The King of Mars

It was dark out when the bus driver announced that this was the last stop before heading to the nearest station for the night. I've been riding the bus for at least half a day while my fellow passengers came and went. The only original passengers were me and the brown-haired girl and both of us were getting off. I don't even remember what state we’re in.

We were standing at this dilapidated plastic box. A single bench sat underneath the roof of the thing, I'm guessing this is the bus station. I looked around. Wherever we were, it was definitely the middle of nowhere. It was a long, dusty street with lamps placed on the opposite side, standing over us at regular intervals, casting their creepy orange glow down the road. The bus drove away, leaving me and the girl alone. We both stood there and looked at each other awkwardly, but I'm not the type of guy to do that for too long.

"So, what's your story?" I asked her after a few quiet seconds.

"I think you want my name." She smiled. "I'm Jess, you?"

"My name's Chris. Where the hell are we?"

"Smalltown, USA." Jess said. I looked at her with surprise for a second.

"Really?"

She laughed and slung her bag over her shoulder, "No, not really! How do you not know where you are? What's your story?"

I smiled at that and moved over to the bench. With an exaggerated sigh, I sat down. "Nothing, really."

Jess plopped down next to me. Up close, she was really very pretty. Her skin was smooth and creamy, though tinted orange due to the street lamps. Her face was delicate looking and heart shaped. Every time her hair shook or the wind blew, I caught a sniff of some kind of flower. "Where are you from?" She asked.

"Up north."

"You aren't much of a talker," she noted.

"Anyways, what are you doing here? Alone in the middle of the night?"

"Is someone concerned for my safety??" Her eyes widened mockingly. "Well, my mother is supposed to be here to pick me up. My dad sent me here for the summer... I grew up here, you know."

"That sounds nice," I said, smiling at her. The thoughts that plagued me during the bus ride felt less important by the minute, talking to this girl. Like, how would I survive? Where would I sleep? What would I eat? Those very valid concerns didn't seem so important, looking at Jess and her smooth exterior.

The calm, collected demeanor was shaken by her virulent response. "Nice? Not at all. I hated it here. I hated my mom. That's why I went to live with my dad in the first place. Dumb bitch is probably too drunk to come pick me up, that's why I'm still here. And I am not walking all the way home."

I grinned, self-satisfied with how easily I had figured out her personality. If there's only one thing I know, it's people. I was almost finished with my Communications degree, after all. "What are you grinning at?" Jess asked, clearly becoming annoyed.

"No, nothing. I just remembered my dad, I hate him too. I wonder if he even cares about knowing where I am." I knew the answer was probably not. “Anyways,” I continued, casting a glance up and down the empty road, “it doesn’t look like anyone’s coming. I’d be happy to walk you home, so you won’t be alone or anything.”

“Hmm,” she considered it for a moment, fingers mockingly stroking her chin. “Something is telling me that that’s not a good idea but why the hell not. I hate walking alone in the dark.”

“Why wouldn’t it be a good idea?” I asked.

She laughed, “If you actually meet my mother, you’ll see.”

“How bad could she be?” I grinned.

Jess shook her head, “You don’t even know. I’m taking a huge leap of faith here. Shall we?” She turned and began walking from the bus station towards the quiet town. I followed her lead, the street lights illuminating our path for the most part. The whole time we were walking, only one car ambled its way from the town and back the way we came.

"Chris, really, why are you here?" Jess suddenly asked, her eyes trained on the side of my face as we walked. "I don't remember you from here, growing up. All I know is that you got on the stop right after mine, and you've been watching me the whole way down."

My face started to grow red. "That's because you were the only one who didn't get off!"

Jess smiled, leaning in closer to me. "Sure it was just that?"

This girl is good. I looked away, “How old even are you?”

“I just turned 18, so don’t worry,” she giggled. She was definitely fucking with me.

"Okay, I'm here because I don't know where here is." I said bluntly, surrendering yet happy to change the subject. She gave me a look that demanded an explanation. "Don't laugh. It sounds cliché, well I guess it is cliché, but I'm looking for myself. I'm from a small town too; I've always wanted to get out. Then I went to college with my girlfriend at the time. I had thought that I finally got out, but she was my high school sweetheart so apparently I never got too far. So I just needed to get away from the memories. Decided to take this summer off to explore, free my mind and find out who I am, how I'm supposed to fit into the world."

“What happened with your girlfriend?” She immediately asked.

“Well, she found herself and I guess I didn’t. We broke up, let’s leave it at that.”

