Just keep it Annie

Conner was still grumbling as he sped out of the highschool parking lot. His silverado made enough noise to wake the dead. At least that's what his grandfather used to tell him. But his thoughts came back to the situation at hand. Peggy Thomspons had just dumped him outside of the highschool gym. For A jerk named Richie Sanders. A string of obscenities flew out of his mouth. Why, because Richie’s family had money, Not just money, they were filthy rich. No one family should have so much money when others had to work so hard for it.

“Look at me, my daddy bought me a brand new fancy car. I didn’t have to earn the money myself.” he mimicked Peggy’s crushing statement. “He is rich, that means he's just better than you.” If that wasn’t bad enough, she left him standing there for everyone to laugh at. Laughing at him and his dad’s stupid blue suit. He walked out with a heavy, embarrassed heart.

“I don’t need you!” he said aloud to no one.”Your stupid.” he added still mumbling under his breath. As he drove his foot pressed heavily on the gas pedal, he took O'Reilly's corner just a bit too fast, his tires losing grip on the wet, oily road. He turned his wheel and straightened out just in time to miss a small dark figure. A person walking dangerously close to the edge of the highway, his foot was on the break, the sound echoing down the dimly lit road. He took several shaky breaths, ready to get out of his cab and give the guy a piece of his mind, but that guy was a sad frightened young girl, close to his own age. She just stood there, the rain had soaked her beautiful auburn hair, it clung to her pale soft cheeks. She was crying and looked confused, glancing left and right as if looking for someone.

He felt bad for being angry, and he rushed over to see if he could help. He grabbed his old track and field jacket, for a second he frowned, the jacket was old and worn, yet when he offered it to her, she only smiled with gratitude, there was something about those hazel eyes, haunting, yes that's the word he was looking for.

“Can you help me? I’m lost, my boyfriend left me here. Her face was so pale, tears rolled down her cheeks in huge droplets. His heart sank, surely he was overreacting, he got dumped, It was nothing compared to being abandoned on OReillys. What kind of jerk does that? He asked himself. No one really drove the highway anymore not after the new fandangled super highway was finished last year. Conner thought the road was abandoned, no one lived here. But then, maybe he was wrong.

“Can you drive me home, my parents must be very worried.” she told him, the thought seemed to sadden her even more. He helped her into the cab. He wondered if he should take her to the hospital, when he offered she shook her head,”I want to go home.” She gave him the address 1175 OReily. Her voice was soft and her eyes distant. He drove looking straight ahead, glancing several times to his right, he cleared his throat nervously, now that they were in the cab he could tell she was even more beautiful then he realized. Conner wasn't used to talking to beautiful girls. He searched his empty head for something to say, the silence was uncomfortable, at least to him. She seemed content to stare out the darkened window.

“I'm Conner, he offered his name first, she turned to face him.

“Annie, my friends used to call me Annie.” was all she said. As sad as he felt for Annie, he was feeling a little better himself. Maybe being dumped wasn’t so bad after all.

They sat in silence, Conner felt himself relaxing, even the storm seemed to calm a little. The ‘dumped’ pair sat contently, the heat blasting, the radio whispering low in the background.

It was strange, he continued to look for houses but found only a handful, which were boarded up, most condemned.

“Not many people still come this way, I am glad I did.” Conner smiled, and Annie smiled back, nodding.”You are the only one thats ever stopped.” that caught his attention. Had others driven past Annie tonight? Left her alone on a deserted dangerous corner of an abandoned road. How long had she been here, waiting?

They drove to the very end of O'Reilly's, back in 2007 a horrible car accident had occurred, the car had swerved and hit the side rail, the car plummeted 200 feet straight down. No one in the car had survived. He found the address, slowing down, this couldn't be right, he thought to himself.

“Annie are you sure?” he turned his head, to ask. To his shock the cab was empty. He hadn’t even heard her open the door. An unwanted explosion of thunder almost above his truck almost made him jump out of his skin. The storm had returned, A flash of lightning illuminated the sky, and he saw her, running in front of his truck. He jumped out of the cab, to his dismay he was standing in front of the old Cemetery. No one came here, no one put their loved ones here anymore, after the accident people thought the place was cursed, or haunted. He watched as she fled between crumbling tombstones. No matter how fast he ran he couldn't catch her, and he was fast, he had metals and awards to prove it. He was even faster than Richie Sanders. He smirked, he turned corner after corner but couldn't catch her. He called her name, but thunder seemed to swallow his words. “Annie stop, please.”

As if by magic, everything stopped, became still, there was no rain, no thunder, it wasn’t a normal silence, it felt unnatural. Not even a cricket. Now, admittedly Conner wasn’t a brave young man, perhaps that was why he could run so fast. He looked around for several long minutes finally realizing she wasn’t there anymore. He walked the entire perimeter of Potts Cemetery, she wasn’t there, poof gone! The strangest thing was the back gate was chained and fastened with a huge rusted lock that would probably still be around after everything else crumbled into dust. He took a tug just to make sure. The gate did not budge. Reluctantly Conner started back to the entrance. The storm was still, for now, he could see the main gate, with just enough room to squeeze through like before. His inner voice told him she most likely lived close, maybe him being a stranger she was just being careful. Another flash of lightning flashed above the cemetery, this time he ran, faster then he’d ever ran before. Something told him not to look back. He ran so hard he had no choice but to stop, his lungs hurt, and he was gasping to breath. He leaned heavily against the side of a tombstone.

He stood, the hairs on the back of his neck standing straight up, there was this sensation of not being alone, then a soft voice whispered,”Thankyou, for letting me use your jacket.” it could have been his imagination, or just the wind blowing through the empty cemetery. He heard a soft laugh. It was coming from behind him. He took his hand off the tombstone and forced himself to turn around. No one was there. But he did notice something, his track jacket, hanging loosely over the very stone he’d leaned on to catch his breath. He wanted to run, his brain was screaming don’t look, don’t you dare look.” even as the words drifted through his mind he couldn't help but step closer to the tombstone.

“Here lies our dearest Annebelle “Annie” Sinclair. Gone too soon.”

That's all folks! He ran to the gates squeezing through the small opening, the chains clanking loudly, the wind howled through the empty lot, and that soft sweet laugh, echoing through the forgotten headstones.

He didn’t stop until his door was locked, He turned the ignition and the engine roared to life, its headlights shining into Pott’s Cemetery, He sped off, watching in his rearview mirror at the figure of an auburn haired girl. His track jacket around her shoulders. Maybe his grandfather had been right, maybe his truck was loud enough to wake the dead, as for his jacket...

“Keep it.” he said softly his foot hit the gas pedal a little harder, “Ya just keep it Annie.”