INZANE
Saturday, October 22, 2016, 8:46 P.M.:
“Hello?” I picked up the phone with a cracked voice.
“Yeah, hey Donovan, I’m not going to make it in for my shift, is it possible if you could cover my shift just this once? Pleeeease?!”
“Rave, you know that Target closes at 11:00 P.M. right?” I stated almost yelling through the phone. “That’s the time your shift ends...you are aware that I like being called Don right? It sounds better!”
“I know but I’m...I’m feeling a bit nauseated” she stated with a stutter in her voice. “Do YOU know, my name is Raven and not Rave, the name Rave makes it sound like I am high or something, but it’s alright you can call me Rave. Okay DON!”
“Fine, I’ll cover for you just this once RAVE!! But you owe me one.” Oh God, I want to tell her that I love her. That she stole my heart since the time my manager introduced her to me, she looked so beautiful with her brunette hair straightened and in a messy bun, not to mention those dorky glasses she always wears. It was about time he did something good besides just being an idiot.
“Don are you still there?” Rave asked interrupting my thoughts. “Anyway thank you very much and for sure I owe you one,” she hung up in a rush, not giving me time to say goodbye.
Saturday, October 22, 2016, 10:50 P.M.:
When 10:50 A.M. came around, I was just about done cleaning when I noticed a man with a yellow, red stained, long sleeve shirt, dark brown shorts, and a red beanie came in asking where the bottled waters were. I pointed where they were. He came up to the cash register and placed the bottle of water onto the counter.
“Have you been shot, sir?” I asked with worry in my voice.
“No, I was drinking red kool-aid on my way here, I discarded the rest, a few miles back.”
“Okay sir, is this all for you?” I asked in a friendly tone.
“Yes, that’s all,” he said in a deep voice.
“That will be $1.10. Have a great rest of your day,” I added as he paid for his drink.
As he was going out the door, he turned back and glanced at me as if he wanted to tell me something, but instead he just turned around and began to run. I didn’t give it to much attention but what I did notice was the red stain on the yellow shirt, it looked to thick to be kool-aid but it was 11:00 P.M. and I was just happy to go home. I closed up and got into my red-orange Jeep Wrangler and headed home. On my way home I saw that there was a car accident on the road I always take. So, I had to turn back around and go onto a different road that had no lights and cars. As I drove through the dark lonely road, my pupils began to dilate. I have to get home and sleep and the only obstacle in my way is this road. As I was heading down the road, I saw the same guy from the store walking down the road. As I approached him, he did what every hitchhiker does; stick out their hand and put their thumb up. I didn’t really know what to do, so I started to slow down and then proceeded to stop. I rolled down the window and called out,
“Hey man where you headed?”
He just looked at me with the same look he gave me back at the store and for about five seconds he was dead silent, all I could hear were the crickets and then he replied with,
“Just heading a few miles down this road” he said with a deeper voice than before.
I didn’t know what to say, but then words came out of my mouth and I called out the window,
“Hop in man, I’ll take you to where you’re headed.”
As he was getting in, he says,
“Thanks man, the name is Zanthus, Zane for short.”
“Hey man, my name is Donovan, Don for short.”
He had been telling me stories about his journey and how he ended up in the streets, he was telling me that his abusive girlfriend had gotten a bit out of control and tried to recreate a scene from Fifty Shades Of Grey, he told me that his back was all scratched up. He then got even more comfortable with me and asked:
“Hey Don, can I confess something to you?”
“Umm...yeah, Zane, go ahead.”
“I don’t know if I should live anymore; I mean there isn’t anything for me here on earth.”
As he was saying that, he reached inside his shorts pocket and pulled out a combat troodon knife and a handgun.
“I demand for you to put them away!”
He answered with a firm “NO.” I’m getting myself killed today. I told to myself as my eyes widened. From the corner of my right eye I saw him staring at me with a blank look on his face, he then looked down and lifted up the sleeve of his left arm and he started to cut his forearm next to three other scars from previous cuts, all I could get was a glimpse of the blood dripping onto his shorts and then onto the seat of the Jeep. There was a long moment of silence, in which I wanted to turn on the radio to break it, but something in me told me not to do it. It felt like an eternity that I was in the Jeep with him. To break the silence, my phone made a loud “ding” as I got a text message....I clenched my fingers tightly onto the steering wheel, not knowing what to do. But one thing I did know, it was that I did not want to be with this man for another second. I was going 30 over the speed limit just to get him out of my Jeep. I didn’t notice the cop that was by the big oil tanks because of how scared I was. Of course he was going to pull me over, I saw the red and blue flashing lights through the rear mirror.
“You’re f-ing screwed” I told Zane almost smiling.
“If you say anything I am going to kill your whole family, I’ll kill you last so you can suffer” he told me with a grin on his face while covering his lap and his hand with a sweater I had on the passenger’s floor mat.
The cop then approached my Jeep and said,
“Do you know the reason I pulled you over?”
“No, do you care to tell me.” I told him smiling with fear in my eyes.
“Oh, I will tell you, I’m stopping you for driving 75 miles per hour in a 45 miles per hour speed zone. I know there isn’t much vehicles on this road but do you have any reason for driving that fast?”
“I didn't realize I was going that fast.”
“Next time slow down I’m letting you go with a warning, you two men have a nice night.”
“Thanks officer,” Zane added.
Zane hadn’t forgotten about the text I’ve gotten earlier and asked with a smile on his face,
“Aren’t you going to answer the text message?”
“Not right now, maybe when I get home, and hey Zane, dying isn’t the answer to solve any of your problems,” I tried to take charge.
“Slow down, and on the next stop get out, I want to show you something.”
“What if I don’t want to get out?” I began to yell.
He looked at me with a “What did you just say” look and put the knife up to my throat and instead of waiting for the next stop he yelled at me:
“Stop right now and get out.”
I proceeded to stop, put the Jeep on park, opened the door with fear in my eyes, and stepped out, but as he was coming around the back of the Jeep I thought to myself I’m out and without hesitation I jumped back into the Jeep, put it in drive and stepped on the gas as hard as I could, almost slamming my finger when the door closed shut. About thirty minutes of driving after I abandoned Zanthus, I arrived at my house.
Saturday, October 23, 2016, 12:52 A.M.:
I checked the message I got; it was a message from Rave asking me if I could go to her house as soon as possible because she got an alert, stating that there was a psychotic person on the loose. They had escaped from a mental institution and no one really saw in which direction they were headed but it was notified that they did kill someone and took possession of the dead person’s clothes, she has reason to believe that the person is around where she lives and today, out of all days, they’ve came back to get revenge. What came to mind was the fact that I might have been in the same vehicle with a psychotic man. Not to mention he acted like he had been in the mental institution. I arrived to Rave’s house, got off, knocked, and went inside.
“Thank you for coming on a short notice, my crazy ex escaped from the mental institution I put him in, today marked our 2 year anniversary and I have reason to believe he will come and kill me for putting him in the institution.” She told me rushed and with a panicked voice.
“Who’s your crazy e…!”
Suddenly her house phone rang. I saw that the caller I.D. said “UNKNOWN.” I answered and on the other side of the call all I heard was “I see you” with a crazy lunatic laugh afterward. Chills were running down my spine, I was breathing heavy and when I looked out the window all I saw someone holding a gun, being pointed at my face.
End Of Part One