My Car Broke Down In The Middle Of Nowhere, And Now I’m Pretty Sure I’ll Never Get Home

Morgan slid into the front seat and pulled the key from his pocket. He took a deep breath and put the key in the ignition. He turned the key and the car sputtered to life. Tommy had fixed it.

“Hey! Look at that. You did it, man!” Morgan jumped out of the car and turned to Tommy who was blowing on his fingertips and wiping them on his shirt.

“Ah ya know. Its no big deal or nothin’…I’m just a genius.” Tommy smiled at Morgan who smiled back. The two shook hands as if they’d been friends for years and walked inside to have a celebratory whiskey. Morgan was a writer. Which means he was an avid drinker. He claimed it helped his creativity. The two sat in the small living room and drank until they both passed out- well, until Morgan passed out. Tommy grabbed a blanket from the closet and laid it over Morgan who was sitting up on the couch, head back, mouth open. He stood there for 10 minutes, looking at Morgan sleep. His eyes turned sad and a frown formed on his face. He placed his hand on Morgan’s pale forehead.

“Night, Mo.”

He woke up in the middle of the night twice. Once because he heard Tommy talking to someone — on the phone, assumingly. It seemed like there was some disagreement but Morgan was too groggy to make sense of it or even remember it in the morning.

The second time was because of a bad dream; at least he thought it was a bad dream. He was walking along the rode toward the mountains. He just kept walking — for miles. He passed Bobby’s house and saw him sitting on his porch, shotgun by his side, drinking lemonade, and smiling. His teeth the color of the ripening corn. His eyes looked desperate. For companionship? For help? Morgan didn’t know. He just kept walking. The sun was coming down behind the mountain when he saw Tommy standing on the side of the road. He didn’t look like the man he had met when he was awake this afternoon. This Tommy was slouched, and his eyes were black.

His denim overalls were covered in blood, not grease, and he was scowling. A small sliver of teeth behind his scowl showed a dark yellow coating. And then he started running. Not a calm, gentle jog, either. It was more like a manic sprint. Like a rabid dog. Before he knew it, Morgan was running too. Away from Tommy. This Tommy. He looked back, and saw into Tommy’s black eyes. It reminded him of looking down Bobby’s double barrel shotgun. And then he hit something — hard.

He flew backward and landed in a heap. It felt like he got hit by a car. There was nothing in front of him though. Morgan got up and tried to start running again. But again he ran into…nothing. Tommy was gaining fast now, his lips looked crusty and his hair was thin and cracked. Morgan got up again and put his hands out in front of him. They touched a wall. A wall he couldn’t see. Like when you try to go outside the barriers of a video game. He banged and banged on the “wall” but there was no use. It was solid and Tommy was almost on top of him. He turned around and put his back against the wall. Tommy was insane now. He was coming full speed. His jaw seemed broken and was jutting to one side. It hung from his skull like a porch swing. Morgan tried to crouch and defend himself but he couldn’t move. Everything was paralyzed. He even tried to scream but nothing came out. Tommy was two big steps away when he opened his mouth, his jaw fell another foot and his teeth became fangs. Morgan looked into Tommy’s eyes again right before he closed his and braced himself.

That’s when he woke up. Sweating and panting. His heart was beating out of his chest. Morgan sat up and caught his breath trying to remember the details of the dream while simultaneously trying to forget them. He eventually laid his head back down and drifted off back to sleep, wary of the possible nightmare waiting for him on the other side of consciousness. He, however, slept dreamless the rest of the night.

The sun seemed to rise earlier for Morgan the next day. It shown in perfectly through the living room window, as if the window was put there as natural alarm clock. Morgan’s eyes tried to adjust to the brightness as he sat up from his slouch and put his hands on his knees. Did Tommy tuck me in last night? It took a minute for his head to start to pound. He looked around the room half expecting to see Tommy slouched on the chair next to him. Nothing but the dust drifting through the sun glares. The trees were quiet outside. The whole world seemed frozen. Morgan got up and made his way to the kitchen. No Tommy. Tommy’s bedroom was empty as well. The bed was so perfect it was hard to believe Tommy had slept there last night. Morgan made his way outside to the porch, the bright sun made him close his eyes and wait out another wave of headaches. As his eyes adjusted, he saw Tommy come into view, wiping his hands on his dirty overalls.

“Hey, look who’s up.” Tommy walked up smiling.