Fade: Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten1

It felt like en eternity had passed. My legs were sore from walking, and my heart was racing, and yet I still felt like a fool. I was lost, confused, and the only answers seemed to stem from Maggie and Nathan–and both of them were on the hill.2

The highway that stretched along Mayborne, and the roads that shot between the highway were two different creatures. The highway seemed much more lonely than the small streets that had surrounded the Police station in town.3

Two yellow lights. I turned around to face two bright lights–this time attached to a small red car.4

It’s not often that a person is walking alongside a highway, so it’s not often that a person can see what a car looks like as it speeds toward you in the dim morning light. I felt like a deer, and my eyes widened as I became caught in the slowing car’s headlights.5

The car slowed to a stop in front of me and then it let out a weak horn. At first I was afraid to go near the passerby–but then I was relieved.6

I walked up the driver-side window as it rolled down. A beautiful woman with dark brown hair and eyes looked over at me and smiled.7

“What are you doing out here?” The woman asked in a slight-southern tone. 8

“I–I . . . I’m trying to find . . . my friends.” I lied, obviously I was smart enough to spill out everything that had happened to the strange woman I had just met. It seemed that meeting people on the side of the road had been my only way of contact so far–it was–strange.9

“Well . . . where are your friends?” The woman asked as she turned down the county-esque music on her radio.10

“Well . . . they are up ahead . . . on the hill above Silkwood Road . . . if you know where that is.” I said calmly.11

The woman nodded. “Of course! I live on Silkwood Road!” She exclaimed. “Get in, I’ll take you to your friends if you want.”12

I paused for a moment. There were two houses on the dead-end street of Silkwood Road, mine and the Thatcher’s. Of course . . . I thought maybe the woman lived on a nearby street and just considered it Silkwood Road . . . either way she was offering something that I needed rather badly.13

“Thank you.” I said in an exhausted tone, I walked around to the passenger-side and slipped inside the warm car.14

“No problem.” The woman said happily as she rolled her window back up and started the car back up the road. “So, tell me, what’s your name?” 15

I paused. “Melissa Harvey. I–I live on Silkwood Road too.” I said hesitantly.16

The woman’s eyes got large. “Melissa Harvey?” She paused, her eyes wandering through thoughts. She shook her head. “Who are your parents?” She asked again pleasantly, although she was obviously hiding some inner doubts.17

“My mom . . . Linda Harvey.” I said, plainly.18

The woman turned to me and raised an eyebrow. “Yes.” The woman said, making me feel rather uneasy. “I told you not to leave the house without permission!” She yelled suddenly, as she gripped the wheel with anger.19

I jerked back away from her, pushing myself to the door. “What are you talking about!?” I yelled.20

“Don’t mouth back at your mother!” She yelled, lifting her hand. “Don’t you ever mouth back at me!”21

“Stop it!” I yelled. “What are you talking about!?”22

“Melissa Jo, if you say so much as one more word, you’re grounded for a month! Do you know how worried I was when you ran off like that!? Do you understand how you made me feel!? Why do you treat me like this Melissa!? What did I do to you!?”23

I shook my head. “You’re insane!” I yelled. “You are not my mother! I don’t even know you!” 24

“Don’t say that Melissa!” the woman yelled. “If you don’t say it, mamma won’t have to kill you!” The woman’s eyes turned to me with insane anger. I looked out the side of the window at the speeding road, if I tried to jump out I could easily kill myself.25

“Please!” I exclaimed, tearing. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you are not my mother!”26

“DON’T SAY WHAT YOU DON’T MEAN MELISSA JO!” The woman’s neck twisted farther than a normal person’s should, twisting sideways as she smacked her head off the steering wheel with convulsion-like spasms.27

“MOMMY LOVES YOU MISSY” She yelled as her contorted head slammed off the steering wheel, all the while her hands still were able to turn the wheel and weave the car down the highway.28

I shook my head and was about to try and jump out the door–against my better judgment–it looked like the only choice.29

The woman slammed her head off the wheel again–had there been an air bag it would have surely gone off, but the make of the car seemed more than ten years old, with no space for anything but a metal plate in the middle of the wheel.30

“MOMMY WANTS YOU TO BE HAAAAAAAPY” 31

“Shut up!” I yelled, letting out some type of hidden anger. I slammed my elbow into the woman’s face, I heard the side of her skull crack as I dug into her head. 32

“LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUU”33

“MOMMY LOOOOOOVE. DON’T SAY. MOMMY!” The twisted, creature-like woman convulsed, and I reeled back to hold my bruised elbow and wait in fear of what was happening.34

The woman pulled up with her body, literally snapping her cracked neck and skull from her shoulders. I felt a need to vomit as blood and skin ripped off in the most disgusting manner imaginable. The head and neck fell to the floor, but the mouth was still open and moving in the such a way as to say ‘mommy’.35

The body flailed about, blood splattered on my face and clothes and I felt I had little choice left. I smacked into the bloody heap of living-flesh and tried with all my might to smack its leg off the gas pedal. It was disturbing to pull the convulsing body of the woman off the pedal, but it was even more disturbing to feel the warm blood splash on the back of my neck.36

The car began to slow down, but the insane-creature was still reeling about in seizures. Its hands clutched the wheel and turned the slowing car off to the side of the road, I flung out the door and jumped out onto the highway.37

I hit the gravel and dust at just over 40mph.  I rolled over onto the middle of the road in one piece. I didn’t feel any broken bones, but before I could stand, I heard the sickening sound of metal meshing into trees. The car, along with the convulsing woman, had plowed into a large oak tree.38