STOP
Alice sighed tiredly, she needed to get home. She glanced out her car window hoping to see any sign of being closer to her house, but was sorely disappointed to spot nothing but a blurred image of dusty plains.
The exhausted girl sped on for what seemed like hours, with nothing to accompany her but an endless stretch of gravel and the bright sun beating down. That was, until she saw the raggedy looking young girl up ahead, her arm stretched out in the hitchhiker signal.
Alice glanced at her watch and groaned, wondering if she should pick up the stranger hitchhiker. She was still contemplating this decision as she pulled up beside the adolescent. At the sight of the girl, Alice gasped; she looked as if a bear had attacked her!
Alice reached out and pushed the car door open and the girl silently climbed into the vehicle. Eyeing her, Alice took note of the girl's dark, matted hair and her sickly pale eyes. Her gaunt body was lined with numerous scratches, welts and large yellowing bruises.
Out of curiosity, the puzzled driver attempted to chat with the mysterious girl, but received no answer. Her hitchhiker remained deathly silent. Both youths watched as the speedometer slowly ticked higher as the car increased its speed.
They whizzed along quietly for a while until the old Weatherstone Railway began to visualize on the horizon. It had been unused for years after a freak accident involving the unfortunate death of a speeding adolescent.
"Stop..." The dark haired girl mumbled.
"Why?" Alice replied, confused.
"Stop!" Her hitchhiker growled back between gritted teeth.
"No!" Alice shot back, the tension in the car growing by the second.
Soon they were just inches from the rails ahead and the once silent hitchhiker, her face now scrunched into one of pure rage, was screeching "Stop!" repeatedly at her driver. Alice ignored her until the instant her car switched off as it touched the tracks. Alice froze in terror as an ear shattering scream pierced the air. Panicking, Alice squeezed her eyes closed. As she waited in fright for the horrible wailing to end, a strange sensation coursed through her body and she could faintly hear the chugging of a train.
Suddenly, all of the noises stopped. Alice's eyes flashed open and everything was back to normal, as if nothing had ever happened. She shook the train noises and sensations from her head and turned stiffly to talk to her hitchhiker. Her eyes bulged at the sight of the empty seat beside her! Heart beating rapidly and frightened beyond repair, Alice raced home as fast as she could without bothering to search for the missing girl.
As she maneuvered the car homewards, her line of vision landed on her small hands and she inhaled sharply. Her once clean, peachy coloured hands were pale, covered in cuts, welts and purple-yellow bruises. Alice gulped but stayed focused on the road, her whole figure shaking as she did so.
Pulling into her driveway at last was a relief, and she leapt from her car. She gratefully entered her house and immediately rushed to the bathroom to clean her clammy face.
Her horrifying journey down that sickening road was on her mind as she washed her face in the ice-cold water from the sink. Finally at ease, the worn-out girl lifted her head...and screamed!
The mirror reflected her face as she shrieked in horror, mouth twisted into a petrifying gape. She clutched in horror at her hair - her dark, matted hair. She continued to wail, her reflection wailing back pitifully, and in the depths of her sickly pale eyes remained the tortured soul of a girl who once lived.
