Dispatch

By MooseJuice

If you are an avid drive, then there's nothing worse than when that little arrow on your dashboard hits "E." It isn't until you realize this than your vehicle begins to cough and sputter. Despite stepping on the pedal as hard as you can, the car chokes its last belch and dies on the side of the road.

You slam your forehead on the top of the steering wheel hard, almost out of punishing yourself for not stopping at a gas station sooner. You reach into your pocket and pull out you cell phone, only to be greeted by a message informing you about how the bad the connection is here. After declaring yourself an idiot, you open the door and step out into the darkness.

It's fascinating how different the roads appear at night. You ponder briefly on how you never noticed it before until you've seen it outside to notice it. With frustration, you walk to the back of your car and open the trunk. When you slam it, a shrill siren makes you jump. You then spin around and, with deep embarrassment, see a parked police car behind you, its lights on and engine running.

A feeling of elation washes over you as the friendly lights of the police car twirl on top of its hood. You take only a few steps forward before you realize how the figure inside the car isn't moving. You can't make out his features due to the blinding sensation of his lights, but you know that he's looking straight at you. You try your best to explain the situation to him, but the officer never exits the vehicle. He just continues to watch you as you become increasingly uncomfortable.

The only logical thing to do is to step back into your car. You know that you can't go anywhere with it, but you can't decide whether he's here to help you or scare you. As politely as you can, you stroll back into the driver's seat and slam the door behind you, swiftly locking the doors as you enter. You see him in the reflection of your rear-view mirror and sit motionlessly, waiting for his response. The figure still sits there, however. As you try your best not to focus on the lights surrounding him, their movements almost make you believe he shuffled in his seat. It'd been like this for a whole thirty seconds.

Instinctively, you want to run away. Looking out into the pitch black night, you note how well you could disappear into the dark, but then quickly realize how easy it would be to get lost. You look up at your rear-view mirror and are greeted to a silhouette of a figure standing in front of his car, lights shinning all around in a glow that sucks all distinguishing features from his body. Panicking, you try to start the car, but nothing can bring it back to life. As you do so, your eyes are fixed on the figure in your mirror.

Then, almost in a dream-like sense, the figure begins to push his body through the back of your car. He passes through the trunk without even moving the vehicle around, but you can't tell for certain as you rock the car in you feverish attempt to exit the vehicle. With his head barely visible poking through the cushions of the back seat, you fumble to unlock the doors. They jam, to your horror. You kick at the door, even throwing your weight against it, but you realize it's too late. With incredible force, you are pulled into the back seat. Kicking and screaming is your only means of escaping its grasp.

The last thing you see is a face in the rear-view mirror. It's yours; your mouth is twisted into an expression of deep terror and your eyes, swelling and red, look back at you. You can't tell if you can see the face of the figure. Everything goes black before you get the chance to look.