CHAPTER TWO: The Long Winding Road

October 31st, 2013

Fred cruised at an easy fifty miles per hour. To the left and right of the long winding road, large open fields basked in a morning glow. The road required his attention, but not enough to spoil the view. It was a fun drive; relaxing.

The golden fields transformed into a lush forest. Sunlight cut through the green leaves, leaving soft, orange dabs, like painted stars, on the path before him. Every so often a slash of light streaked across his face.

A cathedral of branches towered over the road. In his mind, somewhere else, was a picture of these exact trees, yet they were bare and beyond them was a blackened night sky. 

Fred drove slower to capture the view.

The greenery shifted into brown and yellow tones, as if crossing a plane from Spring into Fall. Dead leaves covered the street. He glanced out to his right at the forest, trying to make sense of what happened to the foliage, yet all the trees were bare.

He turned his head back and saw a woman standing ten yards from his speeding car. Fred screamed and slammed onto his brakes. His car skirted forward, the tires screeching beneath him. He shut his eyes and braced for the impact of the woman hitting his car. The only impact was the inertia of the sudden stop.

Fred opened his eyes.

A deep, wooden crack blew into his left ear. He turned towards the sound and saw the woman withdrawing her face from his window. As if to absorb her grinding screams, there was a blood-soaked rag stuffed into her mouth. Blood flowed in a forever stream from the top of her black hair. Her eyes bulged and locked on to Fred. Blood dripped into them, but she didn’t blink.

Fred shrieked at the absolute horror before him.

She defied his scream and flung her head into his window again. The sound of the impact sent a crawling disgust through Fred’s body. She pulled her head back farther and, with full force, launched it into the window, delivering another vicious crack. The woman gauged Fred’s reaction and, at the sight of his horror, she smiled. Blood seeped from the rag between her teeth. She withdrew and slammed into the window once more. The glass cracked. Encouraged by this progress, she began smashing her skull over and over, faster and faster. The thuds grew louder and more intense, and each crack rang sharply in Fred’s ears.

Fred tried to scream but couldn’t. His mind was overwrought with panic. He climbed over the center console and fell into the passenger’s seat, hitting his face against the door. He felt for the handle, tumbled out of the car, and shot up into a run. Dirt and leaves flew underneath his feet. Trees whipped passed his head. He ran faster than his legs could control, tripped, and slid on his stomach as roots and rocks tore at his belly. The raw pain was immediate.

He gasped for air. On the ground, he listened for the woman’s footsteps behind him, but couldn’t hear over the ringing in his ears. He got onto his knees and looked over towards his car. Although the door remained open, the woman had disappeared. The ringing in his ears faded, replaced by the chirping bell of the car door.

He turned away from his car and in front of him stood a young, tough looking man in a backwards hat. His face was hard. His eyes burned with fury and in his hand was a baseball bat. Before Fred could recognize the man standing over him, the bat was behind the man’s shoulder. Next it was over the man’s shoulder. And then — crack.

Just four blocks from his Watertown apartment, Fred awoke wearing nothing but gym shorts. In the struggle to catch his breath, he didn’t notice the three teenagers who had abandoned their toilet paper and were now running for their lives down Bellevue Road. They were running from him; the deranged man who had appeared out of the darkness, wailing and sprinting towards them like a maniac at 11:56pm on Halloween night.