Crimson Fear

Part 2

The highway grew dim as the evening crept forward. The long stretch of pavement seemed to go on forever. In the far off distance sat a hill, hazed by space between he and it, that didn't seem to be getting any closer as he drove. He reached for the radio turn dial and clicked it on. As he tried the tuner knob to no avail, each stop was met with the same crackling hiss of radio static. He clicked it off again. The blacktop beneath the tires of his red '96 Ford Bronco hept a steady him, interrupted by the tarred joints in the road. He counted the yellow lines that passed him with a tap of his fingers in the steering wheel, glancing in the rearview every few moments to find an empty stretch of highway behind him.

Sprawling forests lined the two lane highway as far as the eye could see. It was just him and the highway and the trees. He was calm, but the kind of calm that only sets in when the wheels of fate are set in motion. Like a death row convict, or a person that's decided to commit suicide; nothing left to do but wait. He only wished to hear her voice, to hold her, but he feared that day may never arrive

The hill approached, and the haze enveloping it faded. Each tenth of a mile road marker gleaned it's reflective tape brighter as he approached, then blotted out of sight as he passed, like the second hand of a doomsday clock, counting down to the unknown. The gas meter read half full, or rather half empty, as he wasn't sure he'd make it back to a gas station with what he had planned.

The sun made its final farewell beyond the wooded skyline, and past the horizon, leaving a deep crimson hue to the western sky as he started up the hill. It was still a decent drive up the hill, but he was in no rush to hurry the pace. He applied the gas to carry him at a cool 60 miles an hour, and clicked on the high beams.

As he neared the middle mark of the hill, his radio clicked back on, the static hiss clicking and sputtering out a variety of different voices in wild bursts, "T-t-turn ba.." HISS "Help us, ple..." HISS "Where are yo...." HISS.

The radio went silent, and the headlights clicked off. He pulled over, trying them again and again, with no luck.

Then the unmistakeable sound of her voice rang out from the door panel speakers, "Daddy?" HISS "DADDY!!" HISS.

Then nothing.

He reached desperately for the radio dial, clicking, turning, screaming her name, "Jessica! Jessica, I'm here baby, I'm coming!"

No response.

His hands shook and he cried out in dismay, as none of his attempts to bring her voice back worked.

In that moment the engine ceased. There he sat, halfway up the hill, a crimson sky to the left of him leaving him enough light to see his teary eyes in the rearview. It was silent now. He was alone with only the sound of his shaking breathing and the fruitless clicking if dials and buttons.

He opened his door, and slid out onto the road. "JESSICA!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, so much so that his chest felt as if it could cave at any moment. Not a sound returned in the air, not even an echo.

He wiped his eyes, reached into the truck to grab his jacket and flashlight, then closed the door. Again, no echo.

With a slight click he turned on the cheap gas station LED flashlight, it flickered, and with a smack remained on.

He was on auto pilot, his instincts as a father overpowering his fear, as he tread steadfast up the hill along the median of the highway. Not even the sound of a far off engine hung in the distance. No nocturnal creatures called out, no tree groaned, no breeze even brushed along his ears, not even as his stride picked up pace into a jog. The sound of his feet was the only noise, and has his pace quickened, the sound seemed to haunt him, ushering him to run faster.

He was sprinting now, his eyes plagued by tunnel vision, making the top of the hill seem further and further away the faster his speed, until he found himself atop it almost instantly. His feet were planted at the end of a long driveway which crept deep into the woods. Just then he heard a distant call from within the forested unknown.

“Jessica!”

It was his own voice, he was sure of it, seemingly very far away. Was this his echo?

Again his voice, “Jessica”

Again “Jessi…” Suddenly it stopped, and his flashlight flickered and went dark.

He hit the light a few times with no luck. He placed it into his pocket, looking up to the now full night sky. Not a single star hung in the heavens, just the solitary moon, with a deep red ring around it.

With a deep breath, he made way into the woods along the driveway.