Route 520

Route 520

 I watched Lisa stare down the road, looking at the tall pines, and began to wonder what our mothers were thinking right now. A moment ago Lisa was thinking one day into her future and telling me what a wonderful day tomorrow would be.  She turned around a lot to watch me as I walked just a little behind her. Lisa knew I was mad because we had not accepted the ride in the old pickup truck. The truck was gone —long gone out of sight —and I knew her fears were increasing as the sun set over the tall pines— her dreamy ideas fading away within a mirage far up the road.

    What else could I do but keep walking towards the setting sun?  With each step, I thought about my past, and my family. Not talking—thinking.  This was all my idea, going to visit my Uncle in Orlando, I talked Lisa into it, now we were on a deserted road, thirty miles away from my Uncle’s and we were tired and hungry.

“Jen wait up, here comes a car. It looks like the car that the old man was driving, the one who gave us a ride earlier.” Lisa said

“I don't think it is! That car was light gray, this car is darker” Jen replied.

“How can you tell with the sun going down.” Lisa asked.

“It's slowing down, we have a ride”

       
       The car—full of partying teenagers—just slowed down. The teens inside laughed at the girls, then sped up and drove away.
     
       We watched the car go off and seemingly vanish into the never ending line of trees. Neither of us noticed the van that had been following the car, but now stopped a short distance away.

      Two men got out. They began to walk towards us. They spoke in soft tones and asked us questions.

“Where do you girls need a ride to?” said the older one.

Their non-threatening words did not match the quick pace in their steps. They were coming after us and I ran out into the road screaming for help. Lisa froze. The men forced us into the open back doors of the van and told us to be quiet, and we would not get hurt. The older man was mostly bald with straggly hair down the sides of his head. His hands were callused and they felt rough on my skin, he continued to touch me and Lisa. The men did not say much and only referred to each other as ‘Cousin’. The younger man had a moustache and longer hair. He held a gun—pointing it at both of us—while placing a finger up to his lips. The older man, stopped fondling us and quickly moved to the driver seat, started the engine, and drove away. The van went about one hundred feet up the road and turned around back towards the interstate highway. The man in the back with a gun put duct tape over our mouth’s. He sat across from us just staring at us, devoid of any expression. Feeling the terror, we just stared at each other. Lisa began to urinate and the urine soaked right through her new Guess jeans. When the odor from the urine reached the man’s sense of smell, he grinned. We felt the van turn right and speed up as it entered the traffic on the interstate highway. Our eyes watered up. Lisa’s view of the future was full of sadness, and I could see it in her expression and feel it. She saw other people in the future but she could not see herself. She felt my presence, and I felt hers even though it was dark now, and we were unable to really see each other.  The van continued south on the interstate for some time, time that the men enjoyed as our terror increased. We felt the van slow and turn to the right again. The van was off the interstate.  The road we were on was bumpy and stones were hitting the bottom of the van. We had begun to feel a bond now that transcended verbal language and we began to read each other’s minds. The van stopped.

     The older man got out opened the back door of the van, pulled Lisa out. He tore off the duct tape covering her mouth, then dragged her down a path. The younger man did the same with me. It was dark and we could not see each other. I heard Lisa screaming. The men took turns with us. Then one said ‘I’m done’. He left Lisa on the ground crying. I heard chains on the ground, Lisa screaming again and then, a loud flash and a bang. I had never heard a gun go off before. I heard the sounds of the chains then a splash. I  knew Lisa’s life was over, but I still felt her presence. Both men grabbed me, and took me down a path. I could hear fish splashing and the croak of a gator in the water nearby. Lisa was still with me. I listened to the men argue for a minute, while tied-up – not being able to run away. My breathing became heavy then a flash.

***

     The two men wrapped me in a tarp and loaded my lifeless body into the van. They went back to the interstate and drove south towards Indian Springs County.  They parked the van at their shop and put my body in a large drum. It was there for a week, soaked in some kind of chemical. At the end of the week a man opened the lid on the drum. He called out to another man that was there.

“Detective Summers, we got another one”

***

    Lisa and Jen were together in a spiritual stasis. Their existence, no longer of the physical world, but both aware of each other—they were ghosts .

If you want to read the complete story go to Story Development ( Top Menu ) and read Whispers through the Pines .

© Copyright 2014 Artemis J Jones