The Hitchhiker

        

This story was created as a short Halloween story for my ELA class so I  am sorry if it is bad. It is only a short story so there will not be multiple chapters. 

Enjoy!

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           It was a chilly night in Bethel, New York. The day was August 13th, 1969 and the streets were mostly empty, except for the cars that occasionally passed by on the street or the hitchhikers trying to catch a ride. A man in his mid-twenties named Steve was one of those said hitchhikers. Steve was a fairly handsome man with his blonde hair and green eyes which made it fairly easy to get what he wanted.

           The sky started to get dark, and clouds started to infest it as small raindrops started to fall to the earth to begin the gigantic storm that would start in a matter of minutes. Steve noticed this and put his thumb up to the street hoping a car would pass by and pick him up. It only took a few moments before Steve could see a car coming his way from the distance. Making a smile creep onto his face. The car pulled up to him and Steve gladly got in with his big bag of clothes.

           "Thanks, man, you're the only person who would give me a ride. I guess those urban legends about hitchhikers made them skeptical about giving me a ride" Steve says with a smile of appreciation and a chuckle. "Well, who says I'm not the serial killer," the driver said with a serious face but then starts to smile and laugh causing both of them to go off into a fit of giggles. "My name is James," the driver says introducing himself to the hitchhiker he had picked up. James was a tan, middle-aged man with brown hair and brown eyes who had a kind smile. " I'm Steve," Steve says to James with a smile. "So Steve, where are you hitchhiking to?" James asks curiously as to why a young man like himself was hitchhiking on his lonesome. "Well I'm trying to get to Woodstock, It begins in two days. Be there or be square am I right?" Steve says with a chuckle. James in response lets out a dry laugh making Steve feel sort of uncomfortable.

           It had started to pour outside and there were flashes of lightning and crackles of thunder. Steve and James hadn't talked since Steve had told his joke. As a result of this, the car was overwhelmingly quiet. Steve had sat in the back seat looking out of the window until he heard mumbling coming from the front of the car. He turned to the front to see James to be what looked like talking to himself. "Stop it. No. Get out of my head. Leave me alone!" James mumbled to himself. "Hey man, are you ok?" Steve asked with a confused and worried look on his face. "He won't stop. He won't stop talking. He won't get out of my head!" James says with a stern face and an annoyed tone. This starts to scare Steve. "Who is he?" Steve asks James with a scared expression on his face. "HIM, HE TELLS ME WHAT TO DO, HE IS IN MY HEAD. HE WAS THE ONE WHO TOLD ME TO PICK YOU UP!!!!" This shocks and frightens Steve. "HE IS SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO YOU!!!" James screams. Steve's stomach drops. He slowly turns to his left to see the other side of the car empty, but not for long. Only a mere second later as a flash of lightning followed by thunder happens, the man James was talking about becomes visible to Steve. Steve screamed when he saw the ghost and backed as far away from it as humanly possible. The ghost appeared as an elderly man with sparse hair and missing teeth giving a menacing smile. That smile made Steve feel very uneasy and scared for his life. In the car, the channels of the radio started to shuffle until it landed on somber church-like music. During all the commotion Steve could hear a woman's cries coming from the trunk of the car. This just makes Steve scream even more. "HE TOLD ME I HAVE TO. HE SAID THAT YOU TWO NEEDED TO DIE, AND I HAD TO HELP HIM!!!" "STOP IT. PLEASE DON'T DO THIS. OPEN THE DOOR'S!!!" Steve screamed and cried. But instead of doing what Steve had asked, James starts to go faster and starts talking to him again.

           Steve continued to scream and cry for James to stop but then he heard something. He hears a deep and raspy voice from beside him and turns to see the same man he did before. But this time he was screaming and laughing telling James to do it. "Do it, James! DO IT NOOOWWWWW!!!" Steve starts to scream and cry more due to this. "PLEASE!!" Steve Beggs. "PLEASE DON'T DO THIS!!" Steve cries. His begs did nothing but make James turn back to him, but he didn't see James. It was the man from before. The man proceeded to look back at the crying and screaming hitchhiker and screamed "YOU SHOULD NEVER TRUST A STRANGER!! DIDN'T YOUR PARENTS TELL YOU NOT TO TRUST STRANGERS!!!" and proceed to laugh and scream while driving faster on the slick road.

           Steve screams and cries and begs for his life while you could hear the banging and screaming from the trunk, the ghost man screaming and laughing, the music from the radio, and the storm from outside all at once. As the car starts to visually approach a cliff the ghost man screams "WHERE HERE!!!" In an eerie voice. "NO! STOP! PLEASE!" Steve screams crying so much he couldn't see clearly.

           The car flew off the cliff as fast as it could. As the car dropped from the air, you could hear the screams and cries of Steve and the girl in the trunk. The ghost man laughed and laughed at Steve and the girls cried before the car finally hit the ground with a loud and large explosion.          Some say that if you were to visit the spot of the crash at night, you can hear the cries of Steve and the girl from the trunk. They say that the evil ghost man still roams the earth, manipulating unsuspecting drivers to do the same thing James did to Steve and the girl from the trunk. So next time you think about talking or getting into a strangers car, always remember the story of the hitchhiker. You wouldn't want what happened to Steve and the girl to happen to you now, would you?