Requirements
Tell it at night, and sound effects work well to make the story scarier.
Description
It was a late night, rainy, and very dark. A young woman was driving home alone from work after a long, tiring day. Her two-seater pickup truck had been driving on steadily through the rain for the last half hour- aand she still had another half-hour to go before she got home. As she made to turn at a fork in the road she happened to glance down and notice her fuel gage. Oh, no. She thought. The needle was hovering right above the EMPTY mark. Sighing, she continued on the left fork to the gas station that was not far ahead.
The station was almost empty- only one other car was being filled up, an old red Nissan. The woman waved a weary hello to the driver, and he waved back with equal tiredness. Apparently she wasn’t the only one driving a long way home late tonight.
After her bill had been paid and her car was burping with satisfaction at its full tank of gas, the woman climbed back in the passenger seat. She started the engine and closed the window, which she had left open to grab her wallet, driving on into the pounding rain. As she pulled out of the gas station, she noticed the driver of the red Nissan leaping into his car and speeding off behind her. How odd, she thought. Maybe he got an urgent phone call. But the Nissan didn’t pass her when it came up behind her- the man drove at the same pace as her, revving his engine loudly. What is going on here? the woman wondered nervously. As she put her blinker on to turn at the right fork again, the Nissan driver suddenly turned his brights on, blinding her as she tried to look in the rearview mirror. “What in the-” she gasped aloud, pressing down hard on the gas and speeding ahead. The Nissan could keep pace, though, and was soon behind her again. There went the driver again- flashing his brights, once, for a few seconds, before turning them down again. Maybe he wants me to pull over, the woman thought nervously. Perhaps I have an oil leak or something.
But as she turned her wheel to head onto the soft shoulder on the roadside, the man revved his engine powerfully, almost angrily, again and flashed the Nissan’s brights, almost bumping the back of the pickup as he surged forward behind her. He wanted her to keep going.
Her heart racing now, the woman pressed the gas pedal down as hard as she could and watched the shadowed driver in her right side mirror. He would flash his brights every twenty seconds or so, keeping them on for a brief time, before turning them off again and revving his engine furiously. On, off, vrr-oom, vrr-OOM. The woman’s fingers gripped the wheel tighter. What would he do if she tried to get away from him? Would he force her off the road?
On, off. Vrr-oom, vrrr-OOM.
Deciding to take the chance, the woman turned her wheel suddenly and went speeding into the lane on the opposite side of the road, which was southbound instead of northbound. The Nissan driver kept his brights on for a long time as he skidded across the empty northbound and followed her. Oh, no. He seemed a skilled driver. As she headed back the way she came, the woman swerved, took shortcuts, and doubled back, trying to lose the Nissan. But it remained steadfastly tailing her, brights flashing blindingly every few moments.
On, off. Rain drove down harder against the roof. On, off. The trick’s tires squealed as the woman desperately tried to lose the Nissan under an overpass.
On, off. The woman’s hands pounded hard on the dashboard in terrible fear and frustration as the tears began to flow.
On, off.
Suddenly a glowing neon light showed itself just down the road as the woman turned a corner- the gas station. Nearly choking with relief, the woman’s pickup whined loudly as she gunned it towards the shelter and safety of the station. Her brakes screeched as she pulled in beside a gas pump, and before the truck had even come to a full stop she was leaping out of it and sprinting towards the door. She burst in, out of breath and screaming, startling the old woman at the candy counter and the man sleeping in a chair in the corner. She explained breathlessly to them and the police on the phone what had happened. Suddenly the gas station’s door burst open, a man’s dark figure coming in out of the storm. Having just finished her story over the phone to the police, the woman screamed, dropping the phone, and fled, taking refuge in the broom closet and locking herself in until the police arrived minutes later. It was only then that she came shaking from the closet and learned the truth.
The driver of the red Nissan was not trying to harm her- he was trying to save her. As he had been preparing to pay his gas bill, he had seen a man run out of the bushes behind the gas station and climb into the crawlspace behind the seats of the woman’s truck- entering through its open window. When the woman had drove away the Nissan driver had taken off behind her. As he was trying to tell her to pull over, he had seen a dark figure rise up behind the seats, a knife raised in its hand. Knowing that if the woman pulled over she wouldn’t have enough time to escape, the man had done all he could do and flashed his brights, casting the mysterious killer in light and causing him to duck down. He had followed the woman desperately, continually flashing his brights as the man in her backseat continually tried to stab her. After the police heard the man’s story they checked the woman’s truck and found, curled up in the backseat, a serial killer that had recently escaped from jail, a knife clutched in his hand.
