Meeting Windy

The nightmares are occurring more vividly now, that incident at the Motel didn't help at all. I sit at an internet cafe right now, preparing myself for whatever comes next. I have this overly paranoid feeling that I am being followed by something not entirely human. It sounds far-fetched, but you have to understand that things haven't been normal since I “came back” from the dead. I still feel like there was something I left in the other world. I've never been a religious man, and I probably never will be, but now I really don't know what I think of this whole life and death thing. There are stories all over the internet of people dying and going to hell, only to come back highly religious. I would like to know where my spiritual journey happened; mostly because I don't really feel like mine has even begun. I feel like a pilgrim who has been beaten and then thrown out of a church. People are staring and whispering behind my back. I guess it must be strange to see a homeless man with a laptop sitting in a Starbucks actually writing. They don't know me, or what I've been through the past few days. I don't think they would understand even if I told them.

Before I got to the internet cafe, my car had broken down on a long stretch of road in some forest in what I'm assuming is northern Missouri. I say assuming because I really didn't know where I was, and there was no civilization in sight. I popped the hood of my car and looked inside, but I really didn't know what to look for. I should have expected it to break down, I bought the lemon for a lump sum of 300 dollars. It even included tags so I wouldn't have to worry about the police stopping me and asking a million question about why I didn't have a license plate. I think the tag was a fake, probably forged in some meth lab somewhere; considering where I bought it that wouldn't surprise me. I slammed the trunk down and walked around back to the back seat, and got my laptop bag out. I knew what I had to do, and I really wasn't too keen on doing it. I had to start walking to see if I could get to a gas station, or else risk getting attacked by some crazy hillbilly. I started on foot. If there was anything good to come out of this, it's that the forest is rather tranquil; so that put me at ease. “maybe nothing bad will happen to me today,” I said to myself. 

I got about a mile up the road when I heard somebody driving behind me. She pulled up next to me and rolled her window down. “Excuse me, sir?” she said. I looked at her and tried to respond with the social etiquette that I had learned when I was writing for the news. “What?” In retrospect that probably could have come out a lot nicer than it did. She looked at me like I had spit on her face. “I noticed that there is a car left unattended on the side of the road back there; is it yours?” “Yes,” I've lost all of my social skills. I know that's a perfectly reasonable response, but it was the tone in which I said it that sounded bad. “Do you need a ride to the nearest gas station?” I honestly don't know how she could stand to talk to me for more than 30 seconds. “Well, if you make it a hobby of helping random people, then yes I would appreciate it.” “You don't have a gun in that bag do you?” I pulled the laptop out of the bag and showed it to her. “That's an odd thing to be carrying around out here,” she said. I looked at her and retorted “well if I had planned on getting broken down out here I probably wouldn't have brought with me,” which was untrue. She pushed the door open and motioned for me to get in. I don't like accepting rides from strangers, even though I'm pretty sure she wasn't a threat. I walked over to the car and got in.

“So what are you doing all the way out here,” She asked. I tried to make up a split second lie so I wouldn't have to explain my position to her “I'm homeless.” I'm really bad at lying. She glanced at me. “You're homeless huh,” she asked. I knew it was sarcastic, and she knew that I knew. Usually, I would flirt with a woman as attractive as her, but I don't look at women as beautiful anymore. I know by the normal standards set by the society she is very attractive, but getting involved with anybody right now would only slow me down. I lucked out that she  was a nice enough person to just stop and help a random vagrant out. “I don't think being homeless usually lands people in the middle of  Bluff Woods Forest, considering it's a national forest and all.” I guess I am in the right place. Bluff Woods Is in Buchanan County. “Does the nearest gas station also double as a mechanic,” I asked suddenly. She laughed at me, “This isn't a movie, they don't have many of those anymore.” I looked down and silently cursed my luck. “Well I don't have anything important in that car,” I said depressingly, “if I can't find somebody that knows how to fix it, I will just leave it there.” She looked at me like she felt sorry for me. “So what's the laptop for?” I didn't really want to go into it so I gave the simplest answer I could think of. “I like to write in my spare time.” She didn't really look like she believed me, but that was fine with me. “Write what,” she asked much to my dismay. “Whatever strikes my fancy at that particular moment in time I suppose,” I was really trying to sound nonchalant about it. I knew she heard the tension in my voice, but that didn't stop her from playing twenty questions with me. Younger females are always the most talkative, and this one looks like she was fresh out of high school. I knew that it was going to be a long horrible ride. “I see.” 

After what seemed like an eternity of questions we finally arrived at the gas station. “Well miss, thank you for the ride,” I said, but I knew better than to think she was just going to let me go. “Do you need to be shown around town?” “No that's quite alright,” I knew this wasn't going to end anytime soon. “Well I have nothing better to do, I was actually just going home from college,” She said. I knew she was trying to tag along on my little adventure that I had embarked upon. There was a voice telling me to go ahead and take her. I told her way too much about where I'm going, and she showed interest in wanting to go, mostly because she is a self-proclaimed Wiccan. What the hell is wrong with me, I thought to myself, I knew I shouldn't have told her where I was going. I let out a sigh and decided that I was going to take her. She had a basic knowledge of the occult, so that could be of some help. “Fine,” I mumbled. She started smiling and hopped out of the car, ran over to me, and then hugged me. “Thank you so much, Mr....Um,” I knew she was about to ask me for my name, “what is your name, anyway?” I looked at her and said “Seth.”