"The GPS"A Story by Cody Williams Martin Hurley receives a GPS in the mail. But instantly, he notices that something is terribly wrong with it. “The GPS” By Cody Williams
1. The GPS came in a plain brown box that said AMAZON in black letters on the side. Martin Hurley opened the box and pulled the GPS out of it. It looked like another GPS that he had seen before except for the fact that it was a dark blue color instead of a gray that a Garmin is typically seen in. “That’s different.” His wife Suzie said when she saw the GPS and got into the car. “I don’t know why you made me buy this stupid thing! It seems like nothing more than a waste of money to me!” Martin said and he plugged the GPS chord into the car’s cigarette lighter and then mounted the GPS on the windshield. Suzie sat her tie-dye colored purse on her lap and slammed her passenger side door shut. “Because, Martin, it was your idea to go on this little trip to the Edgar Allan Poe Museum and I want you to actually know where you’re going!” She said to him. Martin sighed and rolled his eyes and then looked over to his annoyed wife. “Suzie, I’ve never gotten us lost before! I’ve always known where we were going!” Martin argued. Suzie let out a soft laugh. “Yeah, like you knew where we were going back a few years ago on the way to the beach. It took us an entire day to get there! The beach is only two hours away, and you managed to turn that into an all day trip because you wouldn’t stop and ask for directions!” Suzie fought back and turned away from her husband and looked out the window. Martin sighed again. I just can’t win sometimes! He thought to himself as he shut his car door, turned on the GPS, and then started the engine of the car. Martin backed the car out of the drive way and then drove away.
2. Martin looked over at his wife as she had her head leaning up against the window and was sleeping. He stopped at a red light and looked over at the GPS. There was something strange about it. On the map it had locations that Martin had never head of. In the top left hand corner, there was a small logo of place called Willow’s Way. The logo was primarily in black and white and there was a man whom had shaped jagged teeth and was wearing a black suit with thin vertical white stripes tuning downwards. On the opposite side in the top right hand corner there was a place showing up called The Happy Place and towards the bottom of the GPS were two more locations called Lowland and The Kingdom of Dillon. At the center of the screen there was a red arrow and read WHERE YOU ARE NOW and it had a picture of earth. The very top millimeter of the screen was blacked out and had white writing on it that read: PLEASE CHOOSE YOUR DESTINATION! “What the hell?” Martin said as he glanced over to his sleeping wife and then backs at the GPS. He began to reach up the grab the GPS when he heard a loud car horn honk from behind him. Martin looked into his rear view mirror and then back through the windshield to realize that the traffic light had changed from red to green. A large Ford F-150 that was sitting behind him pulled out and passed him. As they drove by, a man in the red truck rolled down the window and flipped Martin the bird. “Get off of the road jerk off!” The man shouted as the upper half of his body hung out of the window with his middle finger in the air. Martin let out a sigh and proceeded to drive through the traffic light.
3. As Martin continued to drive down the four lanes, he noticed that he never did pass the locations on the GPS and that they remained on the map as he continued to drive. What the hell is all of that? Martin asked himself again. He looked over at his sleeping wife and then pulled over into the abandoned parking lot of an out of business Krystal’s restraint. He put the car into park and reached over and pulled the GPS from the windshield. Martin reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a small post it note with the address to the Edgar Allan Poe Museum scribbled on it in black ink. He placed the note on his left leg and picked up the GPS to get a closer look. There was no blue menu button where there usually was at the base of the screen. It was just a map. Martin turned the GPS up side down and pressed the reset button on it. The screen went blank and then lit up again. At first the screen was black with just the word GARMIN showing in white letters but then turned completely green before going to the main menu. The largest icon on the home screen was that of a magnifying glass that said WHERE TO? Martin clicked the icon and then placed the GPS back down on his right leg and looked over at the address on the sticky note on his other leg. The screen of the GPS went black for a moment and then went back to the same map with the unfamiliar locations that was shown before. “What the hell is wrong with this thing?” Martin said as he clicked the clear question mark icon for help. The screen went blank for a moment and then went back to the map. “How can I help you?” A voice asked from the speaker of the machine. “What? Who is this?” Martin asked. “My name is Carol. You just clicked the help icon. Is there something I can help you with?” The voice asked. “Since when can GPS’s do that? I figured that just a help screen would pop up.” Martin said. The lady on the other side of the GPS went silent for a moment. “Have you read the instructions that came with the GPS?” Carol asked him. “No, I threw them away with the box.” He said to her. The line went silent again. “You shouldn’t have done that! You shouldn’t have that GPS at all! You need to…” Carol started before Martin heard something that sounded like a door opening on the other end. “What are you doing? No! No! No!” Carol shouted out. The line went silent again. Martin placed his ear up against the speakers to get a better listen. He could hear whispers but could quite make out what the people were saying. The line went dead and it was followed by a flat line beep noise. Martin slowly pulled his ear away from the GPS and pressed the reset button again. The flat line sound stopped and the screen went blank once more.
