Peripheral Vision: A Supernatural Thriller(9)

Chapter 5




The Long Road to Somewhere



1300 Miles to Homewood. This is going to be a long drive, Sarah thought. She was filled with excitement, anxiety and anticipation.

“Time to get this show on the road,” she said to herself.

She flipped on the radio, and sang along with it to distract herself. But the further along she got in her journey, the further out of range her “go-to” radio stations became. By the time she remembered to set the cruise control on I-15, the stations filled with static.

“I should’ve gotten satellite radio”, she mumbled to herself. She fiddled with the channels, but they were all open-air static now.

Somewhere on the other side of Las Vegas, Sarah became lost in her thoughts. Such a turn her life had taken so quickly. Yesterday, she heard her mind speak to her. It was only yesterday. From the big city, with a big job and great friends, to a long highway alone and jobless, with a small town waiting somewhere on the other end.

“What am I doing?” Sarah questioned herself. There was no answer.

She felt small. The thought made her shake her head. And why hadn’t she ever gotten in contact with her Aunt Elizabeth? Her late mother’s sister was the last tie to her parents, and now she was gone too. It was too late. Sarah wiped a tear from her eye. It was strange, but she was filled with regret and yearning for the family she never had.

The drive was long. Sarah was starting to get tired. She glanced up into the rearview mirror, and noticed that the sun was low on the horizon. How long had she been driving now, she wondered to herself. Eight? Nine hours? She was busy calculating her departure time, minus restroom stops, when she saw it. The road sign wasn’t anything special, but the setting sun glimmered off the green metal sign making it hard to look at. Sarah squinted and the letters came into focus. Signal Hill, population 4,583.

“Are there horses there, Mommy?” The words slipped from Sarah’s deadpan face as the hair rose on the back of her neck. She gripped the steering wheel tighter. Her palms were dripping sweat. This was as far as we had made it, she thought. No Colorado. No Nebraska. No Homewood. No more.

Sarah never knew the whole story surrounding her parents’ death, and it was a moment she didn’t really remember. She was so young when it happened. Only bits and pieces came together for her during retellings in her dreams. As Sarah got older, she tried to erase that it had ever happened. She never wanted to know all the details of the accident. Never wanted to know that her father was killed on impact or that her mother was thrown from the car. Or how little Sarah had stayed a week in the Signal Hill Hospital, and how Aunt Elizabeth had come to visit her in her coma.

Sarah tapped on the brakes and flipped on her indicator. Maybe it was time she stopped pretending. Maybe it’s time to start asking the tough questions. But then, she quickly flipped the turn signal off and hit the reset on her cruise control. No, she decided. This wasn’t her stop. Her foot pushed down on the accelerator and the pickup kept on driving through.

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The mountains were closer now. Soon she would pass through Cornerstone Junction and then on into Colorado. At some point she would have to stop. But only for a few minutes to fill up, stretch her legs, and grab some sugary snacks. Diet coke and Twizzlers should do the trick, she thought with a tired smile.

The road was long. As the sun went down, there was a noticeable drop in temperature. To her surprise, Sarah could now see her breath-quite the change from her sunny Southern California morning. She had turned off the radio hours ago. For a long time, she was just silent, and her mind was finally silent as well. She was now well into the mountains, and had been driving for more than half the day. There hadn’t been a town in quite a while and white snowflakes were just starting to appear in her headlights.

Sarah thought of Emma. What would she say? Well, she’d say you really should stop, before you fall asleep at the wheel! But there was nothing for miles. No town, no rest stop, and hardly a car on the road. With only a partial objection, Sarah’s mind started thinking about all of her favorite horror movies that had started out much like this. Big city girl driving cross-country by herself, her car breaks down, and she is hunted down by a maniac with a chainsaw-or something stupid like that. She quickly tried to push the thoughts from her mind and pushed down on the accelerator. I need to get somewhere fast, she thought through a sleepy haze.

Finally, she managed to find a working radio station again and hummed mindlessly to the tune. Signs of life! Her mind sang. She was beyond exhausted, but she was also starting to come out of the mountains, and that meant she was closer to Nebraska. After what felt like an eternity, Sarah finally crossed a river and saw the outline of a town. The dim lights of the distant town grew brighter as she made her way up the highway.

“Thank God, I’ve made it!” She yelled with a croaky, tired voice.

She found herself quite relieved and surprisingly excited to see the Welcome to Homewood sign. She passed a gas station and a grocery store. They were both closed. The town was quite dark. She looked at the clock in her truck-it was almost midnight. Up ahead she noticed a sign for a motel, The Wagon Wheel Motel. This is close enough, she thought. I can figure it all out tomorrow.

Sarah climbed out of the truck and stretched her body. The feeling of standing and not sitting behind the wheel was incredible. She walked inside the small lobby of the motel. An old man was dozing at the front desk. Sarah cleared her throat to wake him up, but at the same time was curious if he had one of those little bells. Sure enough, there was one right next to his hand. But before she could satisfy her desire to ring it, the old man woke up from his nap.