"Sooo... you're just going to walk around because of it? That's insane." She looked away and we continued walking down the road, shifting the purse on her shoulder. The rest of the way was silent save for the cicadas that clamored in the trees, so technically it was pretty loud I guess. I followed her down a dark side road that lacked any sort of street lamp. As the last of the remaining, fluorescent orange lighting faded to black, I was beginning to make out the shape of a house at the end of the road. Only one window on the first floor was lit up and as we approached it, we could see a group of people through the glass. Besides the car in the driveway, two other beaten automobiles were parked in front of the house.

“Well, here goes nothing.” Jess said as she took the stairs up the porch and motioned me to come with her to the door, which she swung wide open and stepped through like she owned the place. Well, I guess it was her home after all. “Mom, I’m home!”

“Oh, it’s you, about time.” One of the women at the table said as I walked inside to stand behind Jess. There were five, upper middle aged women sitting at a table smoking cigarettes and playing cards. I’m assuming that the one who looked over to acknowledge Jess is her mother. She was heavyset, with salt and pepper hair cropped close and a thick southern accent. Through a pair of horn rimmed glasses, her sharp little eyes widened with interest when they caught sight of me. “Who’s this young man?”

“This is Chris, everyone,” Jess introduced, stepping aside and gesturing towards me. I waved shyly. “Chris, this is everyone. I met him on the way down here. He walked me home since no one came to pick me up.”

“Well that was nice of him, my name is Charlene,” Jess’s mom said, either uncaring or oblivious to her daughter’s passive aggressive comments. “You’re a cutie, damn sure a far cry from those nigger boys my daughter loves so much. Feel free to stay the night if you’d like.” She said it so nonchalantly as her focus returned to the cars in her hands. I immediately felt uncomfortable and so did Jess too, I think.

“Yeah, glad to see you’re still a racist pig,” Jess muttered under her breath.

“The hell did you just say to me, young lady?” Charlene returned her attention to Jess.

“I said glad to see Oliver got so big!” Jess giggled excitedly, bending down to pick up a tortoise shell colored cat that materialized at her feet. Nice save.

“Uh-huh…” Charlene and her friends returned to play the game. Texas hold ‘em, I think it was.

“I’ll excuse myself.” Jess said, walking down the hall and away from the living room.

“It was nice to meet you all,” I said to the women. “Thanks for letting me stay a night.”

Charlene merely grunted and took a swig from her glass in response. Okay… I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on but I already wasn’t feeling good about the vibe in this place. I pursued Jess down the hallway, at the end of which she bent down to drop Oliver the cat and flicked the light switch on. The walls were littered with framed photos, mostly of Charlene holding a number of different fish on the line. There was also a fair amount of her dressed in camouflage and holding dead deer up by their antlers, a pair of which I passed underneath to follow Jess into the kitchen. I guess she was really into hunting and fishing, but not so much her family, as I saw no childhood photos of Jess anywhere.

“You want pizza or something?” Jess asked me, setting down her purse to swing open a decently large freezer.

“Definitely,” I said, leaning against the opposite wall. I was really hungry after all. “So your mom seems… nice?”

“It isn’t nice to lie, Chris,” Jess chided me. I could tell that she was a little upset as I watched her pull out a frozen pizza and get it ready to set in the oven.

“Well, racism is pretty bad,” I admitted awkwardly, though it was true. “But it could always be worse.”

“Well, let me show you around.” Jess offered, changing the subject as she slid the cold piza into the oven. “This is the kitchen, you saw the foyer and the living room.”

“Very fancy,” I smiled. She walked over to another darkened doorway and flicked on the light to display a dining room. Knick knacks were everywhere, along with pictures of wild animals and signs with cheesy puns. You know the ones, they say stuff like “All of God’s creatures have a place… it’s next to the gravy!”

“Well, that’s the dining room,” Jess continued and flicked off the light. “Follow me upstairs and I’ll show you where you can sleep.” She stepped around me and walked back down the hall. I followed and we made our way up the stairs. A chorus of laughter came from the women, drowning out the creaks of the wooden staircase. At the top of the stairs was a smaller hallway. “Straight ahead is the bathroom if you need it,” Jess said, once again flicking on a light switch and pointing at the wooden door in front of us. “Mom’s room is to the left. Mine and my brothers are down here to the right.” She led me down the hallway.

“Here’s mine,” she swung open the door to reveal a room piled high with boxes, which apparently took her by surprise. “Fuck, what a bitch.”

“Looks like she turned it into storage.” I chuckled.

“Glad that my pain amuses you.”

