The rain pelted at my window, blinding my sight from the road. It started as a few drops, but suddenly had turned into a hard downpour. Outside the dirt road was flooded, and mud was splashing up onto my windshield. My wipers, moving at full speed, smeared a freshly splashed up puddle of gunk across my window. I didn’t know where I was going, all I knew was I was lost, and in the middle of no where.

I was supposed to be going to my dad’s house for the weekend. He lived in a small town about two hours away from my mom’s house. My parents were divorced and couldn’t stand one another. They were bound to fight every time they talked to or saw each other. I figured that’s why my dad moved so far away. I didn’t care. He wasn’t the greatest dad in the world. I hadn’t seen him in a year, and I wasn’t really planning on seeing him, but my mom insisted that I should.

I grabbed the directions off the passenger seat that I had printed out.
“Map Quest is a joke. This is Greek to me.” I said glaring at the map, trying to figure out where I was. I had no idea the name of the road I was on, let alone where it was. All I knew is I had been on this road for what seemed like over and hour. I looked at the steps in the directions, making sure I hadn’t missed any streets or turns. I was almost positive that I had done everything right. I threw the directions back down on the seat, them proving useless to me. By now the whole windshield was almost fully coated in mud.

“Are you serious,” I groaned, cursing silently. I pulled the car over to the side of the road and opened the door. It swung out of my grasp from the raging winds, blowing my hair into my face. I reached into the glove compartment and grabbed the window scrubber out so I could clear my window of the gigantic sludge smear.
I stepped out of the car, pulling up my hoody so the rain wouldn’t soak my hair, and walked to the side of the car. My feet slowly sunk and stuck to the ground, like quicksand. I reached over and began scrapping the windshield as hard as I could.

“Stupid rain, stupid mud. This is all stupid. I should be back at my mom’s, watching TV, inside my warm home, and OUT of this rain,” I mumbled to myself.
After what seemed like hours of scrubbing my poor, hopeless windshield, i turned to walk back to the door. My foot suddenly felt cold and bare. I turned around to see my shoe, now caked in mud, stuck to the ground. My sock dangled from my big toe, hanging on for dear life. I tried to balance myself on one foot, but a giant gust of wind blew me over. My perfectly good sock, ruined, and now, covered in mud.

“Oh my gosh, I swear!” I screamed, snatching my shoe from the ground, and prying my foot from the mud’s grasp.

I hopped into the car, slamming the door behind me. By now my whole body was wet, and the rain had soaked through my sweater, drenching my hair and t-shirt. I lifted up my foot, peeling the sock off, trying to touch as little mud as possible, then put my shoe back on my bare foot.

“This is ridiculous,” I said while throwing the sock down on the floor.
I put the car into drive, and pressed on the gas. The engine roared but the car stayed still. I pressed on the gas again, nothing.

“Stupid car! Come on,” I yelled, slamming down on the gas. The car roared again, but stayed in place. Enraged, I grabbed my cell phone from the cup holder, and flipped it open, quickly dialing my mom’s number. “Searching for signal” came up on the screen. I sat and waited. After about a minute, “no signal” popped up. I pressed end, then dialed her number once more, holding the phone up to window. “Searching for signal…” No signal. I threw the phone onto the seat, and laid my head up against the wheel.

“I’m going die out here. I’m going to die.” I cried to myself as I turned the car off and pulled out the keys, putting them into my pocket.
I leaned back and rested my head against the back of the seat, watching the rain blind my window. My wipers were still going, back and forth, back and forth. I watched them, moving my head with the beat.

Suddenly, down the road, I saw a pair of head lights. My heart suddenly cried out in joy. ‘Maybe it’s a tow-truck,’ I thought to myself. I watched as it drove nearer, hoping that they would not turn and disappear.

I watched in anticipation as the car closer and closer. My heart cried out and joy.

“Finally, someone can help me,” I sighed.

I grabbed my phone and opened the door, stepping out into the rain, yet again. Mud splashed up onto the back of my jeans. The car seemed to slow down when it saw me. I could see the vehicle behind the lights now. It was an old, worn down blue truck, with rust spots all over it. I was surprised that that old thing could get through the thick mud but my new sports car couldn’t. The truck approached slowly; I waved my hands over my head, making sure he could see me.

