Distracted Driving

“Is nobody going to say it?” a thin dark-haired teen with a Friday the 13th t-shirt said lighting a joint. “This is how horror movies start.”

“Oh, come on Mark, it was just a raccoon or something.” Replied a red headed girl in a cheerleader uniform.

“That was a big ass raccoon. Just look at that damage.” The tall, muscular blond in a high school football jacket was leaning over the brand new ’87 Jeep Wagoneer, picking broken pieces of blood smeared plastic from the busted headlight. “At least the bulb isn’t broken. Just the outside plastic. So, we should be all right to drive home with no issues. I can replace it tomorrow.”

“Nothing back there on my side.” A dark-skinned handsome teenager, in an identical football jacket, came around to the front of the car holding a powerful flashlight. “You find anything on your side Amy?”.

“Nothing.” Replied a pink and blue haired Asian goth girl. She cuddled into the crook of Mark’s arm, taking the joint from him, and inhaled deeply. Exhaling, “If it wasn’t for the broken headlight and blood, I would say we imagined it.”

The five teens stood in the glow from the headlights in a semi circle looking at the dented front end of the SUV. They were heading to Paul’s boyfriend, Bruce's’ cabin for a last long weekend of relaxation and partying at the lake before finals and graduation. They were following directions written on a scrap of paper on the dark back country roads when they all felt the impact of hitting something.

“It came out of nowhere, smashed into the car, and then disappeared. All I saw were big red eyes.” Paul said.

“You hit the Mothman then? Great. So, it was either a cryptid that is going to hunt and slaughter us all. Or it was a person that will remember all our faces to hunt us down and slaughter us all.” Mark paused to take a hit off the joint. “Either way, we are screwed.”

Amy, nodding along in agreement with Mark’s statement added, “Or it was a kid and one of the parents will come after us for revenge.”

“What if it was an alien? We can’t see it because of some Predator like cloaking technology or something.” Mark coughed out a lung full of smoke as he peered off into the darkness looking for the tell-tale shimmer of a cloaked creature.

“Come one you two, please stop. You’re creeping me out.” Stacy begged, taking a step closer to her boyfriend Trevor.

Wrapping one arm around the girl and lifting the flashlight under his chin to light up his face, he growled “Only thing you need to worry about is me.” and playfully attacked her neck, causing her to squeal.

“Cut it out you pervs, I am not sitting in the back with you if you are going to be dry humping the whole drive.” Paul, the tall blond athlete groused. “When we get to Bruce’s, we should let the sheriff know we hit something just in case it was someone’s dog or something.”

Amy perked up, “did anyone look under the car?”

The others all looked at each other sheepishly, and then shook their heads no. Almost in unison.

Trevor disengaged himself from the red head and bent down with his flashlight. The light revealing a smear of bright red blood going under the car. The smear made past the back wheels where it ended abruptly. There was no carcass or debris, just a smear of blood.

“We definitely hit something. What or where it is, I don’t know.” Trevor said as he stood up, brushing off the knees of his jeans. “I agree with Paul, we should let the sheriff know once we get to a phone.”

“Like, the longer we stay out here, the more we risk being brutally murdered by whatever creature, alien, or vengeful ghost that is out here with us.” Mark stated.

“I hate to say it, but Mark has a point. We should go before…” Paul started to say as suddenly the headlights dimmed and then went out completely leaving them in near darkness. The little bit of light from the two flashlights not doing much in the overcast darkness. The clouds threatened rain but haven’t let loose their torrent yet.

Stacy cried out, “you had to go and jinx it, didn’t you?”

Amy, using her flashlight, climbed into the drivers’ side of the vehicle and turned the key. Nothing. Not even a click. “Umm… guys? The car is completely dead. What do we do now?”

Trevor pointed up the road, the way they were originally heading. “Look, there is a light over there. Maybe that’s Bruce's’ cabin. He has a phone, and we can call for help.”

“Well then, lets push the car off the road before we start walking. I don’t want to be responsible for another accident.” Paul said as he moved towards the back of the car to start pushing.

With Amy steering and the others pushing, they moved the vehicle off to the soft shoulder. Mark lit some road flares found in the back of the SUV and half threw, half placed them in the front and back of the broken-down vehicle. As he placed the last one at the rear of the vehicle, he caught a flash of reflected red light coming from the ditch nearby.

“Hey, bring me one of the flashlights. There is something over here and I can’t make see it clearly with the flare.” Mark yelled out.

They all came running, anxious to solve the mystery of what was hit. The two flashlights brightening the ditch as they got closer, revealing a silver watch. The watch was fitted nicely on a pale wrist and a blood splattered hand. Trevor moved the beam of the flashlight up from the hand to reveal black cloth.

Recognizing the watch, Paul leapt into the ditch, pulling at the cloth. “No. No. No. No. Bruce, No.” he cried, revealing a black Halloween mask with big red reflective eyes. Carefully pulling the mask off, revealed Bruce’s lifeless face.

***

Earlier.

Bruce, who had started pregaming the alcohol about 2 hours ago, was feeling pretty good. He downed a shot of whiskey after he finished a beer. Pouring his sixth shot, he was struck with a brilliant idea. The type of brilliant idea that makes perfect sense when you have had a few.

Chuckling an evil slightly drunk laugh, Bruce pulled a box out of the storage closet. Finding what he was looking for, he quickly got dressed up in his Mothman costume. He went outside and hid in the bushes beside the stairs.

After a couple of minutes, he got impatient and started up the road a bit to watch for his friends. Lost in thought about how great it was going to be to scare the crap out of Paul and the gang, Bruce did not notice how far he ended up walking.

He was puzzling over how far away the cabin lights were when he looked back, he did not notice the brightening surroundings until it was too late. Realization dawning on him, he turned back towards the oncoming car at the last second. Paul would never see the surprised shock on Bruce's’ face but would always remember those big red eyes in the second before impact.

End.