My Way Home Is Through You

"I swear to God, I'm going to kill him."

It was a mantra Ray had taken to grunting to himself throughout the past few hours. Trudging along the deserted road, the sound of his own voice was his only companion. Four miles back sat his brother's ancient car, right where it had come to a grinding halt sometime around midnight.

As Ray cast a glance from side to side at the dense woods surrounding the little-used road, he thought that it had been a wise choice indeed to wait until sunrise to begin his twelve-mile hike back into town. A seasoned horror film fanatic, he shuddered to recall scenes of lone hitchikers' bloody fates.

I know they're just movies, he thought to himself, but damn it, this isJersey. Shit like that actually happens here!

Pulling his cell phone out of his pocket, he groaned as its screen blinked a "No Battery" message before shutting down entirely once more.

"FUCK!" he cried, resisting the urge to chuck the useless phone into the trees.

While sitting in the car for those six dreadful hours of darkness, he'd had no service, and no way to call for anyone's help. He'd left the phone on in the vain hope that he may somehow pick up a wayward signal. Now he regretted having wasted the little power he'd had.

Damn it, Lou, he thought viciously. I could just kill him for this.

His brother's "dire emergency" had been easy enough to handle, though it had taken him a good hour and a half away from home. But he'd had his doubts when Lou had asked him to drive his vintage Mustang home for him. Oh, sure, the body was gorgeous - fire engine red, polished to its optimal shine, and not a scratch or ding to be seen. But when the car had started to growl at him after a few miles on the road, Ray's worries had increased tenfold.

And look where it fucking got me, he thought as he continued to shuffle slowly down the road. Trust your gut, dumbass! It'll rarely steer you wrong!

At that moment, the cloudy summer sky began to rumble, and before Ray could blink, a raindrop spattered against his forehead. Within minutes, he was standing in a moderate drizzle.

"Oh, come on!" he pleaded up to the heavens. "You're just not going to give me a break, are you?"

With a weary sigh, he began to plod along once more in the steadily increasing downpour, all the while thinking of how worried Anna and Gerard must be.