Jeff Gunhus - Night Chill

“Look, just get out of here. All right?”

“These girls don’t have anything to worry about from me.” The man rubbed the hood of the car with the palms of his hands. “I want to be their friend. Especially the little one. She’s very special. Sarah. That’s it, isn’t it? Little sweet Sarah?”

“Get the hell out of here right now,” Jack yelled over a thunder clap. Jack had only been in one fight as an adult but if the car hadn’t separated them he would have taken a swing at the bastard in front of him.

The man slapped the hood of the car in a slow beat. “Bam, bam, badda, bam, bam,” he murmured as he thumped out a rhythm, his eyes locked with Jack’s, a grin spread across his lips. “Feel helpless Jack? You don’t mind if I call you Jack, do you?”

“How the hell do you know our names? Who are you?”

“Oh, I know more than that about you. I know what you dream about at night. I know the secret you keep from California. That dark detail about yourself you don’t want anyone else to know.”

“I don’t know what—”

“Jack, you don’t really think you can stop the devil, do you?”

Jack froze. “What did you say?”

But the man wasn’t listening. He continued to beat out a rhythm on the hood, striking the car harder with each beat. Badda, bam, bam . He paused and held both fists out toward Jack. “Let’s find out, shall we?” His fists crashed into the hood. BADDA, BAM, BAM.

On the last beat, he ducked down behind the car and was gone.

“Shit.” Jack scrambled into the car and shut the door. He dug at the controls on the armrest to make sure the doors were locked. They were. He looked across to the passenger side. The door shook from the man tugging on it. The girls screamed. Jack dug his hand into his pocket, desperate for his keys. Nothing. He looked on the floor, on the seat. He pressed his face against the window and looked on the ground outside. They weren’t there. When did he have them last?

Dreading what he would see, he raised his head to look through the windshield at the building in front of him. There, on the ground next to the payphone, were the keys to the car.

Jack beat his fists into the steering wheel. He had searched everywhere in the car he could think for the spare key. Nothing. He looked back up at the keys on the concrete not more than thirty feet from him. He must have dropped them when he first saw the man next to the car. The girls choked back on their sobs, more scared by their dad’s outburst than anything. He noticed the silence in the back seat and turned around in his seat to face the girls. “Hey, easy now. I didn’t mean to scare you. Everything’s O.K.”

Becky spoke first. “Who is that man?”

“Listen, that man was probably someone who doesn’t have a home and he was caught in the rainstorm. He doesn’t want to hurt anyone.”

Sarah whispered something. Jack leaned toward her. “What did you say, sweetie?”

She didn’t answer him but just stared out of the window, shaking her head slowly.

“Sarah, honey. It’s O.K. Talk to me.”

The little girl kept looking out the window. She whispered, “No, I don’t want to.”

Jack was confused. “You don’t want to talk to me?”

Sarah turned away from the window. “Not you Daddy. I wasn’t talking to you.”

Jack leaned into the back seat to look out of her window. There was nothing there. “What do you mean, sweetie. Who were you talking to?

“The man. I was talking to the bad man.” Before Jack could say anything she turned to him and whispered. “And you’re wrong Daddy. He does want to hurt us. Especially you.”

“Sarah, honey, that’s not true. Why would you say that?”

“But it is true, Daddy.” Her eyes welled up with tears as she pointed out the window. “The bad man just told me so. He said he’s gonna take me with him. Is it true, Daddy? Is he going to take me?”

“No honey. It’s not true.”

“He said I should open the door or I’d end up like Melissa. Who’s that, Daddy? Who’s Melissa?”

For a few seconds all other noise faded from the world. The only sounds Jack heard were his own breath and the blood pounding in his temples. He stared at Sarah trying to understand how those words could have come from her mouth. Becky stared at her little sister and then back at her dad, her eyes wide. Thunder tore through the sky above them, so close that it felt like an earthquake. The girl’s squealed and Jack jumped in his seat.

“All right, we’re getting out of here. Girls, listen. I left the keys on the pay phone over there. I have to go get them.”

“Noooo. Don’t leave us here.”

“I’ll be right back. I promise. The car will be locked. No one can get in.”

“I want to stay with you,” Becky pleaded.

“Don’t leave us here.”

Jack looked at his terrified girls and then back to the pay phone. He could be there and back in half a minute. If he took the kids with him it would take a lot more time and leave them all exposed.

He hadn’t seen the stranger since he tried to force the passenger door open more than five minutes ago. Maybe he realized there was a problem when Jack didn’t start the car right away. He felt a surge of panic. What if the man saw the car keys on the ground by the payphone? He’d be able to open any door. Jack wasn’t worried about fighting the man, but if the stranger had a gun, or even a knife, there would be no contest. The man could shoot him through the window if he had a gun.

If he kills me, what will he do to the girls?

Jack knew he had to get them out of there. Waiting in the car was not an option.

“I’ll be right back, girls.” He checked to make sure the man wasn’t crouching outside. Nothing. Blocking out his daughters’ screams, he threw open the door and burst out into the storm.

The parking lot was an ominous landscape of hiding places and unknown dangers. The storm-wracked trees next to the street-lights cast erratic shadows like dark birds flying on damaged wings. Jack sprinted toward the pay phone. He slowed only to glance over his shoulder to look for the man. Nothing. Only shadows

Jack reached the phone and snatched the keys off the ground. He was about to turn back to the car when he saw the phone hanging off the hook. He froze. The new option dangled there in front of him. He looked back to the car, then to the phone. He didn’t want to just run away from this man, he wanted him caught. Besides, the call would only take a second.

Jack lunged forward, grabbed the phone and slammed it back into place. He lifted it up and jabbed his finger into the keypad. 9-1-1. The dial tone disappeared and the phone clicked through the relays. “C’mon. C’mon.”

He switched the receiver to his other ear so he could twist around to look back at the car. The dome light was on and he saw the blurry outline of the girl’s sitting in the back.

No sign of the stranger.

Where is the Goddamn operator?

The phone continued to click.

His eyes shifted to the far corner of the parking lot. A dim light twinkled through the rain. He hadn’t noticed it before. Then headlights came on and started to move toward the rest area exit. Jack breathed easier. The car must belong to the stranger. He was leaving. It was over.

Then the car stopped. The rain slowed for a moment and Jack could hear the car’s motor across the parking lot. The driver was revving it hard, over and over.

“Oh God.” As the words stumbled out of Jack’s mouth, the driver engaged the clutch and the car’s wheels spun on the wet asphalt. Once the tires found traction, the car bore down on the Jeep, engine whining.