|
|
|
Ghastly Hiker |
| Written by Britt Howie | |
| Saturday, 01 March 2008 | |
|
Share it:      “Get out!” Katie screamed from the living room, “I never want to see you again!” Throwing her engagement ring at him, she was bawling from the vicious fight. Ryan had come home late again; one in the morning, and she could smell alcohol on his breath. What had happened to the reasonable man she fell in love with? Ever since his father had died, Ryan was out drinking every night at Dave’s Downtown Pub. Katie finally had enough, but she chose a bad night to call him out on the mistakes he was making. When would be a good night, though? Ryan stormed out of the house. Though he’d had a few drinks, his mind was still clear enough. He got into his 1982 Ford Taurus and started the three hundred mile journey toward his mother’s house in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He knew that his mom didn’t like Katie and would side with him in this fight. Cranking up the radio, he noticed a hitch hiker on the side of the interstate. That was a normal occurrence, so he didn’t think anything of it. About six miles later, Ryan noticed another hitch hiker standing on the shoulder who looked strangely familiar. “Was that…? No!” There was enough alcohol in his blood to cloud his mind, so he just shrugged it off, thinking that all hitch hikers seemed similar in appearance. Ryan shook his head trying to clear it when he started approaching yet another figure. It was the same hitch hiker he’d seen six and twelve miles back, he then realized. Something wasn’t adding up in his mind, but he pushed the thought away thinking the alcohol would soon wear off. At four o’ clock that morning, Ryan crossed the Colorado-New Mexico state line. He was completely horrified; seeing the hitch hiker every six miles for the past four hours, had really kept his eyes open. When he came within a half hour of his mom’s house, the hitch hiker began to run along side the car, vanishing into thin air as soon as another car came over the horizon. Pulling into Santa Fe, Ryan felt relieved that he hadn’t seen the hitch hiker since he ran with the car. “My brain must’ve finally pumped out all the alcohol,” he announced to himself. Ryan was five miles away when he started hearing a low breathing in his back seat. His eyes flashed to the rear view mirror, but nothing was there. “I’m going crazy,” he thought aloud. Something moved right behind him. This time, he turned around, but still nothing. He was sure that he had heard something breathing and seen something moving. As he turned onto his mom’s street, something in the back seat caught the gleam of the headlights from the on coming car. There was no mistaking that there was something in the car with him. He didn’t know how to handle this. He jumped as his cell phone suddenly chimed out Pachelbel’s Canon in D. He sighed knowing it was Katie. She loved that song. If they were still going to get married, she wanted it to be played as she walked down the aisle to their happily ever after. “Hello?” He answered sheepishly. “Ryan, I’m sorry. I know that your father’s passing was very hard for you. I should have brought this up to you on a weekend when you were completely level headed. I want you to come back home,” She pleaded. “Babe, I love you, but right now, there are some things I should work on. I still want to marry you and I will try to come home a better man in a week. Does that sound like a good deal?” Ryan responded as he heard his bride to be sobbing. “Alright, Darling. I love you too. Bye,” Katie hung up the phone bawling even harder. Ryan hadn’t forgotten about the gleam of metal in his back seat, but he kept his cool. He pulled over to the curb in front of his mother’s house and quickly got out of the car. Peeking in his back seat, he saw the hitch hiker lunging toward him with a large kitchen knife in his bony hand. As the hitch hiker opened the car door, Ryan stood frozen in his gaze; he wasn’t sure what he should do. He knew the hitch hiker could run fast if he kept up with the Taurus on the interstate. Could he take him on in a fight? It was doubtful. * * * * * * * When Mabel woke up on Thursday morning, she looked in Ryan’s bedroom and the den, but he wasn’t in either room. “Maybe he went back to Katie and they worked things out,” She thought begrudgingly. She went about her morning routine, getting ready for work at the salon on the next block. When she strode out her front door to start her walk to the salon, she smelled a horrendous odor. Looking around to figure out where the stench was coming from, she slowly staggered to the left side of her driveway. Ryan’s car was sitting next to the curb, so where was Ryan? She found him lying face down in the grass his white shirt brown from the dried blood that oozed out of the many stab wounds in his back. Mabel wanted to scream, but all she could do was stand frozen in disbelief. When her motor skill finally came back to her, she ran back inside her house and dialed the emergency crew. The crew finally arrived along with the coroner who pronounced Ryan dead at the scene. Mabel sank to the ground knowing she’d have to plan the funeral for her only child. This wasn’t the way things were supposed to happen. The blame had to fall somewhere, and for Mabel, it was put on Katie. If Katie hadn’t yelled at her baby, he wouldn’t have left to come to Santa Fe. Katie didn’t deserve Ryan anyways; Mabel didn’t even want her at Ryan’s funeral, but because she knew Ryan would have, she called Katie, not even caring to comfort her. On Katie’s way down to New Mexico for her last time with Ryan, she tried to figure out who knew he was coming other than his mom. Why would anyone from his hometown want to kill him? She was going to find out. She was in such a daze on the drive, though, that she didn’t notice passing a hitch hiker standing on the edge of the road. Copyright 2008 Britt Howie |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
via Email
