This is a story about what might happen if you let someone made you really mad. Remember it is always good to keep your temper in hand.
But
it was going to be worth it. I had managed to get off work a few hours early,
and anticipated a few hours alone at home before the rest of the family
arrived. A long hot shower, or maybe, better yet, a bath. With a bottle of
wine, or maybe a cold beer. I hadn’t decided which would be my choice. Then an
hour or so stretched out in my recliner watching TV. No, with a good book.
Didn’t I have a mystery novel I hadn’t read yet? I was sure I did. It would be a way of getting my sanity back
from business in the big city. I had to do it. It would be a kind of
mini-vacation. I was going to get away from everything for a while. If only for
a few hours.
The
traffic was worse.
The
woman, to the left had her windows down and was yelling into a cell phone,
while on the right was a car full of teenagers with rap music blaring. I rolled
up my window and put on some light rock. As I looked up from loading the CD
player, I found myself watching, in my rear view mirror, sucking in a breath
and gripped the steering wheel hard as a small black car flew up behind me and
slammed on its brakes to keep from rear-ending my Chevy Blazer. “You stupid
idiot,” I hissed between clenched teeth, to no one but myself.
The
car had stopped only inches from my rear bumper. I was surprised he hadn’t
actually hit me. I could see the driver glaring at me, as we inched along in
the center lane. He was a tall, skinny, dude. Black hair slicked back, with dark,
burning, beady little eyes. Real creepy looking. He was dressed in a black suit
with a black shirt. The only bit of color he had on was a brilliantly,
blood-red tie that looked wet – with – well, with what looked like – fresh
blood. That was dumb, must be – maybe, something, - maybe he got his lunch on
it. For some reason I shuddered at the sight of the enigmatic man, and my own
blood ran cold. He frowned, his mouth a dark gash in his pallid white
face.
There
was an opening next to me, and with a squeal of tires the black car jumped into
the next lane and sped off. I noticed a white car right behind it. Jerks! I
thought. How careless playing dangerous games on an overcrowded highway.
I
continued on and several times saw both small cars. The white and the black
one. They guy in the black car was creepier each time I saw him. He kept
glaring at me with that ‘If looks could kill’ look. But the guy in the white
car looked nice, and friendly. At one point he pulled up beside me, waved, and
smiled a silly little grin. He had long, blond hair, kind of frizzy, and a big
white tee shirt on. Reminded me of some of the hippies I had seen, except this
guy did look clean. Really different from the guy in the black car. He waved
again. There sure were a lot of weird people on the road anymore, but to be
nice, I waved back, his grin grew bigger, but his car drew ahead of me, as the
lane he was in moved a bit faster than my lane for a while.
Damn! While I had been watching the two weird
guys in the black and the white car, I missed my exit. Traffic picked up and I
was sweep along with it, unable to get into the outside lane so I could get off
the freeway. Before I realized it I was beyond the city.
Oh,
well, I thought, I drove on for a bit and then took an exit that looked like it
headed into the wide open country. Why not, I thought, a drive in the country
that would be as nice as a few hours at home. Maybe even better.
I
thrilled at the sight of trees, rocks, boulders, and cliffs. Wild flowers
scattered over green meadows, while horses, and cows grazed peacefully. Houses
were few and far between, and soon even they were gone.
I
glanced over at a rushing stream and had a brief thought of wading barefoot in
the deliciously cool water. It was only a quick glance at the stream but when I
looked back, there, just in front of my Blazer, was a small black car. I had to
hit the brakes hard to keep from rear-ending it. I started, as I saw the grim
features of the same man I had seen earlier. It was the same black car, with
the creepy guy from the freeway.
And
when I glanced in my rearview mirror, there was the cute guy in the white car
behind me.
What
the hell, I though. “Where did they come from, again?” I wondered out loud. How
had they caught up with me?
I
slowed to a crawl and the white car zigged around me. The two cars went around
a turn in the road, and disappeared out of my sight. I drove slowly around the
turn, looking for the two, but could see no vehicles on the straight stretch of
road.
I
breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe they had turned off. Sure, that was it. They
had turned off. They had gone on, to pester someone else, somewhere else.
I
drove on toward the campground I knew was at the end of the road.
The
road was now a narrow two lane, and became more winding, and twisting the
farther I went. The beauty of the country filled my mind and soul. Thoughts of
too long days, that never were finished fled, to be replaced by a since of
wonder, and discovery that I likened to a small child on its first adventure
away from the city. I felt as if someone else was putting the thoughts into my
mind.
I felt that surely I was the only human in all
this, almost, wilderness. I rolled down my window and savored the wind on my
face and the smell of pine trees, dirt, and untainted fresh air.
A
flicker in my side mirror revealed a black streak of a car speeding up behind
me. I held my breath, expecting to be hit, but at the last instant the car
swerved around me to roar past and on. As I watched it I saw the white car appear
in front of the black one.
Now
how had the white one gotten in front of me? I was sure it hadn’t gone around
me or even been there just moments before.
I
blinked my eyes and both cars were gone. Now where had they gone this time?
