Backseat Passenger
The faint glow of the streetlights sliced through the curtains casting long ghostly lines across the floor, The room was cluttered, each surface littered with remnants of her life—files upon files stacked up like a tiny city on the edge of the coffee table, a half-drunk cup of tea, the steam struggling to breathe what little life it had left growing cold on the kitchen counter, and an unmade bed where she lay sleeping. I stood in the shadows of Sasha’s apartment, and as I approached her I caught a glimpse of her face, serene in sleep, her golden blonde hair illuminated by the moonlight Yet beneath that peaceful exterior, I could feel the tension coiling something deep within, haunting Sasha; but that didn’t matter now I needed to know who she hand given the three USB drives too. I glanced at her laptop perched on the edge of the desk like a black monolith against the chaos of the room—like a beacon of light I reached for it but my fingers were just dancing directionlessly over the keyboard as the password was elusive, the hint confusing, I should have gone that day; it was clear that the password was locked behind her memories, it had to be, leaning in closer next to her ear as a strand of my own light brown hair was barely touching her face, inches away, I whispered “Who are you?” My voice was barely above a breath, beneath her eyelids her pupils started bobbing frantically before her lips creaked open “I’m Sasha… no, Rob… I’m?” I leaned in a little closer. “You’re Sasha, right?” Her eyebrows curled in confusion before settling down her mind was clear now, and she gently whispered, “No, I’m Rob.” One last push “What day should you have gone?” her lips softly opened, however, no words came out–creeeak, but the door to her bedroom door slowly opened, Morsdomi mist its familiar black and white hue clouding the air just behind the door’s frame pulling itself in like it was beckoning me to come closer, but something rather more distinct caught my attention when I turned my ear to listen in, the faint sounds of a car engine lightly filled the room as everything around me went dark.
The next thing I knew was that I found myself inside a darkened limo, the windows were tinted and the inside was dimly lit by strips of small blue neon lights, outside the shadows flickered as the limo sped by, the road stretching long and straight ahead, forest trees lined the roadside clustered together unable to peer through the darkness; I couldn’t remember what I'd been doing here, before this moment. Leaning in closer to the side, I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the window, I had blonde hair—the wrong color but I couldn’t tell why—and the face, something about it didn’t feel right as I shifted my body forward for a better view; It looked like me, like my face, but it felt all wrong like it didn't belong to me the deeper I looked towards my reflection, the more I started to notice–skreeeek! my heart sank into itself, behind the window was a hand—a black hand, black as if it had been burned to a crisp and left charred and bloodied, I didn't know what to do, It didn’t matter what I did—it moved–squeeek! sliding down past the edges of the bottom window, its squeaks pulling at my heart like a string instrument until it disappeared from view, I already knew what it wanted, it made itself clear as the door’s lock pin shot up; my heart burst from my chest as I immediately grabbed the limo’s door handle from the inside yanking it away inches outside from the limo’s black side skirts, my left hand curled over the door handle as my right hand curled over my left underneath it, the charred hand violently tried to open the limo’s door from underneath it as I quickly brushed up my elbows closer to my chest, and gave my knees a slight bend putting as much weight as possible towards my bottom right ankle hoping it was enough, but it was never enough–TCK! it was the lock pin behind me another burnt hand appeared on the opposite side of the window, its cracked charred fingers laid flat, and it slowly turned itself sideways–squeeek! squeeek! the squeaks coming off the window twisted my ears like nails to a chalkboard, extremely agitating, its four fingers curled leaving only the thumb, that arrogant bastard, it gestured at me down here and I had no time to think as it was slowly approached the door “NO! NO! NO!” in a panic I lunged myself forward aiming for the lock, my trembling hand forced the pin back down the door sealing it shut just before the blackened hand could open the door.
But before I could catch my breath–TCK! my heart stuttered, I scrambled across the seat pushing the pin back down as the burned fingers slithered away into the shadows back beneath the limo; It became a frantic dance—a back-and-forth game of fighting to keep the doors locked, my breath was becoming labored and panicked as the locks continued to snap up one after another; but then I heard the one sound that froze me completely, The lock pin shooting up from the driver’s side door. The world around me tilted as I just sat there, paralyzed, my hand hovering mid-air as I stared towards the front of the limo the door swung open swiftly, leaving a faint breeze that washed over me, and black charred hands slithered inside; their movements were slow and deliberate, their arms and hands elongating dragging against the leather seats, the reflective glass on the interior roof, and the inside of the limo windows as they crawled forwards, my stomach twisted inside of itself as what looked like little spheres started to form bubbling from the inside of their forearms slowly traveling up towards their hands, fucking eyes perched out of their blackened creaked bloody palms just staring at me; I wanted to scream, but the sound got caught in my throat strangled by the growing weight of my fear, just the sound of my heart pounded from my ears making each breath felt like drowning. I could see their blackened hands reaching closer, those multi-clustered eyes on each palm deadlocked on me, No matter what I couldn't breathe, so I didn’t and for a moment their slick movements came to a halt but their eyes still piercing, my chest had shortly filled up to its max, I had no choice as the air burst out of me like a piston and the dark hands started on their hunt once again, creeping in from every corner in front of me I forced myself to take a slow breath, filling my lungs and pushing past my limits as their hands slowly froze, my mind steadied and I could feel the panic start to loosen its grip, The blackened hands remained still, they didn’t advance—they seemed to be waiting only reacting when my fear overwhelmed me, I slid towards the center console inch by inch never breaking eye contact with those eyes, my fingers brushed the edges of the partition window’s button, the cool metal lifeline in the darkness, I quickly pressed down on the partition window’s button as it began to rise with a soft mechanical hum, separating me from those charred hands, the window clicked into place sealing me off from the front of the limo, only then did I let out a shaky breath with my chest heaving from the effort, For now, I was safe but I knew this wasn’t over.
