Have you ever heard of highway hypnosis?
Up here we tend to call it ‘white line fever’, and if you’ve never driven on a highway, you probably won’t know what it is. For those who drive, and especially for those who drive on the flat, endless highways of the North American great plains – you should know what I’m talking about if you’ve ever driven alone. Your music is playing softly in the background, you’re comfortable in the driver’s seat, the AC is on. It’s summer. Suddenly, you come back to yourself, and realize you’ve just driven for an entire hour without even noticing. You drove safely, you never cut anyone off, you used your turn signal – but that entire last hour is a complete blank.
That’s what highway hypnosis is.
I know they aren’t for everyone, but personally, I love road trips. The feeling of speeding along the highway, the freedom of the countryside – something about it is just intoxicating. Earlier this summer, me and my friend Avery had planned to take a weeklong road-trip around the northern half of the province. The winter semester had just ended at university and spring was in full bloom, I was fresh out of a shitty relationship, and my grades had been good enough that I managed to snag a few scholarships.
We had planned this girl’s trip for about a month now. We had a week off before we had to start our summer jobs, so our plan was to hit a bunch of provincial parks and lakes across the whole northern half of the province. Calling it a “plan” is a bit of a misnomer however – we sort of just planned to drive wherever we felt like every single day, camping or getting hotels whenever it suited our fancy. One thing I hate about travelling is having to stick to strict plans, so having a more free-form vacation was a dream for me – and getting to do it with my best friend wasn’t bad either.
We set off early on a Friday morning, with our first destination being Sylvan Lake – I know I know, we went south, but we wanted to stop there first. We spent a day and night on the beachfront, then went west to the mountains, where we snaked north along highway 93 before emerging from the mountains. The weather had been great so far, the mountains were beautiful, and Avery and I had a great time singing along to our road trip playlist that we had made.
It was our third or fourth day (I think), and we were travelling along highway 40 when a case of white line fever set in. Avery had stopped talking for a moment, and my attention slowly drifted towards the road flashing past, which gradually sucked me in until I was dead to my surroundings. Avery must have caught a case of it too, since my memory of what happened is completely blank until the car rocked violently, and a pothole jolted both of us out of our trance. I pulled the car over to the side of the road, as I could feel something was seriously wrong with one of the tires.
“Where are we?” Avery asked, as if waking up from a nap.
“Umm… not sure exactly.” I started, “I don’t have service, do you?”
“No doesn’t look like it.” Avery said, throwing her phone onto the dash and stepping out of the car.
“Oh shit that’s not good.” Avery said.
I turned the car off and stepped out, walking around to the side she was on. The front right tire of the car was torn and bent – there was no way it was going anywhere in that condition. I stood and looked around, we definitely weren’t on the highway anymore, but rather some sort of disused road that was cutting through a thick pine forest.
“How did we get here?” Avery asked, panic rising in her voice as she started to look around.
“I don’t know, I kinda’ zoned out there while driving.” I replied, trying to keep some measure of calm in my demeanour.
Avery hunched down on the ground leaning against the car and started breathing rapidly. I knew what her panic attacks looked like, so I let her ride it out, bringing her a bottle of water and sitting on the grass next to her. Once she had finally come back around, I got her to walk around the car a few times to feel a bit better and got her some of the snacks we had in the trunk.
“Okay okay I’m good, thanks.” She said with a weak smile.
“Alright – so… do we wait here or start walking?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, we don’t have service, so we either wait here for someone to come by or we start walking and hope to find something.”
“They both sound dangerous.”
“Probably are. I think we should walk back and try and find highway 40 – we can’t have gone that far off of it.”
“And what? Hitchhike?”
“Or just try and borrow someone’s phone.”
We were both stood there arguing next to the car when we heard a rustling from the underbrush. We both turned, but before we had time to speak, a hound dog burst out of the bushes and came running up to us, tongue lolling out of its mouth as it began to circle us, barking all the while. I tripped over myself and fell to the ground as the dog came bounding towards me, letting out a shout that was cut short as I hit the ground.
