by Timothy Cox
Please Lock Me Up, Something Is Out There, Book 2
Copyright © 2013 Kindle Publishing Timothy Cox
This is a work of fiction for your entertainment. All characters, names, places and events are the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book, all rights reserved.
Part one out on Amazon: US / UK
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”
― Plato
(1)
It’s so hard to rectify wrong, when wrong feels so good…
The approaching light woke up shadows from their slumber; appearing on the road like wild animals, scattering in every direction and making sure not to be swallowed up by the light.
Jacob didn’t know who it was, but he had a pretty good idea. The car drove slow, so it had to be someone old, inexperienced, or maybe a person needing help. The engine screamed and coughed, so it was either scared of the trees around it or just a tired engine; wanting to get off the gravel road; wanting to get on a highway where there were at least lights.
Jacob looked at his leg and felt like puking. He didn’t like how the wound turned purple, how the skin around it was brown and strewn with yellow blisters. He tried touching his leg and winced. He couldn’t afford to let this one by and wait for someone else. He knew he had to muster enough strength to climb over the hedge. He looked up at the sky and asked it for strength, guidance, but all he got in return was a moon laughing at him behind tattered cloud.
The car neared, and so did the sound of gravel crunching and engine purring. Jacob forced himself around onto his stomach and crawled up like a worm, wiggling his hip side to side, digging his chin into the ground and using it as an anchor to pull himself forward. As soon as he was over the edge he saw two yellow lights and pushed himself even harder. He tipped over the edge and began rolling down the slope. Everything around him turned like a whirlpool, disorientation and confusion piling with each roll, but it was nothing compared to the pain he felt with each dizzying turn: fresh skin on his leg ripped, his nose broke against a rock, his one eye collapsed shut, and his thumb cracked over his other fingers.
He could tell by the way everything went black and the taste of soil that he was flat on his stomach. He didn’t know if his eyes worked anymore, so he relied on feeling to help him get back up. But it was no use, he felt like a dead person, energy sapped from every inch of his fiber. He did however have enough strength in his neck to look up. Even as his neck craned – it felt like needles pricking his spine. He saw the car drive past in slow motion, he or she, didn’t seem him. He started crying as the red lights drove away, all hope of being saved drifting away into darkness and–
The car stopped. Jacob made a strange noise that sounded like a balloon letting out air. With new energy, he wiggled forward, knowing there wasn’t any time to waste, he had to get to the–
The car reversed, this was when he knew he was saved. But he didn’t want to get hopes up just yet. He waited until the car was near, that he shouted. He even found the energy from somewhere to get up to his knees. He saw the person get out of the car. She came walking over hesitantly.
‘Mister…are you alright?’
Jacob shook his head.
‘Christ what happened to you?’ She came walking slow, bobbing her head side to side, trying to analyze the situation.
‘Please help me.’
She held her stomach with one hand and her neck with the other. The more she saw of Jacob, the more her face frowned, she was looking at someone that reminded her of a zombie movie; that bit where they get locked up in a cell for months without any food, only to come out later with less flesh. She looked around. ‘Are you alone?’
‘Please get me out of here.’ Jacob said.
She rushed back to her car and returned with a cell plastered to her face. While she dialed for an emergency, she gazed at his leg. ‘What the hell happened to you?’
‘Animal attack.’ He tried getting up but couldn’t. ‘Can you–’
‘Shit I don’t have any signal.’ She waved her phone around and held it up. ‘I’ll have to get you in the car. Can you move?’
‘No my legs. It hurts.’
She frowned at the sight of blood. ‘I don’t do injuries. I don’t know what–’
‘Get me…to a–’
‘Hospital I know.’ She waved her fingers around. ‘Shit shit. Ok. I’ll try and get you up.’
She knew what blood smelled like, but this was something else, it was the stench of old and new overlapped over god knows how many times. He cried as she helped him up, he failed a few times – knees trembling – arms shaking. They stumbled forward arm by arm.
The door closed. The car started. Music came on but she quickly turned it off. As they drove away, she kept glancing to her side, wondering if a man was going to die in her car tonight. A selfish part of her knew she should have stayed in for the weekend and not go out, she hated blood and she hated–
‘How long hospital.’ Jacob asked, barely hearing his own words.
The car drove through the wood at an uncomfortable speed. She had to keep her wits fresh as bumps and turns appeared fast. ‘Maybe forty minutes – just hang in there ok.’ She stole a glance and saw his eyes close. ‘Don’t sleep.’ She looked again. His head slid to the side. She shook his shoulder. ‘Hey hold on!’
She had to slow down a few times when the view in front turned into plumes of sand and dust, too afraid that that the next object to appear – a tree – or maybe a rock. All she knew was that she needed to get to a hospital and fast, she didn’t know if the man next to her was sleeping or dead and she didn’t want to know. She checked her cell to see if she had any signal. She threw the phone and cussed, maybe her boyfriend was right, she wasn’t good with directions. She remembers the fight they had a few days ago – him saying that she needed to take a map with her, she argued that her cell was fine and that it had maps on it, that there was no chance of getting lost. So much for signal.
