The unpaved road was abrupt beneath our tires. Jolting; back and forth for so long, our bodies hardly resisted the sway imposed on them. Tossed about on the rough dirt sea as we voyaged on to our destination. Arthur was leaving tomorrow. One last fire in the sand and brush outside of the town we all grew up in.
Though the sun was down, the summer night wrapped us in an almost tangible quilt of warmth. The caravan trekked onwards, cutting through the night on a path outlined by soil. Farther we drove away from the city, deeper into the desert, searching for a night sky unsullied by buildings and stop lights. I found myself driving three deep in our entourage, and to this day I don’t remember what was on my mind as we were brought to a sudden stop by the two ahead.
As the dust drifted slowly back to its home, illuminated by the head and tail lights of our cars, I scanned the road ahead to see what could have brought the halt. I wondered aloud to my two companions, as a mild curiosity piqued my attention. By this time, the air was again clear, and I could still find nothing on the road ahead. It was then that I saw movement, from the corner of my eye, on the side of the road. I whipped my head around to find what seemed to be a pile of pale rags, tossed into the brush. Slowly, my mind struggled to process what I saw. My stomach fell to my feet when I realized that it was a body.
I pulled the flashlight from my glove box, and threw open my door. Thoughts rushed through my head at a speed only adrenaline can achieve, as I made my way around the hood of my car. I reached the pile of rags at the same time as the two others that had retreated from their vehicles to inspect. We three stood, with I the farthest right, six or seven feet ahead of what was now, undeniably, a person.
Feebly, I called out to the pile, unsure if I wanted it to answer. It seemed like an eternity had passed, and still nothing. My two companions motioned for me to call out again, and after more than a few moments of hesitation, I did, this time louder. No more than two seconds later, the body stirred and shifted. Each of us instinctively took a step backwards.
Her eyes flew open. I dropped my flashlight.
I turned to pick up what had now rolled behind me. Once I had the flashlight back in hand, I righted myself, facing the cars across the road. The look of fright on my friends face, peering through the car window to whatever took place to my back, caused me to rapidly turn my whole self around to investigate.
She was there, staring at me, no more than a foot away.
After some of the initial shock - that this woman who no more than 4 seconds ago was laying in the dirt and now stood before me - wore off, the first thing that struck me was how aged the woman seemed to be. The eye’s that were seemingly peering into my innermost thoughts were a pale blue, a hue that appeared to have slowly faded as she got older. The wrinkles and cracks on her face were vast and deep, looking like wind weathered canyons, worn slowly by the years. The moonlight her face basked in only accentuated the age that time had painted on her. Her lips were chapped and flaking, which I assumed was due to laying on the side of an old dirt road. I spent so much time studying her face, that I didn’t realize time had passed to the extent the others who ventured from their cars had slowly started to make way for them again. She slowly smiled and continued to stare, raising a chorus of nerves down the back of my neck.
“Are… are you okay?” I managed to stammer out.
My questions was met with her silent, continuous stare, and the slow, dried up smile.
“Are you okay?” I asked again, ready to have the conversation end. She replied as she had before, empty of change or answer. We stood there staring at eachother. My entire existence was pulling me back to my car, but what kind of person would I be to leave her on the side of the road?
“What are you doing out here?”
My chest jumped when she opened her mouth the reply. The breath she sucked down her throat was one of the driest I had ever heard. A death rattle that echoed the sand and soil we had found her in.
“It seemed like a nice night.” she rasped. “It seemed like a nice night… for a walk.”
She paused, and broke into the darkest fit of laughter I have ever witnessed. Had the road been one less deserted, where passerby frequented, any and all persons cursed with hearing her laugh would have sworn the woman possessed. Her shoulders shaking in time with the cackles escaping her throat, her hands slowly raising from her side; she grasped my arms, and continued to chortle uncontrollably. I stepped back, out or her reach, and could think of nothing else to do but wait for her howls to subside.
After what seemed an eternity, but was probably a few passing moments, her guffaws had not lessened, and if anything worsened. I decided that I had no choice but to interrupt her. At this juncture, I realized my fellow travelers had returned to the safety of their cars, and left me to fend myself with this woman. I cleared my throat.
“You’re a far way from the city, you walked this entire way?”
My question was this time, met with laughter. Harder still.
I found myself frustrated, confused, and more than a little nervous. I stepped backwards to my car, only to find that she followed.
Like a reflex, “Do you need a ride anywhere?” I asked as my mind was filled with immediate regret.
She stopped laughing as quickly as she had started, and shook her head in the affirmative.
What had I done?
I asked again, “You need a ride…?” She took a deep breath, and said, “Let someone else walk for a while.”
My instincts immediately took over my thought process. Something deep within me told me run, far and away from this woman. A whisper in the back of my mind that was getting louder and louder, pushed me over and over to go, go, go. Instinct and panic fought each other for dominion, though both had the same intentions. Get away from this thing, my mind and soul screamed at me.
I turned on my heel and marched toward my car, keys out of pocket and into hand. I didn’t turn to see if she followed, but I prayed to every deity I had ever heard of that she wasn’t. The sound of her returning laughter, falling behind me, told me she wasn’t coming. I jumped into my car, turned it over and proceeded with the caravan down the road. I looked into my rearview mirror to see the woman, standing in the middle of the road, watching me. My feeling of panic only cemented my resolve to drive on.