“Ha ha! Come on Cerberus, be a good boy now, those aren’t rabbits.” Came a sonorous voice from the woods, at which the dog bounded away from us. Me and Avery both stared dumbfounded as a young woman astride a huge brown horse came trotting out of the woods, with a gun resting on her lap.
She swung down from the saddle with a broad grin on her face and sauntered up to us – she looked young, dressed in a white blouse that was half concealed with a dark green jacket, that matched a pair of dark green pants and a broad brimmed green hat on her head. She had golden hair that was largely tied back save for two tendrils that framed her icy features. Most prominently however, were here eyes – two of the brightest blue eyes I had ever seen.
“Your horse broke a leg I see.” The woman said, gesturing at my car.
“Yeah, we hit a nasty pothole just back there.” I said as I stood and brushed dirt and gravel off my pants.
“Suppose you need a hand then?” The woman said as she cradled her rifle in her arms and rested her weight onto her right leg.
“That would be great.” I said with an exasperated laugh, “Do you have a phone so we can call someone?”
“Afraid not – but there’s a town just up the way where I’m sure we can get you a new tire.” She said as she gestured up the road.
“Come on, grab what you need and let’s get going.” She said, taking the reins of her horse in hand. Me and Avery grabbed our bags and locked the car before we began to walk alongside her up the pitted, forgotten road.
“I’m Mary by the way – and this is Avery.” I said as we caught up with the woman.
“Pleasure! I’m Sarah, the dog is Cerberus, and the horse is Bucephalus.” Sarah said with a smile as she gestured at our animal companions.
“Also, where exactly are we? We’re sort of…” I began.
“Lost.” Avery finished.
“The town here is called Springhill.” Sarah laughed, “You’re East of highway 40, in the Pinelands. Nothing grows here so not too many towns around.”
“Oh, that’s cool, never heard of it.” I said.
“Real small place, not too many visitors – how’d you even end up here?”
“Just a few wrong turns – we’re road tripping all over Alberta so we weren’t heading anywhere specific.” I threw out.
“That sounds like fun.”
“It’s been really good so far! Is there much to do in Springhill?” Avery asked.
“I’m afraid hunting, fishing, and drinking are the only things you can do to pass the time here.”
“That could still be fun.” I suggested.
“Well, with how bad your tire looks, I’m sure you’ll be stuck a day or two – I’ll show you around.”
Sarah fell to asking us about news of the outside world, saying that most news didn’t reach Springhill, and she rarely bothered to keep up to date with current events. We filled her in on all the politics and scandals and news that we could think of, before eventually switching to just telling her about ourselves. She didn’t have much to say about herself – having been in Springhill since she was young, but she was good company and seemed to enjoy listening to us talk about ourselves.
After nearly two hours of walking along the meandering road, we reached a sign that said ‘welcome to Springhill’, and began to see log cabins pop up in clearings around us. A few minutes later on, the road took a sharp turn, and we were suddenly in the town of Springhill.
Springhill was a town plucked straight from the past. The forest crept right up to the sides of the buildings, which were all build of either timber or brick, as though the town had stopped building new buildings after the 1920s. The roads consisted of a single avenue, bisected by two streets, all of which were unpaved dirt and gravel tracks. A large white church dominated the town, which stood between the two streets on the south side of the avenue. Mirroring it across the avenue was another large, whitewashed building that looked like some sort of mansion or town hall.
It was a very picturesque town, with the encircling pines crowding the town in on every side, it felt as though the forest was in the process of swallowing the town, which was clinging desperately to the three roads that spread like arteries from the church at the centre of the settlement.
We only glimpsed a few scattered people milling about, who all gave us and Sarah inquisitive glances as we passed by. We walked in the shadow of the church which loomed over us with two imposing stone spires, and I felt a slight chill in the shadowed street. Sarah walked with us to the far edge of the town where a toolshed stood in a small clearing – a clearing that was full of random cars, trucks, and piles of parts and scrap metal. A young woman in oil-stained overalls was smoking a cigarette while inspecting the engine of a busted up car, and turned at our approach.
“Hey there Sarah, how goes?” She called out, wiping her hands on a rag.