She came to a stop, the path diverted into two directions. She waited for the dust to settle so that she could see which way to–
‘L-eft.’ He said.
His voice made her jump from her seat and against the door. She looked at him with eyes big as plates, ‘Jesus-you-fright-me.’ She waited for him to answer, just some words, any words – anything. Anything to tame her wild nerves. But she didn’t get anything. His head slid back to the side like a person going under anesthetic; ready to be operated on. Her eyes fell away from him and at the sign post.
Go left for town. Go right for a deeper-in-the-wood-experience.
‘Well at least you were right.’ She muttered, and put the car in gear.
(2)
She was driving at a casual bicycle speed, any faster made the sand flush up in front of the headlights; where it swirled and danced. Her attention were on two things: the narrow path with the bullet-shaped light, and the mundane grind of wheels eating sand and sticks.
She felt like checking her cell but didn’t want to face the possibility of being let down. Never in ten years of driving had she been this lost, sure there was that time during college when a group of them went riding down the coast and they got lost, but that was Lucy’s fault for giving them the wrong directions. Thinking of her best friend Lucy made her feel sad, she could do with some comfort, or at least verbal company…
She glanced at her side and looked at th
e only person giving her company. It was a man she didn’t know. He leaned against the door like a sack of dirt, unable to tell if he was dead or alive. From the neck down, his skin was matted with red and sprinkled with dirt. It was his face that was the worst, his right eye was black as crayon; like a wife beaten up by a husband that had enough. His nose was a little skew, broken, and still trickling with blood. His hair was the only thing that didn’t look too bad, only dirty, and strewn with leaves. She wondered what animal attacked this man, if it was still out there, maybe prowling the car like a predator – needing to finish of its meal. She banished such foolish thoughts and–
The seat hopped up and down – her head smacked the window – the car stopped.
She moaned and waited for the dust to settle. While looking through the window, she felt her head throb, even thought the dust particles looked beautiful for a moment or two, it was the way it glinted and mixed and disappeared. When darkness settled around them, she turned the headlights on and off, and then on its fullest.
She was going to ask him if he was okay, but he didn’t look any different, the same ol’ sack-of-dead-sand next to her. Her next question her mind needed answering, was what the hell did she just ride over?
The door opened, and the cool night air grabbed her leg. She climbed out not afraid, just confused. It felt good being out of the car; it stank of flesh and sweat. The light from the car was enough to make trees look like trees and the ground look like ground. She ventured back the way they just came – walking hesitantly towards something on the road. At first she thought it was a bag in the middle of the road, a black lump that someone just left there. But as she neared, she could see fur and bone. She stopped and looked at it from a distance, remembering what she thought a moment ago – was this the predator chasing the man, wanting to finish its meal? And what was the chance that she thought of an animal and then ride one over? She shivered and felt hairs on her body prickle.
She had no clue what animal it was. It had four legs, paws, a snout. She tried kicking the thing over but winced away when she felt how soft the skin was. She walked around it and went through her lists of animals, it was not a dog, not a fox, her closest guess was a–
‘It’s a sheep let’s make meat and eat.’ He said.
She screamed and stumbled backwards falling on her behind. She saw the man she rescued appear and disappear. His voice still echoing somewhere. And then, the sound of empty night. She stood up and laughed; her anti-scare mechanism kicking in. She dusted her legs and realized the night was getting to her, she needed to get out of the forest.
(3)
Her favorite music was playing, it was the only thing keeping her from thinking too much. She didn’t want to put it too loud, so she played it just at the right level, not distracting, just calm, cool music.
Since a young age, whenever she got scared or nervous, her fingers would tap up and down like she was playing an invisible piano, it had the strangest soothing effect on her; mind drifting to distant memories where things were fine and calm. It was what she was doing right now, tapping the steering wheel without even knowing. Her mind drifted towards cheerful face, how when he smiled, she smiled. She wondered what he was doing right now, probably wondering why his girlfriend was so late, probably making sure the cabin looked really nice, candles, flowers, and a nice warm bed. Thinking about him made her feel lonely, he made such an effort about the whole thing and deep down inside, she knew why.
The smell in the car was becoming unbearable, she tried putting on the air conditioning to blow away the smell of stale egg, but all that came out was hot air that made things worse. She slowed the car down at a pace where she could look away and try to open windows. She opened hers. For a few seconds cool air gushed in and out, taking with it stench. But the smell was coming from his side, and she wasn’t going to drive while bad air drifted over her and through her window. She slowed the car more. She looked at him and felt a little sick to the stomach, she didn’t know if he was alive or dead. She reached for his window–
And winced away, she couldn’t do it. She had an image of him waking up and grabbing her hand. She shook her head and told her herself to stop being stupid. She looked at where she was driving and tried again. Her hands reached over his body towards the window handle. Her seatbelt stretched just far enough for her to swipe the handle a few times. She grunted and pulled back into her seat, relieved, could even start to smell a difference as the stench drifted away from his side.
