Headlights

New twist on an old urban legend.

Mary Ann Butler sat in her turquoise 1987 Buick. On the radio played some "classic hits" such as "Rock Around the Clock" and Elvis's "Blue Suede Shoes". The songs were long since in her past, but, being seventy-four years old, it made her feel like she was young again. When her husband had been alive, they had tried their hardest to keep from changing with the rest of the world. The songs on the radio reminded her of him and she felt a calm fall over her.
        This was a good thing, since she was never keen on driving alone at this time of night. When she had left the house, the grandfather clock in the living room had shown 11:30 in the evening. She was not one to go out at this time of night, unless it was an emergency. The last time she had, it was the night her husband had suffered his heart attack. It had been a terrible night, that night. Storms had set in and a bolt of lightning had struck a telephone pole outside, leaving them without any link to the outside world. Living out in the country, the nearest town was about half an hour away. However, with the rain beating down and the wind howling that night, the drive took her almost an hour. By the time they had reached any help, her husband had passed away. Since then, driving in the night had made her nervous, especially when she was by herself�which was just about all the time, anymore.
        Tonight was not a bad night, though. A light fog had rolled in, but that was all. There was no rain, wind, nor lightning. As long as she took her time, she'd be just fine, she thought. On both sides of her, she could just barely make out the sight of pine trees lining up along side the road, against a wall of blackness that was the night sky. Besides the radio playing, the night was calm and quiet. It was just the thing she needed to keep focused.
        Just then, she heard a loud THUD. The sound startled her, and she had to concentrate on keeping the car on the road. Within a few seconds, she had applied the brakes and came to a stop. Her first thought was that she hit something, possibly an animal. It was no uncommon to spot fresh lumps of dead carcass alongside the road on a regular basis. People ran into problems with crossing animals all the time. In fact, she would bet that people have hit at least one of every kind of animal they had in these forests. One day when her husband had come home from work, he claimed that he had nicked a mountain lion in the rear end with his front bumper. It had limped away into the forest, but seemed, otherwise, okay.
        Backing up slowly, she tried to retrace her steps until she thought she was near the spot she had heart the thud. She sat for a few moments, remembering how her husband had never wanted her to get out of her car if she was ever stuck out in the middle of nowhere.
        "It's not safe." he had told her. "You never know what could happen to a nice girl like you."
        However, she did not feel in danger, and reached over and opened up the glove compartment. Reaching in, she pulled out a small flashlight that she still had in the car when her husband had bought it in case of a problem�much like this one. She turned it on, paused for a moment, then opened up her door and stepped out into the night. She stood up and shined the light in all directions around her. Behind her, the radio continued to play the oldies while the car purred like a kitten. She began to walk to the back of the car, flashing the light at the ground as she did. She half expected to see a small raccoon or even an opossum scurry out from under her car, but none did. When she neared the rear of the car, she flashed the light behind the path the car had taken. She saw what appeared to be some sort of small object lying alongside the road. Slowly, she walked away from the comfort of her car, and inched closer and closer to the object ahead of her.
        Upon reaching the object, she shone the light on top of it. It appeared to be a backpack of some sort. Afraid she had possibly hit a hitchhiker, she moved the direction of the flashlight into the trees. No one returned her call of greeting, thinking someone might have been injured and crawled into the ditch or had been thrown into the ditch and knocked out cold. Katydids sang their song throughout the branches of the trees as the wind began to pick up a bit. Whether it was the chill from the cold air, or uneasiness in her gut, Mary Ann left the backpack and headed back to her car. She was not certain that she had not hit anything, but her common sense was starting to take over her actions and she understood why her husband had not wanted to pull a stunt like this one.
        As she climbed back into her car, she noticed a set of headlights a ways behind her. Certainly, they were far enough behind her that she could pull out without feeling as though she had pulled out in front of it. They would have to have at least seen her taillights. She climbed into her car and set the flashlight in the passenger seat next to her. Putting the car into drive, she applied pressure to the gas pedal and slowly pulled off the side of the road.
