The wrong impression

how it happened...

"Well, Hello Mary-Lou!", that's what he'd say with a southern drawl, to me every day when I walked past him. Then he would come up with some cheesy line about the weather. "Sure, is nice out in the warm autumn sunshine, Mary-Lou". He'd always say my name – at the end of every sentence - I liked the way my name rolled of his tongue, like I was the only girl in the world. I never imagined for a second that he would like me back, so I was damn well surprised when he asked me to the autumn wine-fest dance.

"You sure do be lookin fine tonight, Mary-Lou!" he said as he held my left hand in his right and this other placed firmly on my back holding me to him, as we slow danced to Lonesome Town by Ricky Nelson.

"Sure, do smell nice too -hmm" he moaned as he buried his face in my golden locks. "Just like a warm cup of honey and cinnamon tea on a cold winters day, Mary-Lou -hmm". We dance well into the night, when finally, he grabbed my waist and put his lips to my ear and whispered: "Do you wanna get outta here, Mary-Lou?" – "Oh, do I!?" the eagerness clear on my face as I looked up at him with a smile.

"Well then, let's get going! After you, Mary-Lou" he led us out of the field where the dance was taking place - into a maze of barley and wheat. We ran all the way back to his truck, laughing all the way. When we got to his truck he opened the passenger door to me, motioned with his hand for me to get in. "After you, my Lady. After you my Mary-Lou" he said with a wink and a huge grin on his face. "Why thank you my dear Sir – What a gentleman!" I lifted myself up into his truck with great difficulty – he helped me up after a minute of seeing me struggle. His long thin fingers fit perfectly in the grooves of my hips as he hoisted me up onto the seat – not as gracefully as I had intended. I blushed as I looked back at his face – his face was warm but there was something in his eyes I had never seen. At the time I didn't think much of it – "must have been a trick of the light" I thought – but soon enough I realized it wasn't just a trick of the light. It was much, much worse...

We were now speeding down the little lanes and then onto the highway. When suddenly he leaned over and kissed me – it wasn't a passionate one – it felt more like a goodbye. Once again, I didn't think much of it, but the act made chills go down my spine and my palms started to get damp. I looked dead ahead trying to calm myself and trying to figure out what was wrong – until my eyes fell on the speedometer – it read 95mph!

"Going a little fast, aren't you?" I tried to say it in a joking tone, but there was still a slight tremble in my words. As a response, he just looked over at me with a frenzied look in his eyes one I'd never seen before and just pressed his foot down even harder on the pedal. I watched as the little red arrow of the speedometer starter rising more and more. 11O,120,130 until it stopped all together.

I was blinded by a bright white light and a deafening noise was ringing in my ears; I couldn't see, and I couldn't hear – I was completely disorientated. So much so that it took me a moment to understand what had happened and to remember where I was. I was still trying to get my head back on straight when I heard a slight whistling sound coming from outside – then the passenger door opened suddenly – it took me another moment to understand why I was looking at a pair of upside-down leather loafers covered in mud, then a big hand with long thin fingers grabbed me and pulled me out of my seat. I was being dragged out and away from the truck and over the ruff highway to the opposite side. He was pulling me with only one hand, the other was lighting a cigarette that he held between his teeth.

"Isn't it beautiful, Mary-Lou?" he said tilting his head back at the broken-down carcass of his truck. He had a long red gash across his left cheek and a bloody nose, his head must have been bleeding as well because as I looked at him a long line of blood trickled down his neck from his hair line. "Isn't it majestic! I wanted you to see it for yourself! See how a little too much power could cause such destruction! Do you like it, Mary-Lou?". As he said that the truck made a thundering groaning noise like far way thunder heard up-close, he stopped then and turned around to look at the truck and then down at me lying at his feet – I could see the sudden enthusiasm in his eyes. "I did this for you, Mary-Lou!" he said his eye widening as he looked at the truck that had started to smoke. Bellowing black clouds of smoke came out from it and little sparks danced around it. He inhaled in a long deep puff on his cigarette and then exhaled with the same laziness, long and deeply like he had all the time in the world. The groaning noise got louder like a storm was getting closer, then loud pops and crackles suddenly announced the arrival of the long anticipated, large orange and red flames jumping out at us from the truck.

"HA! Finally! How beautiful yet so deadly, aye Mary-Lou!" he shouted as his eyes reflected perfectly the scene before them, but then as suddenly as the enthusiasm had entered his eyes it soon vanished. He took another long puff of his cigarette then said in an acidic tone, "I was thinking of just leaving you in there to cook, like a little roast duck but then I thought it would be much more entertaining to let you see the damage I can cause – and the beauty of such a thing – do you find it entertaining, Mary-Lou?".

I didn't know what to say, my words seem to be stuck in my throat, I couldn't make a sound – even as my tears rolled down my cheeks, not a whimper passed my lips.

"Well!? What do you think?! Answer me, Mary-Lou!!" the anger was clear on his face now. It wasn't only the burning redness of the truck's flames still clear in his eyes but now there was also the heat of his anger bubbling up. But still no sound could be heard from me, so he leaned down putting his face so close to mine that I could smell the cigarettes on his breath and a faint smell of coffee – he grabbed my chin and tilted my head back so that he could look at me from above. "I said ANSWER ME, MARY-LOU!!" his grip on my jaw was so tight that I hurt, finally a small whimper came out of me as even more tears ran down my cheeks. "How pathetic! You really are a sorry sod, Mary-Lou!" letting go of my jaw, he then grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and started to drag me further into the road – we hadn't even got halfway by now.

He then threw me down and crouched beside me, "I'm going to hurt you now, Mary-Lou" a small smile on his sadistic face, "I wouldn't fight back if I were you, because I'll just hurt you more, but I think you understand. Am I right? Do you understand, Mary-Lou?". I nodded scared of what he's going to do. Then I start thinking of my daddy and mommy, they must be worried sick – and then I realized that I'll probably never see them again; and at that, more silent tears roll down my cheeks. He leans over me and I see something glitter in his fist and then a sharp pain as he plunges the glittering object deep into my abdomen – so deep that I feel like it'll never end, and the pain will continue to burn forever. The object is finally pulled out and I look up at him, it was a long knife, bright red dripping of it. He brings the blade up to his lips and licks a drop of my fresh warm blood of the sharp, no-longer sliver body of the knife. I start to tremble in terror and pain, I see him close his eyes, a small moan passes his lips and as his eyes open once again, they are filled with lust and a frensy so intense, it chills me to the bone. "Now, don't you try anything rash Mary-Lou".

"He knows" I thought as he stared so intensely down at me, "He knows what I was thinking".

"Of course, you could try to run away but you'd bleed out in seconds and even if you screamed nobody would hear you Mary-Lou - hahah" a small chuckle passed his lips as he spoke. "Now stay still and be a good girl– I want to take my time with you Mary-Lou".

In the next few minutes, the only sounds to be heard on that part of the highway, were the sounds of the crackling fire sill blazing in the background and the high shrill sounds of blood curdling screams.