She gripped the steering wheel firm and squeezed, a layer of sticky sweat formed around the old leather. ‘Melissa, what the hell did you get yourself into?’ She asked herself. It’s a question her brain kept reiterating over and over, needing to know what she was doing. She decided that she wasn’t lost, because she knew if she accepted that – that panic will follow. Maybe she was in denial but what if she was, it was better than facing reality and throwing a fit. One thing she knew from experience is that what you focus on, expanded, so all she needed to do was try and shift her focus on the good stuff.
She tapped the steering wheel furiously, trying to think what good there was in her situation – don’t lie to yourself woman, her mind said. There’s nothing good, she was lost. Lost in a forest where animals attacked people. Lost in a place where if she turned off lights – black night lunged. Lost on a road where light didn’t travel far, and lost with a body next to her that didn’t speak, or didn’t move.
‘Everything will be fine.’ She said looking at the passing trees. Some looked like long fingers; arching over the road, reminding her of some stupid child’s book, where scary trees were painted in. A part of her wondered if the man was still alive, she didn’t think he was, he didn’t move or speak, didn’t even flinch. A part of her had to remind herself that she was rushing someone to a hospital, but what if the person was already dead, was there any need to rush? She pondered about the question and came up with an even more distressing question; that teetered on moral ground. If the person was dead, should she just drop him off on the side of the road? Her mind said yes, her heart no.
The headlight caught glimpse of a signpost in the distance. It protruded from the ground sideways; as if someone wanted the job done quick, a nail-and-hammer smack job. Melissa was delighted at the sight, she stopped next to it to read the words out loud. ‘Welcome to Ail Town.’ She looked at the person next to her and back in front. ‘Finally.’
(4)
Without her even knowing at first, the car drove over new road, tar. Never in her life has the sight of tar made her feel so relieved. The effect was immediate, no more bumpy rides. She was still driving between trees – and there was no lights – but tar road was a good sign. She knew she was close to a town, so there was a chance that her signal was back. She checked her phone but there was nothing. She threw it back in the holder and sighed. When she gets out of this mess, she was going to tell everyone about it, even her colleagues at work, the ones that sit next to her all day, every day. The life of an office worker, very stimulating.
‘Hey are you alive?’ She asked. She thought his arm moved but it was just shadows running over. She was getting restless: not seeing a town, thinking that the signpost was wrong, having a person next to her that doesn’t speak. But at least she was off that dirt–
As if on cue, the wheels started crunching. To her dismay her ears were right, she was back on shit road. Her fingers tapped the steering wheel, she couldn’t believe it. Was this some kind of sick joke life was playing on her? Taunting her when she thought help was–
A light, dim as a candle, came to view. Many more followed.
Her heart raced with excitement, she could feel her cheeks warm. She felt like telling him to hold on for a few more minutes, but decided against it, he looked dead, and looking at him made her feel sick. The first thing she was going to do is drop him off at a hospital; get the stench out of her car. She wondered if any police statements had to be given, what the actual procedure was when a person foun
d someone. She stretched her neck in a circle and realized for the first time that she was getting tired, tired of thinking too much. She needed to phone her boyfriend as well, and tell him what happened. She wondered what he was doing right now, probably thinking she was in car accident. She shook her head and bobbed her head left to right, trying to see where the lights were leading to.
She saw sign of life and felt refreshed. She stopped next to a man walking along the road, he was carrying a candle and looked surprised to see her. When she asked him for directions he told her just to carry on down the road and turn right. He also looked at the man next to her, and didn’t look too surprised. He waved her goodbye.
She came to the place he told her to turn right. But there wasn’t any right. There was only straight and left. She frowned and felt an intense dislike for her night so far, she collapsed onto the steering wheel and beeped by accident. She winced away a little startled, but collapsed back down into her arms. She began spitting gibberish, frustrated that everything was going wrong. She didn’t know what to do, she could reverse all the way back and speak to him again, or just take a turn. She saw light in her peripheral and looked up. The man that she spoke to only moments ago walked by casually. She frowned as he strolled away, the headlight shining on his back; him becoming darker and darker the more he walked.
She accelerated slowly towards him, watching him swing his arms back and forth like he was enjoying a good night walk, finding it odd that he carried a candle with him, and that was when she noticed someone awake next to her.
She didn’t scream, didn’t even look startled, but did feel her heart beat a little faster. He stared at her. He had his hands pointing.
‘Drive away from…’ He coughed and tried holding up his shaky fingers.
