Jessie's Lesson

With a final shudder the little, red Daewoo came to a grinding halt. Plumes of thick, red dust swirled up through the windows, before finally settling on Jessie's blonde hair. She was stuck in the middle of nowhere and it was like the sun had come to earth, it was that hot.

“No darling, cmon don’t break down here” she grumbled, turning the key but nothing came from the old engine. She laid her head down on her hands as they gripped the steering wheel.

“Why can’t anything go right for me? Am I that much a screw up” she yelled to no one, there literally wasn’t anyone around to hear her. She sighed, took a deep breath and glanced at the passenger seat where she spotted her old, faded blue cap and snatched it up.

Opening the door, it creaked so loudly she wouldn’t be surprised if dogs could hear it, she slapped her cap on and hopped out of the car to examine her surroundings. There wasn’t much, not that she was surprised, she hadn’t laid eyes on another car for at least the last hour. Jessie was definitely not a country girl, so why was she here in the middle of nowhere? Love or so she thought.

The last few months, she had been living in Brisbane city and loved the city, but grew tired of the dating scene of one-night stands and hook-ups that didn’t pull on her heart strings. She wanted more, so after scrolling again through Tinder and countless other dating apps, here she was out in the middle of nowhere on her way to meet a potential partner. Until this cheap, rental she had hired had conked out in the middle of who knows where. Fanning her face with one hand, she grabbed her phone out of her back pocket.

“Of course, no reception, why I am fucking surprised” she groaned running out of options. She looked around, all she could see was dust, trees and a rusty old shed. She blinked again, and yep there was shelter. Thinking it was better than nothing, she locked the car, put the keys in her pocket and started what looked like a short walk to the shed.

Please let there be water or something to drink in there, she thought to herself. I don’t want to die out here. As she got closer, she pulled her phone out and eyed off the reception bar in case she had to call 000. She stopped, there was one bar.

“Oh my god” she cried happily and leapt up. Who should she call? She wondered. The guy she was on her way to meet or RACQ for help? Just then she heard dull footsteps, it didn’t sound human though. Eeek what do I do. She racked her brain. She slowly turned as they became closer. Glancing up, it was a horse with a person riding it.

“Umm are you ok there?” the person asked, taking off their hat revealing short blondish hair of a guy.

“Yeah, umm I broke down” Jessie pointed to the red car in the dust. “I was just headed to that shed for water”

The guy, pulled up a flap on the side of the horse and pulled out a flask and a portable cup, “Here, have this. You’re not from around here are you?” he asked, eyeing her off while he poured red liquid into the cup.

She eyed off the liquid, “what is that?” she queried.

“Oh just the family merlot, my family own a winery, sorry I don’t have water”

“Thanks” she grabbed the cup and took a swig. “No I am not, how can you tell? Jessie replied.

“Well first off, you aren’t dressed like a country person, and second you’re too trusting. This is a bad side of town, you need to be careful.” He warned.

Jessie wanted to run away, but for some reason she couldn’t move. Her eyes felt heavy, and last thing she saw was his evil grin, than everything went black.