“Hey Mel, good, good. Got a couple strangers here who’s car broke down just up the road.” Sarah replied, gesturing to me and Avery, who each gave a small wave and a ‘hi’.
“That so? Damn shame. Hand over the keys I’ll tow it back and get ye’ fixed up right.” Said Mel.
I looked at Avery for a moment and we made eye contact briefly before I fished the car keys from my pocket and handed them to Mel.
“Come back in a few hours and I’ll let you know how things stand.” Mel smiled around her cigarette.
“Thank you so much that would be amazing.” I said with a relieved sigh.
“How about a drink and some hot food?” Sarah asked, turning to us.
“That sounds fantastic right about now.” Avery said.
“Well come on then.” Sarah said with a smile and led us back across town. We passed under the shadow of the church again and were led to a squat, three-storey wood building on the corner of first street and main avenue. Painted in black on a wooden board above the door was the simple word: “hotel”.
We entered the building, passed through a deserted lobby via a set of double doors and found ourselves in a spacious tavern. The walls were hung with an archaic blue wallpaper and decorated with various landscape paintings. The tables and chairs were all rough-hewn wood, and the place was deserted save for a young woman who was sat on the bar reading a book – who perked up at the sound of the door being pushed open.
“Hey Sarah! Hey strangers!” She said, setting her book down and hopping off the bar. “Name’s Jordan, what can I get you?”
Me and Avery introduced ourselves and the three of us sat at a table near the bar. Sarah ordered us a bottle of wine to share, and Jordan rattled off the contents of the menu – nothing was printed off, so we had to order based on what she knew how to make with what they currently had in the back. We all settled on soup and sandwiches – which Jordan came out with a half hour later. The sandwiches were cut and arranged on a tray in front of us, and the soup came out in a large kettle that we individually served ourselves from. It was homemade, and far more delicious than I expected from a small backwoods town.
We ran through the first bottle of wine quickly, and Sarah called for another one. She was pouring a round for the three of us when I interrupted her.
“Weird question…” I began, “But are there any men in this town at all?”
“Why? Feeling lonely?” Sarah asked with a wolfish grin.
“No, no.” I laughed, “I just think it’s odd that I’ve only seen young women in this town so far… no kids, no old people, no men…”
“Well, there’s a few old folks, but most keep shut up at home. The youngest girl in town is twelve, and as for the men – most of em’ work out of town, so you don’t see them much. The mayor and the preacher is both men though, if you stay long enough you’ll run into them no doubt.” Sarah said.
Although a weird answer, the wine must have been affecting me, because I accepted that as normal, and we carried on drinking and chatting. The place was dead aside from us, and work rules are never too strict in small towns, so before long Jordan had joined us at the table to have a few drinks herself. It had become a pretty lively party when Mel stepped in through the tavern door, still smoking a cigarette. She smiled and pulled up a chair, sitting down at the table with us.
“Bad news girls.” Mel started. “You messed that wheel up real bad on the pothole, gonna take me a day or two to fix at least.”
“Shit.” I said to myself, drumming my fingers on the table.
“Hey, don’t worry about it, you two can stay here at the hotel while the car gets fixed, free of charge.” Jordan said.
Me and Avery exchanged glances quickly.
“Well, doesn’t look like we have a choice.” Avery said.
“Come on, I’ll get you guys a room and you can leave your stuff there.” Jordan said, standing up from the table and waving us along into the lobby. We followed close at her heels with our bags and trudged up the stairs to the third floor, where we were shown into a spacious room.
The room was wallpapered in the same blue as the tavern, with heavy wool curtains, carpets scattered on the bare hardwood floor, and two large queen beds resting on hand carved wooden bedframes. A small desk and dresser accompanied the beds, along with a small couch under the window. There was a small, tiled bathroom just off the main door that included all the amenities of a regular hotel.
“This is actually… a lot nicer than I was expecting.” Avery said, as she dropped her bag on the floor and laid down on one of the beds.
“Are you getting weird vibes from this place at all?” I asked, setting my bag down on the floor and fixing my hair in the bathroom mirror.
“I mean… not really. Everyone seems real nice here.” Avery responded from the bed.