        The vehicle behind her was losing distance between them, by now. Figuring they would pass her, she did not worry about speeding up. However, the vehicle remained behind her. She did just what her husband had taught her the one night last summer, and ignored it. After a few minutes the vehicle still followed her. Just as she was about to speed up, the headlights flashed, then disappeared. What was going on? What happened to the vehicle behind her? Maybe they had come across a hidden driveway to a house in the forest, or maybe a trail where someone was camping? Whatever the reason, the absence of the headlights relieved her.
        All of a sudden, the headlights returned, flashing her, and then disappearing once again. They were still following her? Why were they driving without the headlights on? Why are they flashing them at her? The incident reminded her of a game kids in town used to play a few years ago. They would follow a car at night. Then, they would flash their high beams at them. They would continue to do this for about a mile or so, then they would give the car a bump and take off, laughing at the fear they had provoked into their victims. This thought began to give her goose bumps. A lump formed in her throat as she tried to swallow.
        The music on the radio ended and a voice spoke through a hint of static. It was the DJ of the radio station. He was interrupting the music to inform people that a serial killer who had murdered four young women in the past four weeks was last seen driving near Route 29. He urged everyone listening that if they were driving down this road, to not pick up any hitchhikers, not to stop along the road, especially if they were alone, and not to leave the car if they absolutely had to stop.
        Mary Ann's lip started to quiver. Her heart beat began to speed up at the thought that she might actually have the killer behind her right this second. The eerie headlights that had been teasing her the last mile might be this killer, waiting for her to stop or slow down enough that he could push her off the side of the road and do whatever kind of horrible things a sick and tormented person would do to a lonely old woman such as herself. The thought ran chills up her spine, sweat formed on her brow.
        Again, all at once, the lights appeared again. They flashed on and off, on and off, on and off again, then disappeared once more. Mary Ann's breathing starting to increase along with her heartbeat. What was she going to do? As she began to panic, she saw a sign that stated that a gas station was a mile down the road. Could she make it to the gas station in time? She did not know, but she had to try. Once she was there, she could run into the station and call for help. No one would think of trying something in such a public place such as a gas station, would they? Certainly not. Not if they wanted to get away with it.
        Without realizing it, she had applied some more pressure on the gas. The car picked up speed as she did. However, she did not notice. Her attention was on the road ahead of her. If she was to make it out of this in one piece, she would have to keep an eye out for other animals that might hinder her progress. A deer through the windshield would certainly not help her situation at all.
        The headlights again appeared, flashed its menacing Morse code, and then disappeared. The fog that had been light just minutes before was now getting thicker. She was beginning to have trouble seeing ahead of her. The trees were no longer visible from where she sat in the car. Then, she heard what sounded like little fingers tapping on her windshield. It started out slow, and then began to pick up, as she realized it was beginning to rain. As if controlled by her thoughts, and on cue, the sky ahead of her flashed as if God himself was taking a picture to record the moment.
        Thoughts of the night her husband had passed away began to resurface. The heartbeat she heard was her own, but seemed to be coming from the seat next to her as she replayed the images of her husband, dying in front of her, struggling for his life. The headlights appeared and disappeared yet again. Mary Ann's breathing increased even more, her sweat had begun to run down her brow and form drops that hung from the end of her nose. The sound of the rain picking up speed, hindering her vision and causing her to turn on her wiper blades, drained out the sound of the radio.
        Up ahead, she could see lights. It was the big red and yellow sign of the logo of the gas station. She was almost there. She just needed to keep going. Just a little further. The headlights came on, but seemed to shine brighter, as if their high beams were on full force. She swung her car over into the nearest island just as the car passed her and kept going. She turned her head as it passed, and saw that it was an orange, sporty, little car. It looked like one of those new Chevy Cavaliers. As the night sky flashed bright, she noticed that the driver was a young girl, no more than nineteen or twenty years of age. The girl drove by, and after passing just beyond the other side of the station, her taillights just blinked out existence, instead of fading like normal cars.