“Hey! Stop please!” I yelled as it came closer to me. The truck pulled up beside me and stopped. The window rolled down. Inside was an older man, probably a farmer. He was a little heavier set, and was wearing a John Deere hat, along with a plaid button up shirt, and some worn out blue jeans. I couldn’t see what his face looked like; his hat shadowing it from me. His car smelled like smoke, and there was trash all over the dashboard.

“Can I help you?” He asked.

“Yeah, my car is stuck and I can’t get it out. Could you mind taking me to the nearest pay phone? I need to get a hold of my mom.”

“Yeah, hop in,” he said, while nodding. He seemed nice. I opened the door and hopped in, situating myself on the seat.

“What’s your name?” He asked while looking out the window.

“Shannon.”

“Where you headed to, Shannon?” He asked, putting emphasis on my name.

“My dad’s.”

“Who’s your dad?”

“Ron Williams.”

“Oh,” he said, and then he was quiet, and it stayed quiet. We had been driving for almost thirty minutes. The rain was still falling out side; I listened to it splash against the window as I turned my head to look outside the truck. We had not passed a single car; we were in the middle of no where. Outside it was dark; I couldn’t see anything, where we were, and where we were headed.

‘How long does it take to get to a pay phone?’ I thought to myself. I was contemplating on asking him if we were almost there, but I felt like it would be rude, so I decided to let it go.

The truck was warm and cozy, and the sound of the rain patting on the window made me yawn. I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the window. ‘Don’t fall asleep,’ I thought to myself, but before I could open my eyes, I was out.


I shot up, ‘Where am I?’ The truck where I had fallen asleep had been replaced by a dark room. I was laying on what seemed to be a wooden floor. I stood up and tried to walk, but something was keeping me from moving. ‘My ankle.’ I thought. I turned around to see my strapped to a chain that was posted into the ground. It suddenly hit me what happened; I was being kidnapped. I began pulling at the chain, trying to free my ankle.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I heard a voice behind me. I turned to see the farmer sitting in a rocking chair underneath a window, swaying back and forth, back and forth. A baseball bat lay across his lap, and his arms rested on top of it. He looked at me from under his hat, smiling.

I fell to the ground, catching myself with my hand. It landed in something sticky. I looked down at the wooden floor. The boards were stained red all around me. I began to shake realizing what it was, blood. I screamed, wiping my hand on my shirt. I scrubbed it vigorously trying to remove every bit. He laughed.
“I believe her name was Carra.”
“Let me go!” I screamed at him, terrified as tears streamed down my face.

“Oh, why would I do that? I finally have a pretty little lady to always be with me. Ever since my wife died, I’ve been lonely, wanting someone to always be around and stay with me. No matter how many new girls like you I get, they never seem to do. So I get rid of them, like Carra, and get a new one, like, well, you.” He chuckled, “don’t worry; I’ll take care of you. You and I will be just fine.” His smile widened.

“Why are you doing this? Please! I want to go home,” I pleaded.

“This is home, sweetheart. Can I call you May. That was my wife’s name. You can call me Henry. That’s my name you see.”

“You can’t call me anything! Let me go!” I screamed at him, pulling at the chain hooked to my ankle.

“Oh, hush. Do you want something? Are you hungry?” He said, rocking back and forth. Tears streamed down my face as I began yanking at the chain. ‘My phone!’ I suddenly realized. I reached into my pocket, nothing. Henry grunted.

“You won’t be finding your phone.” He said, “I took care of that. Threw it out when you were sleeping.” I began to sob.

“I’m going to die,” I cried, “I’m going to die.”

He stood up from his chair and walked over beside me, squatting far enough away so that I couldn’t reach him. I watched as he placed the bat on his lap. It looked chipped and gnarled at the end, like he had slammed it against something multiple times. He took his hat off, holding it in one hand. I could see his face clearly now. His chin was rough and unshaven. A smile spread across his face reveling a few missing teeth. His hair was short, and what looked like grey. I gasped when I looked at his eyes. They were dark and black, lifeless. They looked like sunken in black coals, the very eyes of the devil himself.
“Oh don’t worry,” Henry said, laughing slightly, “as long as you be a good girl, you don’t have to worry about that.” He lifted his head back and began to laugh uncontrollably. I was suddenly filled with rage. My whole body burned with it. I reached out and swatted at him, catching his cheek with my nails. He yelped and jumped back, landing on his side. I could see the blood trickle from a gash I had made. He lifted his hand and wiped it onto his shirt. He stood up and picked up his bat, holding it behind his head like he was ready to swing. He chuckled,
“And so far you’re being a very bad girl, May.” Then he swung the bat…