Drive

The speedometer on her ten-year-old Toyota read twenty miles until empty.

 Hannah sighed, feeling incredibly frustrated with herself. Why hadn’t she stopped fifty miles ago when she passed that gas station right off the freeway? Typical Hannah.

Now she was driving down this long, dirt road in the middle of nowhere at 11:52 p.m.

 Pulling her phone from her pocket she tried to keep one eye on the empty road ahead as she searched for nearby gas stations. At least her phone had reception here.  She had not been at all confident that it would. The search on her phone indicated a gas station just ten miles up the road. She just had to make it there.

Fighting exhaustion, Hannah turned up the radio only to be greeted with a barrage of static that made it impossible to decipher what song was actually playing. Too impatient to search for other stations, she turned the radio off.  Irritated, she tucked a strand of her long, dark hair behind her ear and focused her intense, hazel eyes on the dark road ahead.

The road she had been traveling on for around thirty minutes now was lined with endless rows of trees on both sides, their branches mostly bare this time of year and swaying in the cold October wind. The moon was barely visible through the clouds and a thin layer of fog made driving more difficult than she would have preferred. She only had about two hours left on her drive to her uncle’s cabin, and she was dead set on making it there tonight.

Hannah wondered if the cabin would look at all like it did online.

 She had been surprised to get the call from the lawyer telling her that as the sole heir she had inherited the cabin along with a decent amount of money from her uncle. The cabin appeared to be in satisfactory condition. It was set on five acres of land, and it overlooked a small lake.

 Having just lost her job at the office and being weeks away from eviction while dealing with the emotional toll of a recent break up and the added financial stress of too much credit card debt, Hannah was most definitely in a slump and had decided there was no choice but to take a chance.  Leaving behind everything that was familiar to her she desperately hoped this would be the opportunity for a fresh start.

The gas station appeared ahead of her on the right, and she slowed to turn in. The dim lighting cast a sickly yellow glow over the rusted gas pumps. The gas station building itself looked as if it were barely standing but much to her relief it was open for business. Of course, there was no option to pay at the pump.

Gathering her purse and keys, Hannah climbed stiffly out of the car and stretched her legs. She was greeted by the dense, cool fog.  Shivering, she zipped her sweatshirt up and hurried inside.

Ignoring the temptation to grab a snack Hannah headed straight to the counter and paid for the gas, eager to get back on the road. The woman behind the grimy counter looked impossibly old and didn’t speak a word as she accepted the payment. Hannah had an uneasy feeling about the woman and the place in general and as she headed out the door, she struggled to ignore the feeling of the woman’s red rimmed, watery eyes following her.  

Shaking off the unsettling feeling of being watched, she focused on the gravel crunching beneath her feet as she made her way quickly toward her vehicle, anxious to fill her tank and get back in her car. She looked up when she reached her car and was startled when from the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of what appeared to be an older man standing across from her near the exit of the parking lot. He was just standing there silently, his face obscured by fog and shadows. She was certain no one had been around when she had exited her car a few minutes earlier. 

Trying not to overreact, Hannah diverted her eyes as she began to fill her gas tank. As she replaced the nozzle, she could not resist the urge to glance over at the man one more time but when she looked, he was no longer there. 

Hannah scanned the parking lot and decided he must have walked off as quickly as he had arrived. “Let’s just get this drive over with”, Hannah said aloud as she climbed back into her car and started the engine. Everything about that gas station had given her the creeps and she felt immense relief as she watched it fade from view as she made her way down the lonely dirt road once again.

The long night stretched on for Hannah and an hour into the drive it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep her eyes open. She was dangerously close to falling asleep at the wheel when she passed a figure that she was certain was the man from the gas station. He was standing at the side of the road staring into the woods. Suddenly feeling very alert, Hannah glanced in her rearview mirror and the man turned to look back at her but once again his face was obscured by shadows and a thin layer of fog. The thought occurred to her that he had traveled unusually fast for an older man. How had he beaten her there on foot?

Trying to shake the uneasy feeling in her gut, Hannah continued toward her destination. Despite the chill she rolled her window down and the cold breeze helped to keep her awake. “Almost there”, she told herself. She was just plain exhausted and letting things get to her now.

Thankfully, the drive was an easy one from there and the miles flew by for Hannah despite her feelings of being tired and a bit on edge. Just past 2 a.m. she finally pulled her car into the gravel driveway of the cabin. Much to her relief the cabin looked just as it did online. From the outside it appeared to be in livable condition and all she could think about was getting into that cabin, checking out the inside and finding a place to get a few hours’ rest. 

She dragged herself to the front door and reached in her purse for the key to the lock. She was hit with a wave of panic when she realized it was gone. It couldn’t be. She could have sworn she had put it right in the zipper compartment in the front of her purse. Continuing to feel around for the key she instead found a hole.

 Near tears and feeling absolutely defeated Hannah glanced around and that’s when she saw him. The same man she had seen twice this evening was now standing in the ruins of what Hannah supposed was once a garden. He was less than twenty feet away from the porch where Hannah stood.  She must have walked right past him!

He lingered there for a moment longer and then began to slowly walk away. He glanced back at her and in the pale light of the moon Hannah finally caught a glimpse of his face. She had not seen that face in years.  It was impossible but Hannah was certain that she was looking into the eyes of her deceased uncle. The previous owner of the cabin. 

Hannah remained on the porch for what seemed like an eternity even after the figure had made his way to the road and disappeared into the dark, misty night. Eventually, her curiosity got the best of her, and she cautiously made her way down the weathered wooden steps and over to the place in the garden where the man had briefly stood. She glanced down and among the weeds noticed a gray stone about the size of her foot. Tentatively she bent down, reaching for the stone. It was cool and smooth to the touch and when she turned it over, she breathed a heavy sigh of relief when she found that underneath it was a key.

Hannah made her way back up the steps and inserted the key into the lock. The key turned easily as she had somehow known it would and she stepped confidently inside. She knew with conviction and with a sense of peace she had not felt in a long time that this was indeed a new beginning for her.

She looked over her shoulder scanning the area for any sign of her phantom uncle, but he was gone. She softly closed the door behind her.   She was home.