The young girl had been out late with her friends. She had attended a party and even met a new potential boyfriend. What a fine night it had been. The only downside was having to explain to her parents where she had been all night. After all, she had a strict curfew and had completely ignored it tonight. But wow was it worth it.
She pulled into a gas station (the only one open at this time of night) to fuel up. Living far out in the country made it necessary to keep an eye on the fuel gauge and this was the only place to stop before her long country drive. It was late and the gas station seemed almost like a ghost town. She nervously pumped her gas while looking over her shoulder. Something just didn’t feel right. It was cold that night and she could feel her entire body shivering. She wasn’t sure if it was the cold, or if it was the nervous and creepy feeling that she had being temporarily stuck at this small country gas station. The only other vehicle in sight was an old rusty pick up truck that sat ominously next to the building in the even darker shadows of night. She assumed that this was probably an abandoned truck, but it sure did give her the creeps.
Soon she heard the gas pump click and she breathed a sigh of relief as she tightened the lid on her gas tank and jumped quickly into her car. Just as she was about to turn on to the main country road that would lead her home, she saw something in the rear view mirror that made her heart almost stop beating. That old pickup..The abandoned one. It’s lights came on and illuminated the entire inside of her car. She could hear the rumble of the old engine as the truck revved up and started to drive towards her car. She knew that something was very wrong and with her heart pounding, she pulled quickly onto the main road. To her horror the old truck followed right behind her. She clutched the steering wheel tightly and sat up straight in her seat. She couldn’t take her eyes off the lights in her rear view mirror. Soon the truck was so close that she felt as if she hit the brakes, it would hit her. With tears filling her eyes, she stepped on the gas pedal. Her little 4 cylinder car sped up, but was no match for the spooky truck following behind. The truck sped up too and started flashing it’s lights. The flash of it’s lights made it hard to see. “Why is this happening?” she thought. Soon the truck was swerving to the left and seemed to be trying to pull up beside her. By now, she was crying uncontrollably and wishing that she had listened to her parents and came home on time. Every time she would speed up..The truck would drive right up behind her and flash his lights wildly. She was so scared that it would run her off the road. She was starting to think that this may be her last night alive. All the thoughts that generally would run through someones mind as they were about to die started to run through hers too. What would her parents think? Would they ever know what happened to her? She could barely see the road through her tears. The truck then started to blow its horn. It was the most awful sound she had ever heard and her body jumped every time it would blow.
For miles now, this had been happening. Every second of which she was sure she was about to die. But soon there was a glimmer of hope. She could tell that she was nearing her house. “Oh God if I could just make it home.” she thought. She knew her parents would be asleep, but if she could make enough noise as she pulled in the drive they would surely hear her. Her thoughts were interrupted as the loud noise of the old truck’s engine grew louder and lights filled the cab of her car again. The old horn started blowing behind her again. “Why won’t it just leave me alone?” she thought.
Finally she could see her driveway in the distance and she allowed herself..Just for a second, to think that she might survive. She pressed down as hard as she could on the horn of her car. Noise traveled easily out in the country and she was sure that even the neighbors would hear her. She whipped into her driveway, throwing gravel and dust into the night air. She never let off the horn. She could see the lights go on inside her house and she knew that her parents were now awake. She couldn’t help but to start laughing through her tears as she saw those lights and knew that her father was awake. Unfortunately the lights behind her were still there. It had followed her home! She brought her little car to a skidding stop and jumped out without even turning the engine off. She started screaming loudly as she ran towards her house. She could hear the creaking sound of the old truck door opening.
She was halfway there when she was met by her father and she collapsed at his feet screaming for help. The lights still shining from the old truck, they could see the shadow of a man walking towards them. Her father commanded the person to stop, but it just kept walking. Her father told her to go inside and he ran towards the shadowy figure which had changed directions and was headed for his daughters car. Her father called out for the person to stop again but soon realized that they had no intentions of listening to him and that whoever or whatever it was had opened the back door of his daughters car. He could hear a scuffle and yelling as he approached. When her father reached the car he was met by a familiar looking old man, pulling a not so familiar younger man out of the backseat of his daughters car. Them an was struggling and the old man looked at her father and said “Are you gonna help or what”? Realizing what was happening, the father grabbed hold of the younger man and helped to drag him from the back seat. The man who was in the back seat dropped what looked life a knife as he was yanked from the car. The old man pinned the stranger to the ground and the girls father yelled for his wife to call the police. She was already calling when he yelled.
You see, the reason the old man looked familiar was because he was the owner of that old county gas station and had seen them plenty of times before. He was just closing up when he happened to see her pull into the gas station. He also happened to see the strange man crawl into her backseat while she was outside pumping. He knew that he had to do something so he jumped into his old truck and followed behind her. He had tried to get her attention the whole way home. Every time he would see the man rise up from the back seat with the knife, he would flash his lights wildly and blow the old truck horn. Every time he did this, the stranger in the back seat would duck down again.
The old truck wasn’t trying to kill her at all. It had saved her life. Soon the police arrived and were shocked to discover the man being pinned down was a wanted fugitive and had been previously jailed for the murder of a teenage girl. he had hid in her back seat and waited until she was on the dark country road..Alone.
