Graveyard Shift

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SIX
When I woke up, the sun was glaring at me brightly. I blinked a few times, my vision blurry as I pushed a hand through my hair and yawned. "Morning, sleeping beauty," Eleanor said. I glanced to my side, but she was not driving. In fact, nobody was even in the driver's seat. I will admit that I had a moment of panic and thought that I probably fell asleep at the wheel and was completely dead, what with the bright light and Eleanor's voice. Then I looked behind me and saw her in the middle of the backseat, Kris and Daren on the right side of her. It was all very slowly dawning on me as to what had happened and then enlightenment crossed my face. "Where are we?" I asked, seeing that nobody was driving at all. I looked outside of the windows and we were sort of around civilization. To the left of us, closer to my window, was a gas station, a few fast food restaurants, and an auto repair shop. Besides that, we were in the middle of nowhere, nothing to the right or up ahead or behind.
"Well, Anna's inside that little joint and paying for gas, and then we're going to eat at one of these places." Daren said, pointing. It didn't really answer the question, but I took it and nodded.
I looked out the window again and saw Anna coming out of the gas station. "Thank God," Daren started, "I'm starving. I need food."
"When aren't you hungry?" Kris threw at him. He immediately glared at her and let out a little huff of air. "Last night it was all about food, and so far today it's all about food. I wonder what you and Will talk about all day to be such great friends. I mean, all you have in mind is your mouth."
He immediately smirked and said, "Well, I guess I'm not the only one who thinks about it considering you brought it up." She scoffed and reddened.
"That is not what I meant! I only brought it up because you keep talking about food!" The rest of us laughed until the door opened. Anna was done pumping the gas and poked her head inside.
"I veto McDonald's, just so you guys know."
Daren immediately curled his hand in a fist and brought his elbow down as he said, "YESSS!" He smiled, "I love McDonald's."
Kris rolled her eyes and then replied smartly, "You do realize that veto means to dismiss as inadequate, right?" I began to laugh at that and he immediately nodded, pursing his lips.
"Well," he started off slowly, "I honestly have nothing to say to that; I'm just embarrassed. How did I get into IB?" We all laughed at that, as well as Daren.
***
"Am I the only one who realizes that people in luxury - such as having a car, a bed - small things that we all, don't deny it, take for granted, make the smallest things that happen to us seem to give us this "lost" and "hopeless" vibe while people who have absolutely nothing look at the world with hope in their eyes and positivity in their hearts? I mean, I could have a cold and keep coughing or sneezing, saying I'm dying, when someone who is actually dying of some terminal illness looks at their days like they have the world at their fingertips?" I commented at five-fifteen AM as we drove.
"Dude, that's, like, so morbid," Daren said.
Kris scoffed at his reply and rolled her eyes, "No, I totally agree with you. I mean, so many people are so ungrateful in the world. They take everything for granted."
"You're such a bully, Khizra."
"You did not know my name until yesterday night, which means you have no right to use it!"
"Don't complain," Anna said and turned away.
"I'm not complaining, I am simply inquiring as to what she has against me." Daren turned back to Kris. "It's because I'm a ginger, isn't it?"
"This may turn out to be a huge shocker, but: everything does not revolve around you!" She retaliated.
"Pretty sure that whole statement is filled with pretense," Daren shot back.
"I am trying to concentrate on blocking the two of you out, so if you guys could not talk, that would be brilliant; thanks!" Anna said.
"Don't be so mean!" Eleanor scolded Anna. "I am in the midst of watching a cliché love story begin!"
Kris then said, with her head thrown backward, "ALLAH, HELP ME! " she massaged her temples and closed her eyes, "JESUS, NOT ONLY DO I PUKE AT THAT IMAGE OF DAREN AND I EVER BEING TOGETHER, BUT I DO NOT WANT OR NEED A BOY IN MY LIFE ANYWAY!"
"GAYYYYYY!" Anna then said. Kris did a literal face palm at the sarcasm. Daren was only laughing.
"Isn't it beautiful, William?" Eleanor put a hand on my shoulder and I felt a bit of a tingle shoot up my spine, causing the hair on the back of my neck to rise. "Young love?"
"I couldn't find more beauty in Aphrodite, herself!" I replied. We both began to laugh.
***
At six o'three, Kris said, "SHIT! STOP THE CAR!" to which I replied by hitting the brakes immediately. We all breathed very irregularly until Kris ran out of the car with Eleanor's sweater, which had been sitting on her lap. We sat in the car awkwardly as the sun began to peak over the mountains.
