Mind's Echo

Alex

Pausing briefly, then hanging his head and letting out a huge sigh of relief, Alex said, "Ohhh, man, I thought for sure you were gonna mug me out here!" 

Noticing her beauty for the first time, he stuttered "OH! Not that you look like a criminal, or anything. I uhhhh ... just uhhhh ... uh, yeah, sure, I can give you ride. Memphis is about an hour away from here. I'm Alex, by the way." 

Nervous, he began trying to put all his things down at once while also shaking her hand in a flustered school boy manner. He had wanted to stop at the asylum to take pictures. That was his thing: photographing abandoned structures and places. He was on a road trip during his college summer break to capture as much material as possible. He wanted to publish a book someday full of his haunting images. Seeing the pretty blond with the knife had made him forget all that, though, and now all he wanted was to rush to her rescue. 

"Let me help you get your things for you, and I'll take you there, to Memphis, that is." 

After loading her things into the car, then his, they got in, and he reached to turn the keys but not an ounce of power stirred in the engine. 

After several more turns of the key, Alex apologized, "I am so sorry. This is a brand new vehicle my dad got for me last Christmas. It's never given me any issues before. I don't understand why it is not cranking, honestly!"

Frustrated with the car, Alex punched the steering wheel.

"Damn it to hell!" He heaved an agitated sigh. "Let me try to call a wrecker for us."

He took out his phone, but the recently charged Android Plus1 cell phone flashed the low battery signal, then abruptly shutdown and would not turn back on at all. 

"What the hell! Great. This is just my luck!" 

He looked at the woman sitting next to him and apologized, again, "Hey, look, I am really sorry about this. I don't know what the hell is going on with my car, or phone. I mean, the damn car is in top condition, and I had just charged my phone fully before getting here. It doesn't look like there's any battery power in the car to charge my phone ... Hey ... If you want, I have some camping equipment in the trunk. We can set it up and spend the night here. It's getting ready to storm," he indicated the quickly gathering clouds in the darkening sky. "Not the best time to be hitchhiking, honestly. In the morning, I'll try to figure something out. If nothing else, I can either flag down another motorist, or maybe walk to a nearby town and get help. I know we just met and all, but we're kinda out of options here." He shrugged, then began to get out of the car, still talking. "I'll build a fire, and I have plenty of MREs I bought for my road trip, if we get hungry. Plus, plenty of bottled water, sleeping bag, pillows ... You can use the sleeping bag and tent and pillows. I don't mind. I'll probably be up anyway. I kinda wanted to get some shots of the house," he jerked his head toward the camera resting on the backseat.

He exited the car and moved around to prop the hood up, leaving Shelly looking disgruntled in the passenger seat.