Wish me Real

Chapter One

"What the..."Cecily frowned as the car began to decelerate. A glance down at the now lifeless gauges confirmed the cause of the vehicle's sudden loss of speed. The electronics had died. The engine was no longer running. "No....No no no!" she wailed, banging her hands on the wheel in frustration. "You're supposed to be fixed! Don't do this to me again!"

With an angry growl, she angled the wheel off the road, bumping to a stop along the shoulder of the empty highway. She blew out a sigh as she put it in park, leaning across the passenger seat to open the glovebox. She retrieved a set of pliers and popped the hood release before clambering out of the vehicle in a huff.

Having dealt with the issue several times before, she checked the fuse box first. After a few minutes of cursing and wiggling, she popped the ignition relay loose of its mount. Holding it up to the light, the singed and discolored ends of the plug were plain as day.

"Crap." The damn car had blown another fuse. Having been stranded on the side of the road last winter after numerous attempts to rectify the issue of blown ignition relay's, she'd finally caved in and replaced the computer like the mechanic suggested. Hundreds of dollars and several months later, everything seemed to be going fine. Until now.

"It's just like you, doing this to me now." She muttered unhappily. "I'm so tired of this. You couldn't wait until we got through the damned desert? You had to strand me in the middle of freaking nowhere?" She glared down at the old beater, feeling more than a little betrayed. "Most people would have scrapped you by now, you know?" She dropped the hood, letting it slam down with more force than was necessary, as if to illustrate her disappointment to a car that obviously didn't care. "No appreciation. None at all."

Cecily pulled her phone out of her pocket, checking for a signal. Of course, there was none. Way out here in the middle of the Arizona desert, she'd known it wasn't likely. Still hopeful, she wandered down the highway with her phone extended above her head, searching for bars. She'd probably walked half a mile back and forth along the stretch before she gave it up as a lost cause and started looking for higher ground. Off the right side of the road in the distance was an abandoned fuel station, and behind it was a rocky outcrop whose incline looked gradual enough to climb without much difficulty.

With a wary glance at the overcast sky, she returned to the car and transferred her belongings to the trunk. Her windows were down, and the sunroof was open. If it was going to rain, she didn't want the interior AND her belongings ruined. She grabbed a bottle of water and a granola bar from her snack bag, stuffed her license and credit cards in her pocket, and clipped her keys on her beltloop before setting out towards the fuel station.

While the thick clouds overhead made the heat more bearable, the humidity was oppressive. By the time she made it to the parking lot of the fuel station her tank top was soaked through and her shorts were clinging uncomfortably. She stopped under the overhang, leaning back against the pile to rest. "I thought the desert was supposed to be a dry heat." She grumbled, tugging at her shirt in annoyance.

A booming crack of thunder was her reply. Worried she had waited too long, Cecily darted out from beneath the under hang, intent on reaching her goal before the rain started. As she rounded the old building, she realized just how poorly she'd judged the distance to the hill. It was larger than it seemed from the car, and probably just as far from her current location as she had been from the gas station when she started.

At the corner of her eye, something moved in the shadows of the building. Her body went rigid, all five senses immediately shifting focus to identify the potential threat at her back. Cecily held her breath, forcing herself to turn around. Slowly, very slowly, she pivoted in the direction from which she'd come.