        The moment her car had come to a stop, Mary Ann thrust open the door and got out. The lights overhead, above the pumping stations, almost made her shield her eyes after driving in the dark for so long. She moved, quickly, around the back of the car and ran towards the store part of the gas station. As she approached the door, she could see a uniformed State Trooper talking to the young man behind the counter. They were smiling and seemed to be carrying on a hearty conversation.
        She swung the door open, and then staggered, almost drained of her energy from being put through such a terrifying experience. Both the young man and the trooper looked at her as she walked in.
        "Evening ma'am." greeted the trooper. He looked her over, and then realized that something was wrong. Before he had a chance to ask her, Mary Ann told the officer about everything from the time she had heard the thud, to when she pulled into the gas station. The trooper put his hands on her shoulders and told her to calm down. The young man behind the counter offered her a free coffee to help warm her up. She graciously accepted. The trooper then told her to enjoy her coffee and that he would go take a look at her car to make sure that nothing was damaged. It there was any damage done to the car, she could fill out a report to file to her insurance company. She thanked him, and began to feel better about everything as she watched him amble outside to her car. However, nothing could have prepared her for what happened next.
        As the trooper neared the rear of her car, he looked down, then immediately pulled his gun and aimed it at the back end. Puzzled, as was the young man who was also watching, Mary Ann stepped closer to the door to watch. To her horror, she watched as the trooper ripped open the back door, reached in, and pulled someone out of her back seat. It was a man. He appeared young, with ratted hair, a camouflaged jacket, and jeans that had a couple of holes near the knees. What was more alarming was that while the trooper had the man with his hands on the back of her car, searching him, he pulled a hunting knife out of a pocket of his jacket. The trooper cuffed the man, and then began talking into the radio that was perched on his shoulder.
        Within minutes, other State Troopers had joined the first. After they had stuffed the man into the back of one of their cars, the first trooper began to take Mary Ann's account for their records. She had told him about the car behind her, but had not given him a description the first time. This time, the trooper asked for it, and Mary Ann gave him the description the best to her knowledge. The trooper looked at her in puzzlement.
        "Are you sure that's the description of the car that followed you?" asked the trooper.
        When Mary Ann insisted that it was, and asked why she should make it up, the trooper looked almost pale. He then recounted that earlier in the week, they had been called to an accident farther down from where Mary Ann had stopped her car. When they arrived at the scene, the car was in the ditch. They had found a jean jacket, a purse, and blood on the seat. They came to the conclusion that a struggled had occurred, and more than likely, the girl, whose name was under the car's registration, had never been found. The story numbed Mary Ann. Her hands felt cold and clammy, even while holding the hot cup of coffee.
        Another trooper stepped in and approached Mary Ann and the other trooper. He, too, had heard Mary Ann's story. When he met them, his gaze bounced back and forth between the two of them.
        "You should thank whoever was flashing their lights at you tonight, ma'am." he began. "The fella that was hiding your back seat confessed that he's the guy we've been looking for the past few weeks. He admitted that he was going to hide in your back seat, force you to pull over, and then kill you. He also said that every time he tried, someone behind you had flashed their headlights and scared him into holding off. I'd say you have one heck of an angel with you."
He smiled and walked away. Mary Ann felt as though she was going to faint.

The End

Reviews

[Richard]

A little difficult to read in some places, although still a very good story. I'd be interested in publishing it in my new magazine, the first issue of which is due out around October/November. Due to the season, I am looking for stories (and poems) with a supernatural/horror element.

I have sent you an invitation to our Group, Aquarius Publications & Aqua Digital, where you can find more details if you are interested.

[deeps]

Wow! I am really impressed by this write
Such wonderful detail and theme.
Enjoyable charcters as well.
Very well written