The Gas Station

"I quit!" I say as I throw my towel down on the kitchen floor. It had been my third week in a working row of doubles, and my manager still hadn't given me any free time for myself. It felt selfish, but I couldn't take it anymore. I needed out of the establishment.

"It's the middle of the night. Can't you finish the shift?" My manager begs me.

"Fuck you." I aggressively sneer.

"You'll never be content." My manager mumbles as I stomp by him. He wasn't wrong, either. Or so I let him be, which is why I am writing you this story.

I made my way out onto the street, leaving behind the old restaurant and nightclub I worked at, and it was now a past job on a resume. I got in my car and turned it on. Black Eyed Peas blared through the speaker, letting me know that tonight would be a good night. I took the chance at positivity and drove off to the music.

I had ideas running through my head. I was now free and could do whatever I wanted. I could hike any mountain I wanted. I could party as long as I wanted. I could take in any new experience that came my way. It was now 9 p.m., and I had to do something. I had wanted to hike for months, and the snow was starting to melt with the start of spring. I could camp out overnight and go hiking in the morning. I had my spikes in the back seat and decided to make my way to the highway.

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I made a poor decision when I decided it'd be fun to head up toward the mountains for an early sunrise hike. I was enjoying the quietness on the highway, having only been passed by one light blue car. It was late into the night yet so early into the morning, coming close to 12:30 a.m. on March 30th, 2022, and my gas mileage now read two even lines, signaling less than fifteen miles left in my tank. I got off the closest exit and turned left towards the little signs of light in the small dim-lit town.

There was a Mobile and a Cumberland Farms right across from one another, having simply a little hill in between the two. Over at Mobile, there was a red Jeep with a younger man getting his gas. At Cumberland Farms, there was the shiny light blue car that had passed me earlier, sitting alone. The numbers on the Cumbies read a whole twenty cense less. I debated with myself for a second but decided to drive towards Cumbies.

The blue car was sitting there, completely turned off. I continue to the gas stations anyways and pull up into the pump spot one over from the vehicle. I get out of my Subaru and head over to the pump. I glimpse over towards the little light blue car and see the shadows of people moving in the backseat while the back windows have fog within the middle. A shorter man jumps from the backseat to the front, his shiny smile showing through the unfogged spots on the windows. The shadow of another human face stares at me from the backseat. I looked towards the front seat, and dark blue-rimmed eyes with expanded pupils stared back at me. I freeze for a second before turning around, no longer facing the man in the driver's seat. I hear a door lightly closing from the vehicle and the sudden sound of footsteps moving quickly.

I decide that 20 more is nothing of a bother as I get back into my car and drive toward Mobile. Once parked at the Mobile station, I looked back over at the light blue car, which remained turned off, but no person was seen outside the vehicle as I'd thought to have heard.

"Whatever," I mumble as I get out of my Subaru and start filling up my gas tank. I tried to avoid looking at the vehicle but gave in a few times as I waited for my tank to fill up. It remained sitting and turned off.

Once I had my gas, I jumped back into my Subaru and set my GPS back to the mountains. I turned on my car, and the light blue car across the hill from me turned on. I waited for the car to leave, but they didn't move an inch.

I couldn't tell if I was overreacting, but I prayed to the mountains surrounding me. I start to grow fearful within myself as I think back to the man in the front seat that was staring back at me, almost as if he somehow seemed familiar but in a way that I wish not to remember.

Out of nowhere comes a police vehicle. I jump in surprise as the officer follows, doing the same. I look towards the light blue car over at Cumbies intensely. The officer's eyes follow mine toward the vehicle. He quickly zoomed to the right going straight up the hill and stopping behind the light blue car.

I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life that night and left the second the officer got out of his car, thinking it was now a safe time to leave. I went back on the interstate in the opposite direction of the mountains and back towards the cities. My speed increased from 70 to 80 and then 90. I thought I was safe and at an end with the humans inside that light blue car that night once the lights of the tall building greeted me when, in all actuality, it was only the beginning.