“I’m just kidding,” I said, not wanting to upset the girl any more than she already was. “I can sleep on the couch or something, it’s no big deal.”

“What do you take me for?” Jess asked, walking down the hall a little further, dragging me by the hand. “Someone who’s not hospitable?” The room she showed me next was normal, it was tidy, with a nice sized bed and various posters on the wall. A television sat on top of a dresser, a pair of bean bag chairs rested in front of it. “Besides, this used to be my brother’s room and I wouldn’t really feel comfortable sleeping in it, with all the playboy stuff on the wall and everything.”

“Well… if you insist.” I walked over to the bed and sat down. It was already so comfortable. Jess stood in the doorway, watching me for a moment; I could tell something more was on her mind. “Y’know… you could sleep in here with me if that’s what this is about.”

“Haha, you wish!” Jess laughed. “And that’s not what this is about. That woman downstairs just really gets under my skin.”

“I don’t know what to tell you,” I said with a yawn, laying back to rest on the clean, fluffy mattress.

“Go ahead, just make yourself at home,” Jess said dramatically. “Let me wait on you hand and foot, master.”

Sitting up and looking at her with a raised eyebrow, “You want my help?”

“Nah, I was just kidding,” she giggled, removing herself from the doorway. “You’re fine, go ahead and get comfortable, really. I’ll bring some pizza up.”

“Sounds good to me,” I laid back down on the bed and stretched out. “If you could do me one more favor and keep calling me master though, that’d be great.”

“Once again, you wish. I’ll be right back.” I heard her footsteps retreat down the hall and squeak down the stairs. I closed my eyes and was instantly asleep.

I awoke an unknown amount of time later to find myself in the dark to the sound of screaming, curled up in some stranger’s bed. Downstairs, I could hear the voices of Jess and her mother shouting at the top of their lungs. Only making out a couple of words, those being “whore” and “nigger-lover” I decided that it was in my best interest to stay out of this fight. Damn, was this really my best bet?

I heard footsteps pound up the stairs and the sound of the front door slamming shut. A car engine started and I sat up, looking out of the window to see tail lights driving down the empty street. Jess shoved open the door and crossed the room to sit on the bed at my feet. “Hey…” I said gently, “you okay?”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry to bother you, think we can take a walk?”

“Sure,” I got out of bed, already dressed; I only had to put my shoes on. We walked down the road where the dust kicked up by the car was still settling. It was too quiet, even the cicadas seemed to cease their performance for the night. “So, you wanna tell me what that was about?” I finally dared to break the silence.

“That woman is crazy,” Jess answered. “Every time I see her, it’s like this. I can’t live with her all summer. I refuse to do that to myself.” I could hear the frustration building in her voice.

“Well, what else are you going to do?”

“Chris?" I looked over at her. "Take me with you."

"... What?" I asked, did I mishear her?

Without looking away from the street lamp across from us, she said again, "Take me with you. I have no place here. This town is nothing. I've never been happy here or at home. No boyfriend, the guys I know are all scumbags. My father doesn't want me. My mother hates me as much as I hate her. Take me with you or be followed." This girl is definitely different.

“What about your mom?”

“Who cares, I hope she gets in a car crash. Fucking drunken idiot.”

“Hey, that’s not true, don’t say that.”

“Whatever,” Jess said, there was still anger in her voice. “So are you going to let me come with you?”

I pretended to think for a little while, stroking my chin, Jess watching me nervously. "Sure."

"Really??" Jess almost jumping up and down on the cracked sidewalk.

"Yeah, I’m warning you, I don’t have a plan but I could use the company. Plus, you know this place, we need supplies." And I was totally broke. "Bring me to the nearest camping store. We have some shopping to do."

"It’s like one in the morning? Nothing here is open." Jess explained. “You want to leave right now? We can go shopping in the morning. I just took a bunch of my mom’s money, I doubt she’ll be back until tomorrow afternoon.”

“Good thinking, but we might as well save it. This was my original plan anyway, so let’s just go right now if you really want to come. You have everything you need?” I didn’t bring anything besides a virtually empty wallet, so I was good. Jess shrugged the purse on her shoulder and nodded. I guess she was good too.

“Make sure that this isn’t just an impulse,” I cautioned. “If you change your mind a few miles out of town, next time I’ll let you walk home alone in the dark.”

“Chris, I’m serious.” Jess said, staring me down determinedly. Okay, whatever will make you happy. Down the road we walked. Jess talked and I listened. She talked so much that I began to second guess this decision. These next few months are going to be the longest of my life.