“Alright well maybe it’s just me.” I said, as I walked over to the window to let some light in. I threw the curtains open and quickly sucked in a breath as I saw a crow perched on the windowsill outside.
“What is it?” Avery asked, sitting up.
“Oh, nothing, just a bird – startled me a bit.” I said, as the bird looked at me curiously and quorked.
“Alright well come on, let’s go back – Jordan’s really cool I wanna chat with her some more.” Avery said lifting herself off the bed. I followed her back into the hallway, and saw the crow still perched on the windowsill staring at us as I closed and locked the door.
We made it back to the bar and saw that two more girls had joined our table in the interim. More wine was brought out, along with a deck of cards, and my concerns about the town were soon washed away in a flood of good wine and good company. A few hours elapsed and the sun sank below the treeline – a few more girls came and went throughout the night, some sitting with us, some drinking alone or in pairs at their own tables.
I hadn’t been keeping track of time, but late into the night the door of the bar creaked open and the room went silent for a moment as everyone turned to look at the new arrival. It was a towering man, probably six foot five, with a massive red beard that hung down onto the middle of his chest. He was bald aside from the beard and wore a long black cassock that stretched from his neck to his ankles, tied around at the waist with a length of dirty white rope. He looked extremely well muscled but had a smile on his face as he stepped in that somewhat softened his monstrous appearance.
“Good evening ladies.” The man rumbled, his voice carrying across the entire room.
“Brother Bellaston.” Sarah said, turning around in her chair.
“I hear we have some visitors, good evening strangers, welcome to Springhill!” The giant said as he crossed over to our table and extended a hand that both me and Avery shook. “Most folk call me Brother Bellaston – I tend the quaint little church you may have seen as you came into town.”
“Little?” Avery said sarcastically as she shook his hand. He replied with a warm chuckle.
“It’s nothing compared to some churches I’ve seen. I make do with wherever the Lord sees fit to place me.” Bellaston answered.
“Very nice to meet you.” I said.
“I hear you’ve had some car trouble,” He said, his mien growing serious. “I hope you find Springhill a hospitable place while it gets repaired.”
“It’s been lovely so far, thank you.” Avery said.
Jordan had brought Bellaston a mug of beer in the time that he had been talking, which he downed in one long draught, setting the empty mug down on the table – flecks of foam and drops of beer catching in his beard.
“No time to stay I’m afraid, just came to wish a welcome to our new guests.” Bellaston said with a smile, before bidding everyone goodnight and leaving as suddenly as he had come in.
The wine was starting to affect all of us at this point, and Avery had gone outside with a number of the other girls to indulge her drunk habit of smoking cigarettes. Me and Sarah were left behind at our table, and Jordan was still serving the other customers. Tinny music was playing through an old set of speakers behind the bar, and the drone of a half dozen conversations was filling my consciousness.
“Oh, I almost forgot – Mel said you left these in your car.” Sarah said with a start, producing a pair of glasses from inside her jacket and handing them to me.
“No… I don’t wear glasses.” I said.
“Yes, you do.” Sarah said, her face darkening as she thrust the glasses towards me.
“I don’t… what?”
“You wear glasses. These are your glasses.” Sarah repeated, barely concealing the anger in her voice.
“No I think the-“ I started.
“Look.” Sarah said, leaning in close to me and dropping her voice to a forceful whisper. “You wear glasses. These are your glasses. You need them to see. And if you don’t wear them – I’ll rip your fucking legs off and beat you to death with them. Got it?”
“Okay…” I said, my voice trembling as I quietly took the glasses and put them on. They didn’t hurt my eyes or head at all – so I could tell they weren’t prescription. From what I could tell, they were just a decorative pair of black rimmed glasses.
“I can’t explain now. But trust me when I say we’re on the same side. Now – you act normal and don’t mention a goddamn thing I just said – to anybody. Got it?” Sarah hissed.
I nodded in agreement, unable to choke out a response. I was both confused and terrified at what we had gotten ourselves into in this town – and seeing a dark and violent side of our rescuer was not helping.
“Drink more, you’ll need it.” Sarah said, pouring more wine into the empty glass before me – a command which I eagerly obeyed.
