As I drove down 65 my eyes began to wander to my gas gage,
“Damn..”
I mumbled to myself, “gettin’ low” I went on. I’m not usually the type to neglect my baby her sweet sweet premium but visiting my mother up north for possibly the last time had me a bit screwed up. I chugged along keeping an eye on the gage until I saw worn down Exxon station, I pulled into the franky dilapidated place worrying that it was abandoned, but the lights were on and I could see an ‘open’ sign hung on the filthy Window.
I parked by a pump and cautiously stepped inside, it was certainly nicer on the inside, most of the shelves were empty and it didn’t exactly smell like Chanel #5 but it wasn’t abandoned by any means.
“Good evening sir.”
I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard her voice, a woman standing next to the ladies room, in a plain white knee length dress, curly black hair down to her hips and that ‘stranger smile’ painted across her face “oh, hello ma’am” I started, I glanced over to the unmanned check out counter “do you work here?” “I’m just waiting for my daughter.” She responded quickly, her tone was off, kind of like a sound bite played out of context.
“Um.. do you know where the attendee is..?” I asked, “no!” She responded sounding very distressed, the woman was freaking me out at this point so I decided I could wait for the next gas station, “okay.. um… Have a good night..” “good evening sir.” I heard her respond as I speed-walked back to my car. I found another station not too far ahead and made it home safely that night, but it took days for the strange feeling that the station gave me to fully go away.
Two months later I was going down 65 again on the way back from burying my mother and saw the singular illuminated ‘X’ of the Exxon steadily getting closer, I wasn’t hurting for gas, but some strange curiosity got the better of me. I pulled into the broken down station and stepped out of my car.
I couldn’t believe my eyes as the little jingle bell announced my entrance, there she was, still standing in the same spot from two months ago. “Good evening sir.” Her delivery was a perfect copy of the last two times I had heard it, after stilling myself I walked up to her as chills ran through my every nerve “ma’am what are you still doing here?” “I’m just waiting for my daughter” something about her demeanor was just so wrong, it was like she was staring through me “are you even talking to me?” “No!” The distress in her voice made me flinch, I reached out and touched her arm, it was cold as ice and she didn’t react.
I looked past her at the bathroom door, “no!” I stepped past her as she continued to stare at a fixed point across the room, “no!” “no!” I grabbed the door handle and turned it with some effort and a rusty click, “no!” “no!” “no!” “no!” “no!”
As the door creaked open she fell silent and I could hear my heart beat hard in my ears, the sight was horrible.. the whole bathroom caked in dried old blood and possibly more, the smell made me feel violently ill. As I wretched and gagged I saw that the stall farthest from the door hung open, almost inviting me to come look inside, I fought the morbid curiosity and stumbled backwards slamming the door behind me, and I found myself not beside the woman I expected, but in a similarly gruesome scene in a dark abandoned gas station.
I don’t drive highway 65 anymore.