"I'll go check on her?" Daren then said before unbuckling his seat belt and scooting himself out of the car.
"Bad idea," Anna then said before she unbuckled. Soon, all of us were out of the car and all I could see was Daren slowly leaning down to Kris, who was on her knees with her head facing downward. She seemed a bit squeamish being in the middle of the road and on the ground outside. Luckily, it was summer, so it wasn't muddy.
"Kr-Kris?" He questioned. He jumped when she stood back up. "You o-" She then went back to the ground again and he shot a hopelessly confused look at me. I wanted to laugh, but restrained. "Kris-"
"JESUS, WHAT?!" She snapped. "I'm not supposed to talk right now!"
"Well, I'm just making sure you're not insane! My bad for being concerned! I wasn't the one who made the car stop!"
"I'm Muslim, you idiot!"
"What does that have to do with anything??" He breathed out.
That was when the three of us all lost it and started to choke out laughter. "She was praying, Daren!" Eleanor laughed.
"How was I supposed to know that?!" He whined.
"What exactly did you think was happening?" I chuckled.
"I DON'T KNOW!" He defended. "I WAS MAKING SURE SHE WASN'T CRAZY!" We all laughed harder than before. Anna was doubled over. "I've never seen anybody pray like that before!" He complained. "Ugh, let's just go." He then said and stormed back to the car; flushed.
***
Around seven twenty AM we were finishing up a game of I-Spy that Daren had been beating the crap out of everybody in. That was when it happened. When I saw those three oversized cotton balls in the middle of the road; where they stood there on all fours; where one of them looked right at me in the driver's seat; where they were too close to slow down and not hit. "SHEEP!" I suddenly yelled before honking. The three of them stayed still right in the middle of the road. "MOVE, YOU IDIOTS!!! MOVE!!!" Then it happened. I suddenly turned the wheel with a force (too much force, might I add). The whole car went out of control and I couldn't stop it because my knuckles were white against the wheel, where my grip was too tight. We all screamed as the car skidded and flew off the road, into the dirt next to us. Then, the car finally stopped as my brain sent signals to my foot and I pressed the brake pedal hard. Amazingly, the sheep were now next to us as we sat on the side of the road, the trunk of the car facing the sheep.
We all breathed deep and hard before I turned to look at the stupid sheep, now moving out of the way and walking to the other side of the road, unfazed by any of the events just now taking place. Then I looked at everybody else in the car. All of our eyes were wide in shock before a ridiculous smile spread across my face and I started to slowly laugh. Eleanor then followed my lead, then Daren, until all of us were laughing like psychopaths in the quiet car.
"Where are we?" Anna suddenly asked once we had all calmed down.
"Not dead," Daren then said.
"I don't know why I agreed to go on this trip with you psychos. I'm gonna end up dead being on this road trip. I won't even make it back for my dad to do the job."
"We are nowhere." Eleanor then said in awe. She was staring outside of the window and, indeed, we were nowhere.
"Do you guys remember how those sheep almost killed us and how we're still alive?" Daren asked.
"Wait," Kris suddenly said, still breathing hard. "Wait, do you guys see that?" That was when we all began to exit the car and I saw my back passenger tire smoking. "OH MY GOD! IT'S GONNA EXPLODE, ISN'T IT?!" Eleanor began to laugh as well as Anna.
"Relax, it's just a flat. We must have gotten it-"
"When we almost died, but survived like fucking warriors!" Daren butt in calmly.
"God," I then breathed out. Eleanor came up to me and rested her elbow on my shoulder. "God, I'm so sorry." I apologized.
"William, calm down and breathe," she said in a gentle voice. "It's just a flat tire. Have you got a spare?"
I nodded with my eyes beginning to burn because if those stupid sheep weren't in the middle of the road, this wouldn't be happening and I felt as if I ruined the whole trip. Donuts weren't meant for road trips to nowhere. I looked at Eleanor and she still smiled. "Then we can just change the tire and be right back on the road again. It's no problem."
As Daren popped the trunk, Eleanor dug into it and began to look for the supplies. "Ummm," Eleanor began to say nervously.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
Eleanor smiled awkwardly and pursed her lips before saying, "We have a minor dilemma."
"Everything is minor compared to staring death in the face and escaping it," Daren said.
