26.

The clouds moved in, and the rain came down. For awhile it was just a nuisance, soaking through my shoes and drenching my jacket. But as time passed, the rain got stronger, and stronger, and I found myself leaning into a sudden gale of wind as the giant droplets whipped at my skin. All of the sky above me was black with low, roiling storm clouds. I kept walking, knowing that there wasn't really anything else I could do anyway. I walked until I stopped hearing my footsteps sloshing through the desert mud, and my mind retreated to semi-consciousness as I stumbled along.

Suddenly awareness came back to me. My feet were still striding forward endlessly, and the rain still poured down, but I found my attention drawn upward. Somehow the moon had broken through the choking clouds and shone through the sheets of rain. For a moment I felt like I might be dreaming. Then there was a flash of headlights, the roar of a car engine, and a huge wave of water that rose up from the road and drenched me like a rat. And the dream ended.

As bad as it was, I didn't feel much worse than I had before meeting Grod. Only now, I didn't have a place to live, I didn't have any money, and I was a couple thousand miles from home. When I thought about it that way I realized that Grod actually did fucked my life up even more than I thought possible. I tried to care about that, but I really didn't care about anything anymore. I felt like the rain had seeped into my soul and put out the sickly flame of my life. I was saved from having to make the decision to start walking again when two small, bright lights appeared in the misty darkness ahead of me and began to quickly grow brighter. I barely recognized them in time, throwing myself face-down into the mud as the car that had splashed me roared by again in reverse, then stopped.

I shuffled dejectedly to the car door. Than man inside, whose form I could barely make out through the thick rain, leaned toward me and cranked the window down just far enough to say to me, "Where you headed, bub?"

"Fucking nowhere," I yelled back at him as lightning flashed in the distance and thunder followed. The man closed the window and threw the door open and I let myself fall into the seat. The mud-water slush filling my shoes exploded all over the floor mat and pooled up in the car's floorpan, and I glanced over at the man for a reaction. Whoever he was, I was making a royal mess of his car right then. But he didn't seem to notice. In fact, his eyes remained staring fixedly forward, and as soon as I closed the door he shifted the car into drive and pushed down the pedal. I felt myself sink into the soft passenger's seat, and soon we were cruising along at highway speed. Several miles went buy before he finally spoke.

"You wouldn't happen to know that date, today, wouldcha?" he asked, still keeping his eyes forward.

"No, man," I said, "I lost track of--"

"I think it's the 29th," he said as if he wasn't even listening to me. "You know what the 29th is?"

"No."

A devious smirk crossed his face and then he said, "It's my anniversary."

"Congratulations," I replied, not knowing what else to say. "How long has it been?"

"One month."

"Oh."

His smile widened even more, and I felt a pang of panic in my stomach when he finally glanced menacingly at me. "You know what it's the anniversary of?"

"No."

Another mile passed, and the man's expression relaxed. He nodded to himself quietly. In my stomach the sharp panic eased, replaced by a simmering sense of something like annoyance. The guy was clearly a little crazy, but I was beginning to get used to that. I decided to try to get out at the next city and try my luck again. "So, where ya from?" The driver asked, turning toward me with another wide smile.

"Uh... don't you want to know where I'm going?" I couldn't put it out of my mind that he hadn't even asked yet.

The man laughed, "Oh, I already know where you're going, pal." He took his left hand off the steering wheel and the power locks in the car clicked. "Now where ya' from?"

PREVIOUS | NEXT