Empêchement

Hell House

There were only a few old cars I liked to drive, and my dark blue 97' Ford truck was one of them. Even though the car seemed like it was about to fall apart, the engine hummed and rumbled like it wasn't 80 million years old.

I was driving to God knows where for God knows how long, but one thing was certain. I had to get out of that cursed house, and the deserted highway seemed like the best place to go. Driving always forced me to take a deep breath and clear my head.

I had a good reason to be out here. My parents started fighting a while back and they would only stop to go to work. If they weren't yelling directly at each other, they were giving each other the silent treatment, which was almost just as bad.

My older brother, Dave, got a girlfriend and was never home, so I couldn't hang out with him like I used to before we moved here, just a few months ago. Long story short, I felt very alone, and my parents' constant bickering left me at home desperately trying to get my music loud enough to drown out the yelling.

The only advantage to this entire situation was no one ever questioned me when I left the house.

I mean, it's not as if I go to parties, get drunk and have sex like normal teenage girls my age. No, I leave my house to hike in the woods, or find a very tall tree and see how high I can get before wimping out. Sometimes, I'll even climb trees and read in them. I can't tell you how many books I've dropped out of trees. Scandalous, right?

I scoffed at myself, rolling my eyes at how lame I am.

Today, however, my normal methods of avoidance didn't seem to be enough. I didn't want to hide and read like I usually did, and my parents' bickering couldn't be drowned out. I decided to leave before I got caught in the middle of what was sure to be their upcoming divorce.

So, I got into my old truck and drove. I had half a tank of gas when I left; I figured that would at least get me into the next town, so I'm worried about it.

Before I left, I put a bag with my laptop, wallet, pepper spray, and an extra change of clothes in the passenger seat. After all, you never know what's going to happen. My phone sat with the volume off in the console, but not off. The GPS was still active so someone would be able to locate me if anything went horribly wrong.

I may be reckless for leaving my house without telling anybody where I was going, but I've seen 127 hours. I'm not stupid.

I drove for a while, thinking about nothing in particular. A few residential buildings caught my eye as I passed by them. Most were large. All of them were old, and if they weren't visible from right off the highway, they had so many windows that the sun reflected off of them over the trees like a blinding beacon of civilization.

It was a little annoying that I could be so far from any city, but still be so close to so many people. As I drove I started glaring at the houses as if it was their fault that I was in a bad mood.

My truck started to shudder all of a sudden yanking me out of my thoughts. Whoa, what the heck? I thought frantically. My eyes darted between the temperature gauge, the tachometer, the speedometer. What?? I thought. Then I glanced at the fuel gauge. Crap! I'm out of gas! I groaned and started to pull over, my poor old truck shuddering and making odd noises. I managed to put in in park and turn it off myself before the engine stopped completely. I'm not sure if turning it off before it stopped was better for the truck, but it made me feel better.

I threw my hands against the steering wheel. "Fuck!" I yelled. The next town must've been a lot farther north than I thought it was, or maybe I just burned through fuel way faster than I thought I would. I couldn't have been gone for more than two hours.

I swung open the door with annoyance. It creaked in response. What the hell do I do now? I stepped out and went around to the other side. I opened the passenger door and looked at my phone. No service. Great. I sighed.

It was just my luck to get myself into a more uncomfortable situation when trying to get out of a different uncomfortable situation. I slammed the door shut out of frustration.

I leaned against the door of my truck and took a deep breath. "I need to get some help," I said to myself.

At the realization, I groaned inwardly and slid down the side of my truck till I was sitting on the ground. It didn't matter to me that the old metal dented briefly inward as I put my weight on it, and it didn't matter that I had sat down on a sharp rock. All I could think about was the awkward scenarios that I was about to find myself in. I had been diagnosed with social anxiety a while back. Getting help, in this case, would be really hard to do for me. "I'm going to have to walk back to one of those houses and ask to use their phone." Dammit. My lungs felt like they were constricting. I took another deep breath.

I stood back up rubbing the spot where the rock dug into my skin and opened the door again. I grabbed my bag, my keys, and a jacket. I looked up at the sky. It was a lot later than I thought it was. The sun was setting. I wish I had a flashlight.

If I were feeling anything right now, it would be most accurately described as Urgh. I did not want to talk to people right now but I shut the car door, locked it, turned around and started walking. Hopefully someone would be kind enough to let me borrow a phone. Given that they aren't a crazy psycho-murderer.

~

I never realized how efficient cars were. Five minutes driving was about fifteen walking.

As another car zipped past me, I turned down what I hoped was the dirt road that lead to one of the houses I had seen peaking over the trees a while back. Judging by how much of the house I could see from the highway, I'd say this road goes back a little way. It would take me maybe five minutes, if the hill didn't slant upward, which it did, so maybe eight to ten minutes.

I glanced up at the sky. It was getting darker by the minute which made me very nervous. I saw a lot of wildlife up in these mountains, there was no doubt that something hungry and carnivorous would decide that I looked very tasty. That was the last thing I needed.

I quickened my pace. Soon, just as I heard a fairly close howl, I reached a large opening.

The dirt path continued to my right, leading to a large side-by-side garage. There was a metal canopy outside of it and over the driveway with a small red car under it. The car was obviously new, and if the extravagance of the house was anything to judge by, it was probably expensive. Next to the garage was a massive house with a huge, pretty lawn with a red brick border that looked like someone took weeks to do. It seemed kind of dumb to spend that much time on something no one will ever see back here.

I didn't think much of it, but I didn't step on the grass either. I walked around the red bricks to the stone pathway leading to the front porch.

I stared at the doormat for a brief moment. The "Welcome" that had been printed in cursive across the mat seemed to mock me. I took a deep breath and rang the doorbell.

Then, I waited.