The rest of our group filtered back in a few minutes later and rejoined us at the table. Nobody seemed to notice my new accessory, and I poured wine into myself in an attempt to clear out my nervousness at the unfolding situation. Avery seemed oblivious and jolly the whole while – and though I wanted nothing more to tell her what was going on, I felt some strange, fear-born trust in Sarah that I was remiss to break.
Our party broke up not long after, and we all began to stumble back to our relative beds. As me and Avery were leaving, I shot a glance back over my shoulder, and made eye contact with Sarah, who was leaned against the bar talking quietly with Jordan. She merely nodded at me, stone-faced, as I left the room.
Avery collapsed onto her bed and was asleep before she even managed to take her clothes off. I still had enough wherewithal to at least get ready for bed – stumbling though I was. I took my new glasses off and set them next to my head on the nightstand before crawling under the thick sheets. Afraid and nervous, I had checked the door of the room almost three times to make sure it was locked before I found the courage to close my eyes. Luckily the wine was pulling my eyelids closed, and I drifted into a drunk, fitful sleep before long.
I vaguely awoke, half dreaming and half waking what felt like days later. I was trying to blink the sleep from my groggy eyes, but between the pounding in my head and the delirium caused by a sudden awakening, I only had time to make out “that one’s awake.” Before I felt a powerful hand grab me by the hair and force me still while a rag was shoved into my mouth. The adrenaline rush hit me suddenly and I began to let out muffled screams and try to break free of my attacker, but it was useless – whoever it was, was overpoweringly strong. The last thing I managed to make out was a hulking, malformed humanoid shape hovering over me in the black room before a bag was pulled over my head.
My hands were pulled behind me and I was handcuffed and left on the bed – after which, from what sounds I could make out, I assumed the same was being done to Avery, though it seemed she was drunkenly sleeping through the whole thing.
“Don’t forget that one’s glasses.” Came a booming voice from somewhere in the room – which I immediately recognized as Brother Bellaston.
“Mm, yes, wouldn’t want her to not be able to see her new husband. He he he.” Came a guttural, putrid voice in reply.
I was bundled out of the room over the shoulder of the disgusting-voiced man, who stank like death and had strange zipper like bumps across his arms. He walked with a lurching gate and breathed irregularly at all times, punctuated by snickers and chuckles that he seemed to gargle in the back of his throat.
I was carried for only a short while before I heard a door open and close, along with a few more footsteps joining in accompanied by a volley of hushed whispers that I couldn’t make out. I was carried down a flight of stairs and the air grew cold almost in an instant. I heard the clanking of iron, and I was dropped onto some sort of hard bench or bed.
I sat for what must have been five minutes, and felt myself at the risk of passing out, when I smelled the lurching man near me again, and heard the handcuffs slip from my numb hands. My bag was pulled off and I spat the rag in my mouth, only to reel back in horror from what was before me.
The man… or more like the “thing” that stood before me had a roughly humanoid shape – but one leg was significantly longer than the other, a trait matched by his arms. Weird bumps and lumps were visible across his entire body, and he had only one ear which looked as though it had been smashed onto his head like clay. His eyes were mismatched heights and colours, and his lip was split from it’s peak all the way to the bottom of his nose, which lent him the raspy, unnatural breathing and talking. All across his face and body, he had lines of what looked like thick stitching or stapling, as if all of his skin was composed of grafts that had been variously sewn on.
“Ehhh she can see me enough without these things.” The thing said, tossing my newly acquired glasses into my lap.
“Hello Mary, welcome to your temporary lodgings.” Brother Bellaston said from outside the cell I had been deposited in. The thing backed away and the cell door was slammed behind him.
“You can let Brother Worm here know if there’s anything you’ll be needing.” Bellaston said, the smiles of earlier that night all but vanished. He turned and strode away from my vision.
I took in my surroundings – I was in an iron barred cell, with nothing but a cot and a toilet. The walls and floors were all either stone or cement, which it was was hard to tell. Outside of my cell, there was a larger room that extended in both directions out of my sight, and across from me another row of cells, all currently empty. The thing that Bellaston had called Brother Worm was pacing around the larger room, muttering and mumbling to himself while he did some general tidying up.
