Inspired by true events!

Three in a car

It was cold. John hunched over the steering wheel, fumbling for the ignition, as Sarah hurriedly slammed the passenger door. The car came to life, and she frantically stabbed at the dashboard buttons until the heat was on full blast.

They sat, steam breath fogging the windshield.

John spoke first: “Quite a game, huh?”

Sarah just grinned, shivering.

They were pinned to the curb, for a few minutes at least. Red taillights filled 3rd Street, and rowdy fans poured through every space that remained unoccupied by vehicles.

She sighed, staring up through the moonroof at the gray darkness of winter. It was foggy. No stars. Yawning, she turned to John.

“Mmm. But I’ll be glad when we get home.”

As if on cue, he was finally able to pull into the line of traffic. “Wish I knew downtown a little better...would know where to park…” he murmured.

She shrugged. “Nah, it’s alright. I had a great time…”

She broke off in a yawn, closing her eyes.

John proceeded slowly, sticking close to the car ahead. The crowds had begun to thin from the street, but a steady stream of people still ambled down the sidewalk.

Suddenly, someone was at the passenger side window.

John studied him quickly. White. Young face. Looked calm. Crowds. “Honey…”

Sarah spun around. “Oh!”

John cracked the window. “What can we do for you?”

The young man (a boy, really, from the looks of it - probably not over twenty) looked earnest. “Are you guys heading south? I live around here, few blocks that way. Know the best way to get to the interstate. It’d be awesome if you—”

“Hmm. Not sure about that…” John stared at Sarah.

“It’s short of the interstate. I mean, I got money.”

She pursed her lips. Shrugged, almost imperceptibly.

“I mean, it’s alright, it’s just kind of cold, you don’t have to, I can walk, I just—”

“No, that’s alright. Hop in,” John said.

The boy smiled, climbing into the seat behind Sarah.

“Thanks. Thanks a lot,” he said.

John smiled accommodatingly. Why were they doing this? She didn’t want it. She’d shrugged, indicated yes, but she didn’t want it. Now, seeing her face tighten, her hands clasping her knees, it was clear. It should have been clear. She was right, too. People could be dangerous…

They sat in silence for a few minutes, surrounded by lights and car horns and the exultant shouts of the pedestrians.

The boy spoke first. “You just – uh…up here, on the right…”

He was not at ease. That much was obvious. John turned his head toward Sarah, stealing a sideward glance into the back seat. Hands in coat pockets, licking lips – why would this kid be nervous? He had been plenty eager to get into the car in the first place…quickly, John raised his gaze. She smiled stiffly. He faced forward again.

“Where, now?” he asked, after a minute. It couldn’t be too soon. They were still in traffic, inching forward.

“See…see the next light?” the boy responded. “Yeah, Jackson Avenue, you just go right.”

A few blocks south, he’d said, hadn’t he? John narrowed his eyes. He reached up and adjusted the mirror, casually as possible, until he could just glimpse the boy’s face. He squinted into the mirror, shifting his head, trying to act as though he were sizing up traffic to the rear.

“So, did you like the game?” Sarah asked, staring straight ahead.

“What? Yeah, oh yeah, it was good.” said the boy, uninterested.

They turned right on Jackson. It was a dark road. No other cars from the lineup on 3rd had turned in front of them. John had read about things like this. The hitchhiker, the drifter, the dark street...and the mood had shifted for the worse the instant the boy had gotten in. They’d been laughing, and now everyone was so quiet, so stiff. The boy had brought that in here. And he had been so loose and amiable asking for the ride! It didn’t fit together. Something really wasn’t right.

“Are you sure about this?” John asked.

“What? Oh, yeah, just…just a couple blocks this way, and then you go…”

“I thought when we picked you up you said just a couple blocks south.” John adopted a slightly sterner tone.

“Well yeah, I…I mean, it’s really close. And then just a couple blocks to the interstate.”

John stared at the kid in the mirror. He was looking out the window, biting his lip now. This hadn’t been the right call. Hopefully…

There was a stop sign.

“Here?”

“No, next one.”

There was a can of pepper spray in the glove compartment. It would be awfully reassuring…

Stop sign.

“Here, right? ...Yeah?”

“Oh! Oh, sorry, forgot this was here. It’s the next one.” The boy laughed nervously. “Yeah, no, no, sorry.”

John shifted his gaze left again, catching Sarah’s eye. Yes, she felt it too. He lifted off the brake, pressing the gas slowly. The boy was watching, had to be watching. He smiled lightly, casually, in her direction. She returned with a stiff grin. They knew. He mouthed “pepper”, nodding discreetly toward the glove compartment. He pressed the gas a little harder. She lifted her eyebrows quizzically, indicating that she had understood the request, if not its purpose. He shifted back to front.

“Could you please stop?” the boy asked suddenly. The tone was much clearer, much more decisive than before.

John had been expecting this, but still, the moment itself shocked his heart into a frenzy. He felt adrenaline flowing, his face growing warm. He took stock of the surroundings. There was a gas station a few hundred yards ahead, on the right side. Past that third stop sign. Light, if he could somehow stop near the light. Sarah was frozen, fingers on the glove compartment handle, expression startled. The boy’s eyes were wild in the mirror. He had to think fast.

“Huh?” John grunted, shaking his head, acting as though he had been lost in a daydream.

“I said could you please...um”

They went passed the stop sign without slowing…almost there…

“Wait, what?” John said, as if still comprehending. “Oh, oh, sure, no problem”

Whew. They pulled to a stop on the side of the road, less than half a block from the station.

“Alright, here’s the deal…” the boy began.

John turned around smoothly, calmly. The boy’s right hand was buried in his right coat pocket. The outline gave the impression that something other than hand was also inside.

“What you got in that pocket?” John demanded huskily. He would have to be confident and direct; take control.

“What’s she grabbing?” The boy looked intimidated but fierce, like a cornered dog. John sneered. He’d started well.

“That’s none of your business.”

“Ok, fine. Well this is what I—“

“What’s in that pocket?”

“What’s SHE got?”

“You don’t need to know.” (That’s my girl! he thought, seeing that Sarah had surreptitiously removed the pepper spray and twisted around, holding the little can out of the boy’s sight against the seatback.)

“Ok, well if you don’t tell me I’ll—”

“What you got in that pocket?”

“I don’t KNOW man, I don’t KNOW!”

The boy was posturing now, out of his comfort zone. It was now or never.

“I think you ought to get out of here.”

“Yeah, yeah, that’d be good.”

John unlocked the doors. The boy (with a look of sheer relief, John noticed proudly), opened the door and jumped out.

John hit the gas, slamming the door shut. The boy disappeared in the shadows as they drove away.

After a few dazed minutes, John broke the silence.

“Honey, I’m sorry…”

She shook her head. “Just promise you’ll never pick up any more strangers.”

“Oh, for sure. I don’t know what I was thinking. He just looked like a nice kid, it was in a crowd, I just figured…but no. No more, never.”

“People are so dangerous these days…” she trailed off. She seemed emotionless, almost in shock.

After a few minutes, they reached the interstate. It had barely been an hour since the end of the game. John sighed, feeling real relief welling up for the first time. He smiled, then grinned, then started chuckling.

“What?” Sarah’s smile was reluctant, but in her lightly accusatory tone he could perceive that she was alright, that they could both laugh about it now.

“The pepper spray thing. That was brilliant! He really thought you had a gun!”