized voice said, “A,T and T,” and then a tone and more silence.

“Jesus Christ. Come on!” Jack started to glance over his shoulder at the Jeep, but the operator finally came on and Jack turned back toward the phone. He was halfway through giving his credit card number when he heard the blast of car horn behind him. It was followed by the same sound again. And again. Even in the rain it was loud and urgent. The Jeep’s panic alarm.

Jack was always hitting the panic button on the remote by accident. He dug for the keys in his pocket. God, the girls were probably scared to death. He found the keys and pressed the button as he turned around to point the device at the car.

There was a man.

Standing next to his car.

The driver’s door was open.

Jack dropped the phone and ran back to the car. “HEY! HEY YOU!”

The man didn’t acknowledge Jack but just stood and kept staring into the open door. Even over the noise of the rain Jack could hear the girls screaming as he got closer to the car.

How long was I turned away from the car? One minute? Two? He couldn’t have hurt them in that time. Could he?

“Get back from the car. RIGHT NOW!”

The man finally turned. He raised his hands in the air and stepped back. Jack slowed down a few paces from him. He wanted to check on the girls but he wasn’t about to turn his back on this stranger. Jack sized the man up. Late thirties, decent build, average sized frame, nothing too intimidating. Then again, the man could have a gun in his pocket and then none of his physical characteristics would make a difference.

“What are you doing?” The adrenaline tearing through Jack’s system made it come out more a threat than a question.

“Hi. Sorry about that. I was just making sure everyone was O.K. Bad weather and all.”

Jack moved to the open car door, putting his body between the man and the open door. Standing closer, he could make out the details of the stranger. Even in the poor light the man’s pale face stood out from the night, like a glowing mask. He might have been an albino except for the black pits for eyes. Jack didn’t like the look of the man’s thin, colorless lips that twisted into a forced smile as they stared each other down.

Something about the man didn’t seem right. Maybe it was the storm. Or the scare he got from turning and seeing the man unexpectedly appear at the car. Maybe it was that an hour earlier a man had died in his arms talking about the devil. Whatever it was, Jack’s instinct warned him of danger.

He was reluctant to let the stranger out of his sight but the girls screams were too much to bear. Quickly, he turned his head to make sure they were just scared and not hurt somehow. “You girls all right?” he called out. Becky and Sarah looked terrified, but unharmed. Jack relaxed a little. Maybe he was over-reacting. Chances are the stranger was just trying to help. This wasn’t California. It wasn’t so odd that someone would go out of their way to help out on a stormy night. And he knew Albert James had put him in a weird place emotionally. Satisfied the girls were fine, he turned back to face the man, ready to apologize. “Listen, thanks but—”

The man was gone.

Jack spun around. He didn’t see him anywhere. Then a voice came from the other side of the car, across the hood on the passenger’s side. “Pretty girls you have there. Very pretty.”

Soaking wet, Jack still felt the hair rise up on the back of his neck. All the tension returned. “Listen buddy. I think it’s best if you get out of here. Maybe you’re trying to help out, but you’re scaring my kids.”

The stranger leaned back to look through the Jeep’s rear window, then back at Jack. “Scaring them? Or scaring you?”