The combination of hangover, exhaustion, adrenaline, and terror were all too much, and I collapsed back onto my cot, head spinning, where I fell into probably the worst sleep I’ve ever had in my life. It was nothing but nightmares and endless tossing around. I woke up stiff, sore, cold, and terrified.
I don’t know why in movies, every time someone gets kidnapped, they always thrash around, fighting and screaming for freedom. I can tell you for a fact that it doesn’t happen like that – at least not for me any way. I was so terrified I was scared to even move, I merely huddled there on my cot in a state of unending panic, cycling between crying and hyperventilating for hours.
Eventually I heard the click of a door and the mumbling and grumbling of Brother Worm, who shuffled into my sight in front of the cell door. He had a thick blanket in one hand a plate with some breakfast in the other.
“Mm, the new bride looks very, very cold and hungry. Slept all bad did you?” Brother worm said, as he pushed the food into my cell along with the blanket. The food slid in easily, but he got the blanket somewhat tangled in the cell bars, and almost knocked himself over untangling it. He muttered to himself a few curses as he started to walk away.
“Wait!” I yelled, jumping up from the cot. Brother Worm mumbled something and turned around. “What did you do with Avery?”
“Mmmm? Other one? Other one is in another place – all well and good just like you. The new brides. Yes, yes. Mmmm.” Worm muttered, then shambled from view.
I sat down on my cot and wrapped myself in the blanket, which helped at chasing some of the chill out of me and made me feel somewhat better. I dug into the breakfast, which was a very nice spread of eggs, bacon, hash browns, and bread rolls, with a few pats of condiments on the side. I couldn’t finish it all and set the remainder down on the floor while I curled back up on the cot.
I had cried all of my tears out at that point – or so it felt, so I merely lay on the cot, blank of face and blank of mind, paralyzed by my situation, when I heard Worm shuffling in again, muttering.
“mmm, forgot water, here here, drink, need to stay good and healthy for the master.” Worm said as he deposited a pitcher of water on the floor through the bars of my cell.
“Wait,” I said, thinking quickly, I put the glasses onto my face – if Sarah had given me these for a reason maybe they would do something for me. “I couldn’t finish this, do you want it?”
“Mmm, for me?” Worm asked surprised, as I held out the plate of unfinished breakfast towards him. “No, Master says that food isn’t for Worm, just for Master and his family.”
“I won’t tell anyone.” I said, putting on the best smile I could muster given the situation. Worm hesitated for a moment, narrowing his mismatched eyes suspiciously and glancing furtively around the room.
“Worm will be right back.” He said as he scurried off from where he had come. A minute later he was back with a steaming mug in his hand that smelled strongly of coffee.
“Better than water for Mary.” Worm said, as he pushed the cup of coffee into the cell. He took the plate of remaining breakfast from me and hunched over on the ground eating ferociously. The sound was admittedly disgusting, but I tried to put it out of my mind as I chugged from the pitcher of water and sipped at the piping hot cup of coffee.
As Worm sat there eating and I sat there drinking, I tried looking at him and around the room to see if the glasses did anything – but everything appeared normal, so I took them off and laid them on the cot, which Worm noticed.
“Mmm, worm too ugly to look at.” He said as he ripped a bread roll in half.
“No no that’s not it, I just don’t need them right now.” I said, trying to reassure him. He grunted in response and returned to his food.
“So… Brother Worm…” I began, and he perked up again. “What exactly is going to happen to me?”
“Mmm, married to the master this Sunday. The whole town will be there.” Worm said, as he finished his food and stood up. “Big day, Mary will need lots of rest.”
“Married…?” I asked. I noticed all of a sudden that even though I had just been drinking coffee and had just woken up – I was beginning to feel extremely relaxed and sleepy again. I looked at the pitcher of water I had been drinking from, and remembered it tasting a little… off.
“Mmm yes. Mary is very nice though; Worm will be happy to serve Mary when she is the Master’s new bride.” Worm mumbled, looking at his feet.
The last thing I sway was Brother Worm undulating away with the empty breakfast plate as I began to sink back into sleep on the hard wooden cot.