Roadside Encounter

A dark-haired man stood by the side of the road, holding up his thumb. He was about six feet tall, with thick black stubble coating his jawline and a white bandanna tied around his head. An overstuffed backpack was thrown over his right shoulder. A black Suburban sped past, splashing water on him.

            He sighed and sat cross-legged. He pulled a dingy, already-wet towel out of his pack and wiped his face as well as he could. Hearing another car coming, he looked up. A white Impala pulled up next to him. The passenger side window started rolling down, and he jumped to his feet.

            “Need a ride?” a feminine voice called.

            The man opened the door and hoped in. “Thank you so much,” he said as he slid his bag off his shoulder.

            “No problem. Where you headed?” Her voice was deep and sultry.

            "Wherever you’re going is--” He turned to look the woman and froze. The woman was pale, with emerald green eyes and hair as black as midnight. She wore a low-cut white tank top that showed modest but perky cleavage, and short denim shorts. “--is . . .” He cleared his throat. “Wherever you’re going is fine with me. I just need to get to a motel and a payphone.”

            “Mmm.” The woman eased the car back to the highway. “What’s your name?”

            “Morgan. Yours?”

            She raised an eyebrow. “Morgan. No kidding?”

            “. . . Uh, no. No kidding.”

            “Huh. S’my name, too.” She glanced at him. “Tell you what, Morgan. ‘Where I’m going’ is my place. And it ain’t no motel.”

            “Oh. Well, I’ll just get out, then. Sorry to bother--”

            “No, no. You didn’t let me finish. There’s a town just a few miles away from my place." She gave him a quick, analytical glance. "But how’s about you spend the night with me?”

            “Oh, I couldn’t. I couldn’t ask that of you.”

            “You didn’t ask. I offered.” She looked at him again. “Well? Sound good to you?”

            He scratched the back of his head. “Well . . .” He eyes drifted to her chest, lingering there for a few seconds. He looked away, blinking. “If it’s really no bother . . .”

            “Not at all. It’s settled, then. Bunkmates.”

            He laughed timidly. “I guess. But, why?”

            “Why what?”

            “You don’t know me from a hole in the ground. Why invite some strange man to your place?”

            She shrugged. She rested one arm on the console, her other lazily controlling the steering wheel. “Just something my old man used to say.”

            “‘Pick up weird-looking guys on the side of the road’?”

            She made a noise between a laugh and a sigh. “No, just some stuff about kindness. What goes around comes around, that kinda crap.”

            “Ah.”

            They rode in silence for a minute. He stared out the window, occasionally, discreetly, glancing at her before quickly averting his gaze. He folded his left leg over his right.

            “So what’s your story?” she eventually asked.

            “My story?”

            “Sure. Who you are, what you do, that sorta thing. Or if that makes you uncomfortable, why you need to hitchhike. Car break down or somethin'?”

            He fidgeted with his hands in his lap. “I’ve been traveling around the country.” He looked out the window and shrugged. “You know. Lost my job, didn’t have any purpose. Hoping I would find . . . something.”

            She nodded then took a breath. “Hhhyep. We all know what’s like. All part of . . .” She frowned. “You hear that?”

            “No.”

            She clicked her tongue. “Know anything about engines?”   

            “A little, I guess.”

            “I assume engines aren’t supposed to make clunking noises.”

            “Nope.”

            “Huh.” She ran her tongue over her teeth. “Should probably look at that, then. Wanna help me out?” She pulled over and got out. After a moment, he followed her.

            They were surrounded by empty road and trees and far as the eye could see. She lifted the hood and huffed. “Yeah.” She sighed. “That’s not supposed to . . . S**t. Wanna take a look?”

            She backed up and took a few steps away. He watched her walk away. Her hips swayed in an almost mesmerizing way. He shook his head and turned his attention to the engine.

            “I don’t see anything. What did you see?” Her footsteps approached him.

            “Oh, just a little something . . .” She suddenly gripped his shoulders with bruising force. “. . . missing.” She pressed her lips to his neck and bite down. He made a gasping noise and stiffened. Slowly, shakily, he reached up and tried to grab at her face. His arms went slack and dangled by his sides. She pulled back her head, and he fell to his knees. He swayed for a moment and fell to the pavement.

            A single crimson drop rolled down her chin. She wiped her mouth and looked down at him. “Thanks, hun.”

            She got into the car and drove away.

Author's Note

I had a vague sort of idea and had the WIP of this story posted, then I took some of Novel Minded_75's thoughts and finished this story. This is very much out of my comfort zone. I would love to hear what you think about it.

Reviews

[Novel Minded_75]

Corrections: You have a double quotation when Morgan repeats the word, 'is', and, 'modest (add comma) but perky...'
other than that, looks good as far as I can tell.
As for the story, it flowed well, but ended too abruptly.
I had the impression when you first started describing "Morgan" that she was a lady of the night, and by that, I mean a vampire. That was my first impression and I could see you using this to further this telling, if so wished.
Great build-up and although unfinished, it offers the chance for imaginations to flow.
I'd like to see what you do with this, should you continue :)

[Jacob Clifford]

The deal with those double quotations is that they were supposed to be dashes, but dashes don't transfer over from Word to this site's word processor, so they end up as quotes. And I agree about the ending being too abrupt. That's where the WIPness comes into play. I didn't know how to end it, or have any direction at all. Your comments gave me some ideas to mull over. Thanks for reading and leaving your thoughts.

[Novel Minded_75]

Anytime, Clifford!
Glad to know that I could offer some insight.

[barleygirl]

LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! This is a very unexpected turn of events & I was totally drawn in without a hint of the ending twist to come! I love it when a macabre story is so convincing. As always, your dialogue is realistic for such a weird encounter, just enuf hesitation, just enuf recklessness . . . reminding me of the good ole days when people hooked up with strangers & didn't worry about getting killed. Now I'm getting in the mood for some Halloween themes around here! *smile* (((HUGS)))

[Jacob Clifford]

Yep, these sort of things don't happen much now. I also didn't realize how close it was to October! Where has this year gone? I'm glad the ending came as a surprise, and thanks as always for reading.