"If you don't shut up-"
"Quiet, Khizra!"
"Will you guys let her talk??" Anna snapped.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"You don't have a tire." I widened my eyes. "You have the tools, just not the donut."
"WHAT?" I breathed out. I rushed to her side and, sure enough, there sat the tools to change a nonexistent tire. "BUT I NEVER HAVE USED THE SPARE BEFORE!!! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?!"
"Dude, relax," Daren said. "I'm sure we aren't that far from civilization. I think we can walk. I mean, we should end up somewhere eventually."
"We're seriously about to walk in this heat?" Kris asked.
"No me gusta," Anna agreed.
Eleanor looked at them disapprovingly, "Or you guys can stay here all night. I think he's right, we have to walk."
"God," Kris groaned, "This is so ridiculous."
"I'm sorry," I apologized.
"It's fine, it's just - frustrating." We were all quiet after I locked the door and Daren got a bag of snacks out. And we began to walk through our destination of nowhere.
Not even half an hour later, we saw civilization. "Oh my God!" Kris cried out and began to run. Daren followed after her, then Anna glanced at me before shrugging and taking off as well. I looked at Eleanor and she smirked at me. I couldn't help and smile wolfishly at her. "Three," she began.
"Two," I said.
"GO!" We both took off sprinting as fast as we could, racing. We caught up to the others and as they saw us racing, they began to run faster too. A stupid smile was spread across my face and Eleanor was laughing like crazy. She gave that great, hearty laugh that was real and my heart galloped, stomach flipping happily. Then we all stopped very suddenly, Daren tripping and falling. Kris automatically laughed hard and loud at him until he stood up and she grabbed her stomach, her laughter becoming silent as she cracked up. He dusted himself off and I looked around at the five of us. My chest heaved and Eleanor swallowed before I followed her gaze. She saw people in the liquor store as well as a car. Someone else was pumping gas into a red Jeep. "No way," I whispered, to which Eleanor replied with, "Yes way."
We all walked up to the man pumping gas, Eleanor and I in front of the group as the others stood back a bit. And then Kris' eyes brightened up as we came closer. The guy, and don't take this the wrong way, was hot. I mean, the kind of hot that girls wished went to their high school. The kind of hot that girls rewound on movies. The kind of hot that made me feel even scrawnier and much lankier than I already was. I looked down at myself and swallowed as I glanced at Eleanor. I glanced back at Kris and Anna. Kris was ever obvious as she raised her eyebrows and looked at Anna while talking softly. Anna nodded in agreement. Daren looked at Anna then at me then back at Anna before he put a hand on his hip, tightening his grip in jealousy.
"Um," Eleanor said shyly to the stranger. I watched her as her blue eyes looked hopeful. I felt my skin grow hotter. The guy looked at her and smiled brilliantly large. I bit down on my cheek so as not to say anything rude when Eleanor spoke. "Hi, sorry, we actually just walked all the way here from our car. Our back tire blew out and we, kind of, have no idea where we are or where to go." He nodded in understanding.
"Oh, I mean, the next auto shop ain't for a few miles and ain't open until Monday. They got the excuse of John F. Kennedy's birthday to not be open all weekend," he blew some air out with a roll of his eyes.
"Seriously?" Eleanor inquired. She looked a little defeated, which I had never seen before. It was odd and it made me think about Daren and my conversation in the car last night. She immediately shook it off and smiled again after he nodded. "Well, thanks," she said. As we both turned, he suddenly said, "Wait-"
We both paused and slowly turned around again. "Do y'all need a ride? I mean, I'm heading off to this little camp site with my friends right now." He gestured to the Jeep with his head. "And, it's a nice little area. We got extra supplies too, so you wouldn't be helpless or anything. It's better than sleeping in a car, in my opinion." He shrugged and I felt my chest tighten at the thought of camping with this guy. I mean, it was a nice offer, but he was all fit and athletic and modely and me and Daren were the exact opposite of that. I didn't want to see his friends.
"Really?" She asked. He nodded with a side smile. I swallowed again.
"Yeah, I mean, why not? I think it'd fine; 'specially since Julia's the only girl on our trip. It'll be fun." He said.
"Thank you so much! This is great!" Eleanor then said. And I wanted to protest, I wanted to scream NO! But then she looked at me with that too big smile and that mischievous look in the dimples of her cheeks. He raised her eyebrows at me, "You in?" I couldn't say no.