Cult of The Small Town.

Chapter 5: The Gas Station.

I'm so happy the school day went fast, and I'm now on my way back home. I'm actually excited to go home for once considering Mia is there and it feels like I haven't spent time with her in ages. Mia loves it when we paint together so maybe that's what I'll do when I get home. I can't stop thinking about that guy in the black hoodie today and how uncomfortable he made me. I can't pinpoint a reason why he made me so uncomfortable though. Maybe I'm just a big ball of anxiety. I constantly worry about literally anything. It's a wonderful way to live.

There should be nothing about some random guy that is bothering me so much. I only saw him twice, but he gave me such a gut wrenching feeling both the times I saw him. I happened to glance down at my gas gauge and I got to stop to get gas, Oh how wonderful to have to make just one more stop when all I want to be is at home. The only real question I have is " Why hasn't anyone invented the ability to teleport"? Either way, that's not gonna solve the problem that I still have to stop for gas. Here we go, down the long windy road to the nearest gas station to my house. Of course, leave it to me to almost be home and notice my car is almost empty. It's gonna be about 22 minutes one way to the gas station. That's 44 minutes round trip with perfect traffic, but you know that never perfectly works out. So let's shoot for a solid hour trip. That means I'll get home at approximately 6:30pm. I'm going to go home and paint flowers with Mia. I've been thinking so much about painting with her all day and that stupid guy in the black hoodie.

I asked Siri to turn on my road trip playlist which consisted of red hot chili peppers and nirvana and other similar genres. My favorite thing to do is play under the bridge by the red hot chili peppers as I go under the bridge right before the gas station. I have done it so many times that I know if i start my playlist at a certain point on the road the music will line up perfectly to that song and my favorite bridge. I realized very quickly that I was zooming around these curves way faster than I'm sure I should have been, so I turned the music down and I slowed down. I'm about six miles from the bridge which means I'm almost to the gas station. As I drive down the road I faintly see the bridge in the distance lit up by the bright lights from the gas station about a quarter mile behind it.

It's very foggy this evening as dusk approaches. Instantly, my eyes drifted to the right side of the bridge where I noticed a dark figure. It can't be, there is no way that it's the guy in the black hoodie. I'm just seeing things I have to be. I cruised past the bridge without looking to my right to see if a real man was standing there. I didn't want to look because I just wanted to get my gas and go home to paint flowers with my baby sister. I pulled into the gas station next to gas pump number Five. Pump five is my favorite pump, it's easy to access, particularly for my car. I conned myself into paying at the pump with tap pay, because I didn't want to walk inside alone in case that guy had been following me with bad intentions. I figured I would be safer beside my car versus walking all the way inside and back out alone. I got out of my car, and proceeded to walk over to the pump to pay for my gas.

Thirty dollars in the tank. The wait is on as the gas flows out of the pump into my gas tank. I am ungodly anxious, was I just seeing things or was there really someone there. I glanced around and my gaze met the bridge, I noticed the figure I saw wasn't there anymore. In a sense I felt relieved that whatever I saw was not there anymore. The gas pump made that little clicking noise it makes when your gas is fully pumped. It made me jump just a little bit. Probably because it interrupted my flowing train of thoughts. I grabbed my receipt quickly and got back into my car. I turned the key, my car sputtered a little bit but, that is normal I just have to pump the gas pedal a few times while turning the key then it will start. I got it started, thank god.

I turned out of the gas station when I almost hit someone who was walking right in front of the gas station exit. I looked a little closer and wouldn't you know it's Vince. He is in dark Black jeans, a dark green hoodie partially unzipped with a white tee shirt underneath. He looks right at me as I am stopped in the middle of the exit lane. He put his hand up, I rolled my eyes and then rolled my driver's side window down to talk to him.

"Hey, What are you doing"? I snapped at Vince.

"I am obviously walking home what the fuck does it look like, If you paid more attention you would have obviously seen me crossing the road"?

"Don't be an asshole, I'm not in the mood for anyone's shit today. I was zoned out. I have had an anxiety filled day today alright. Obviously you have had a bad day too. Would you like a ride home"?

"A ride huh, Well that's quite a nice offer after almost hitting me".

"Yes a ride take it or leave it, if you want the ride get in and if not why don't you get out of my way so I can go home".

"I'll take it, are you sure that you are okay giving me a ride home. That's awfully nice of someone that doesn't really know me and I sure wasn't nice to you when you smacked your face on my locker".

" Just tell me the directions or put your address in my GPS and we will just go. I'm clumsy. What can I really say? Come on, I apologized".

" Yeah I know, you did apologize. I'm also very sorry for being a dick but I don't need any rumors here than there already are about me". Vince somberly replied to me.

" I understand, There definitely are rumors going around. I don't really believe what people say though I like to hear people's stories straight from them".

"Let me see your phone, I'll put in the directions to my house. Please dont judge me when you get there. Maybe if you don't hate me I can tell you my story sometime"?

I handed Vince my Phone, honestly I cant believe that vince is really sitting in my car and even more I cant believe that he even apologized for being an asshole. I can't wait to tell Darcy about all this. I handed Vince my phone.

Then I replied " I'd love to sit down and hear your story whenever you have time to tell it".

"I will keep that in mind, Thank you for being kind. There's not many people like that anymore". He kindly said with a soft voice.

I smiled at him and continued driving down this long tree lined country road, it is very aesthetically pleasing if i'm being honest. The GPS said that we have about 20 more minutes to his house. This is not really what I want to be doing right now but I'm not complaining well. I guess I am but I shouldn't be since Vince was all I could think about a few days ago. So here I am sitting here in the car alone with him. We get to the stop sign at the end of the road. I look at the GPS and it says that we have about 12 minutes. I got this nervous feeling as my GPS yelled at me to turn right. At this point it's starting to get really dark out. I looked both ways before I took the right turn onto the next road. I took the turn and started my way down the next dark country road, I decided to look over at Vince and he was gazing out the window just completely relaxed. Maybe I was nervous because I was in the car with this guy who is a completely new guy in town that I was completely gawking over since he came.

"Hey! Do you see that! Stop the car!" Vince Yelled!

Completely startled I slammed on my brakes thinking it was a deer or an animal of some sort. I could only wish that's what I was looking at but, I knew as soon as I stopped the car that it was far from what I was looking at.