This game they were playing was becoming a bit ridiculous. Exasperated, I
cursed them, then tried to forget them, and find the mood I had been in just
moments before. But I couldn’t find it.
The
strange game being played by the two cars had thoroughly chased off the ambient,
relaxed feelings of before. Now I just felt frustrated, and mad. Mad at the two
crazy drivers. I wanted to get back at them. I wanted to ruin their day too. I
wanted revenge.
It
was beside me again. As if out of no where. Out of thin air. The black car was
back, beside my Blazer, but on the right side. It couldn’t be on the road.
There was no room. It had to be on the shoulder of the road. And even the
shoulder was to narrow. It looked as if it was almost out over the side
ditches, and the grass. Was it floating above that drop off? No. It couldn’t
be.
The
driver glared at me, as he had before. As I watched his pasty, white face
turned red. Dark lips spread wide in an evil grin, revealing jagged, pointed
teeth that appeared to drip blood. His large eyes turned glassy black like big
marbles and seemed to roll in his head.
What
the hell, I thought. I’m seeing things. I jerked the wheel, as I realized my
car was on the wrong side of the road, and a red car was honking its horn at me.
When I had pulled back to the correct lane and looked again the black car was
still there. But the driver looked more normal. A moment later he was gone and
the white car was in front of me.
The
driver of the car was turned around backward in the seat. How was he driving? He
waved at me with both hands, his hair flying wildly around his head. I heard
him yelling at me. “Stop. Stop. Please stop the car. Don’t go any farther. Or
you’ll die. He’s trying to kill you. He wants your soul. Please stop.”
Then
the white car disappeared. Was I dreaming? Was I hallucinating? Surely there
should be other cars on the road to see what was happening. There! There was a
car, an another. Had they seen the two crazy drivers?
That’s
it! I decided. Enough was enough. I was going home. Forget about a drive in the
country. Forget about a hot bath and a cold beer. I was going home. I didn’t
care if I got my mini-vacation or not. I just wanted to be home. To see my wife
and kids. At the next wide spot in the road I pulled over, turned around and headed
back for home.
I
hadn’t gone far when there they were, the white car and the black car, playing
tag. First the white one was in the lead, then the black. First they were in
front of me, then behind me. The driver of the black car seemed determined to
make me as mad as possible. The driver of the white car kept whispering in my
ear for me to stop, pull over and stay put. The guy in the black suit would
yell at me to keep going. Or I think they did. They never left their cars.
Never stopped. But I could hear what they were saying. It was as if their
voices were in my head. I got madder, and more upset. Aggravated, beyond
belief, I wanted revenge. I wanted to make the guy in the black car pay for
ruining my day.
I
tromped on the gas petal and roared after the black car. I was raging at him.
Cussing him with every bad word I could spit out. I would get him. I would
spoil his day. Destroy his game. Maybe even annihilate him. That was it. I
would exterminate him – like a bug. I would stomp on him. I pushed the gas
petal down harder, and the Blazer speeded up, but as fast as I drove, I
couldn’t catch up to the black car. My blood roared in my ears. I couldn’t see
anything but the black car. I had to catch it. I had to wreak it. To destroy
the car and the driver.
I
never noticed the chasm off to the side of the road, or the blue van behind me.
I wove back and forth, from one side of the road to the other, trying to catch
the black car. I was right on his bumper now. I had him. I was sure I did.
But…if I had him, why was I standing beside my Blazer. I looked at the Blazer
again. What had happened? The Blazer looked as if it had been wreaked. Was that
a body in side of it? Hey! That guy sure does look like me.
I
wasn’t standing beside the car anymore. I was standing on it. Or just over it.
Why weren’t my feet touching it? I looked up the rocky slope to the road. Was
the road up there? Of course it was. And there was the white car and the black
car.
The
two drivers were standing outside their vehicles now, looking down at me. “Why
did you do this to me?” I yelled at them, clinching my fists, I raised one and
shook it at them. “WHY?”
“I
tried to get you to stop,” said the blond guy in the oversized white tee shirt
and white pants. “But you wouldn’t lesson.” He raised his hands a bit, palm up,
and shrugged his shoulders. “I tried. It was all I could do.”
The
creepy guy in black with the red tie was giggling and doing some kind of a
dance in a circle. His face was first white, then black, then red, then white
again. His teeth were still dripping blood. He kept singing “I won, I won, I
won, I won.”
“Yes,
you did. This time,” said the guy in white. “But next time I will.” He turned,
walked off, and seemed to disappear into thin air. The guy in black slowly sank
into the ground, still giggling and saying, “I won. He’s mine.”
I
dropped down to sit on the hood of the Blazer. I covered my face with my hands
and howled in misery. I had thought it was over, but I realized it was just
beginning. I looked at the body in the truck and realized that it was me.
The
blue van pulled up and stopped at the edge of the road. Two men and two women
got out and eased out until they could look over into the gorge. The women
pulled back in horror at the sight. “Poor fool,” said one man. “He never had a
chance.”
“He
just went right over. Must have rolled three times, at least.
“Why
did he do it?” asked one women. “Why was he going so fast on such a dangerous
road?”
The
other spoke up. “It was like he was possessed.”
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