4. Suzie began to wake up and she looked over at Martin. “What are we doing?” She asked up as she wiped the eye crispiest from her eyes and let out a long yawn. “What are we doing it this parking lot?” She asked again. Martin ignored her and when the GPS lit back up and the went back to the map, he pressed the help button again. The two of them waited for a moment but nothing happened. “Are you having trouble with the GPS honey?” She asked him. Martin shook his head and looked over to her. Suzie could tell that something was wrong. Martin was sweating like a pig and there was a strange expression in his face that she was not used to seeing…worry. “I think something horrible might have just happened to Carol!” Martin said. Suzie laughed as if he was joking. “Carol? Is that what you named the voice that tells you where to go on the GPS?” Suzie asked laughing. Martin looked over at her and the laughter stopped. Martin turned his attention back to the GPS and pressed the help icon several more times but nothing happened. “Come on you son of a b***h!” He shouted. Martin looked up to notice that his wife had been frozen and all the cars driving on the highway were frozen in time as well. A black funnel cloud appeared outside the car to his left and a black Mercedes appeared from it. Four men stepped out of it and Martin stepped out of his car. The men were sharply dressed with each of them wearing a gray colored suit with a black tie and brown hats at the top of their heads. They walked over to him and pulled out a business card. “You called?” One of them asked as he handed him over the business card. Martin grabbed it from him and read it. It simply had THE LOWLANDERS printed on it in black ink. “What’s going on?” Marin asked them as he looked back at them. “You seem to have an unusual little device in you position Mr. Hurley. Where did you get it?” One of the Lowlanders asked him. “I…I bought it off of Amazon! What does that have to do with anything?” He asked them. “Mr. Hurley, the little machine in your car is not just a mere GPS. It contains a bridge between other worlds.” He explained. “You have no business with it. Witch makes me wonder how you got it in the first place Mr. Hurley.” “I told you somebody on Amazon sold it to me used. The price was marked down and it was under “used” so I figured that I would buy it to get my wife off of my back.” Martin explained. “Do you have the name of the man who sold it to you?” The lowlander asked. “No. I…I threw it away this morning.” Marin said. “Well, isn’t that convenient.” “What? Do you think I’m lying to you or something?” “I have to take that into consideration Mr. Hurley.” Martin looked down at the ground and sighed and then looked back up to the Lowlanders. “What are you going to do to me?” Martin asked. “Well, first, we have to take that GPS with us.” The lead Lowlander extended his arm and waited for Martin to hand him the GPS. Martin nodded and reached into his car and grabbed the GPS out of it and handed it over to the Lowlanders. “Here! Take it!” Martin said as he handed it to him. The Lowlanders smiled. “Next, we have to take you!” The Lowlander told him. “What?” “You know too much about the GPS. We have to take you with us now!” “What’s going to happen to me?” “Well, that will be up to the Almighty.” “The Almighty?” “Our queen of Lowland! Bloody Mary!” “Lowland? No! No! This is crazy! I’m not going anywhere!” Martin shouted as he backed his away from the Lowlanders. “Yes you will. You will either go with us, or we’ll take your entire pathetic world with us! I think the Almighty will be more than pleased either way!” Martin looked back at his wife in the car behind him. “What about my wife? What happens to her?” Martin asked. “I
suppose that we can let her slide.” “Nothing. She will keep on living her life.” “What about her memories?” “She’ll remember that you died in a car accident during this trip.” Martin looked back at his frozen wife sitting in the car as the black funnel cloud that brought the Lowlanders there reappeared. “We’re running out of time Mr. Hurley! Her Majesty wants that GPS and you under her control now! We have to go!” He continued. Martin looked back at his wife for a final time and then got into the back seat of the Lowlanders Mercedes and the Lowlanders followed. The Mercedes was sucked back into the funnel cloud and cloud disappeared and time reset itself.
5. Suzie stood in the kitchen and glanced out the window to the black top of the driveway. Sally, Suzan and Martin’s daughter came in and hugged her. Suzie was wearing a plain black dress and was holding a tissue. She couldn’t stop thinking about the sight of her husband being lowered into the ground just a few hours ago. “Such a tragic car accident!” Sally mumbled under her breath. Copyright 2014 by Cody Williams Courtesy of The Enchanted Press A division of TTP Entertainment © 2014 Cody WilliamsAuthor's Note
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4 Reviews  Last Updated on August 30, 2014 Tags: science fiction, horror, fantasy, short story, prose, fiction, Cody Williams, dark fantasy, GPS Author
Cody WilliamsElizabethton, TNAboutI am in my second year at Carson-Newman University in Jefferson City, Tennessee were I major in instrumental music education and minor in English. My passions include playing the trombone/euphonium an.. more..Writing
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