Afraid of the Dark
From Create Your Own Story
Ba-Dump, Ba-Dump.
The rocky dirt road dipped and rose as it wound endlessly into the forest. The trees flash by, dark pillars of rough bark and imagined faces. By now it's night, and while it's hard to tell while shaded by the thick forest canopy above, you think you can see a hint of full moon peeking through the tangled branches.
(15 minutes ago..)
Cars zipped by, fleeting blurs of color and noise. One, two, a truck or two, a beat up old van. Time blurs into minutes, then hours, as abstract as the bright shapes of vehicles passing by your window. Your music player, clutched loosely in your hand, pumps soft music up through your headphones. You can remember tunes, but through your sleep fogged brain, individual song lyrics meld into one another. Your sister is half asleep as well, curled up in the seat next to you. An excuse from a week of school for both of you proved to be quite the welcomed vacation, but for some reason, you can't quite remember where you're supposed to be going. Oh well, you're probably just tired. It probably doesn't matter anyhow. You let the soothing music carry you off to sleep, and out of the corner of your blurring eyes, you notice your sister drifting off as well.
The next thing you know, you're awakened by the soft jerk of the car coming to a stop. Groggily, you pull yourself up by the door frame and stare out the window, wondering where you are. Woods still surrounded you where there was no road ( if you could call it a road ), and though you stare down it's dusty expanse for quite a while, no cars pass. You wonder just how far out you are... Your driver ( Who was he again? You can't remember... ) gets out of the car and calmly crosses the dark expanse of empty road, leaving you parked on the side of it with your sister. You start to worry that maybe he was having car trouble, or maybe... Where were you going again?
You lean over to shake your sister awake with a frown. Maybe she knows where you're going. Not to mention the driver... She always had an answer for everything.
"Hey, where's he going," you ask, nodding at the driver, who's still heading down the road. Your sister, though, has the same confused, worried expression on her face that you do. Suddenly, there's a cold feeling in the pit of your stomach.
You watch as the driver makes his way to a rickety looking wooden gate. It looks like it might have been part of a toll-booth at some point, but you can't be sure. He pushes it up and out of the way, then makes his way back to the car again without looking at you. He gets back in and you jump as the engine starts up again with a soft roar.
(Back to the present...)
It's been a while since you passed through the gates. The woods still surround you, and that long stretch of dark road still twists and winds through it before you. Your driver has said nothing, and though you've tried to talk to him, refuses to respond. He hasn't tried to hurt you yet though, but you can't help but worry.
Your sister, just as worried as you are, clutches her cellphone before her, staring desperately into it's glowing screen. She has yet to get a signal though, or maybe it's just that no one will respond. Either way, she hasn't said much. Neither have you. You're both too scared.
Your driver shifts, startling you back to attention. He's barely moved since he got back into the car. You watch as he reaches for the radio dial and fiddles with it before settling on a station. The soft hum of classical must floats back to you from the speakers and stiffly, the driver puts his hand back on the steering wheel. It's the only sound in the car. You can't stand it. With no other options though, you cram your earbuds back into your ears and turn your own music up as loud as it can go, hoping to drown his music out. It works, for now. You wonder just how long you can stand this though...
You:
