“I’ll do you one better,” she said. “I’ll take you there.”
“That’s ok,” he said a little too quickly. “If you just give me directions I’m sure I can find it by myself. Plus Jill and I were supposed to be going on a date so if I do find her then we probably won’t be coming back to town for a while.” He threw in the last part hoping she would take back her offer. “I don’t want to put you through any trouble.” He added when it didn’t appear she was going to.
As if sensing his discomfort she smiled and happily said, “No, it’s too dark for me to give you directions Jimmy. You’d never be able to find it without me. I think the best thing is for us to go together. At least then if we get lost you won’t be alone.” When he started to protest she quickly put on a mock innocent face and said sweetly, “Don’t worry about me wasting my time. I’d do anything for you. You know that.”
He was sure she would do anything for him and that actually kinda scared him. He was unnerved by how forward she was being. The innuendos were flying and they were all hitting home. But they weren’t having the effect she wanted. What would it take to make her understand he wasn’t interested? He repressed the urge to shudder as he tried to find a suitable answer. He’d been feeling uncomfortable since he first pulled into the lot and her offers were only making it worse. He couldn’t understand what had gotten into her. While he still couldn’t remember what she’d been like in high school he was sure it wasn’t this. He only wanted to find Jill. Now it seemed he would have to take Maria along with him on a ride to God knew where in order to do that.
Finally realizing she wasn’t going to take no for an answer he threw his hands up in disgust and turned to the car. Maria clapped her hands happily in triumph and trotted to the other side. He was about to open his door and get in when he huff from the other side got his attention. Maria was looking at him expectantly. It took him a second to figure out what she wanted. When it did finally dawn on him he almost called the whole thing off. Keeping in mind he had to find Jill he stalked to the other side and opened the door for her. She smiled happily as she slid in and said thank you. He told her she was welcome by slamming the door in her face. He was quickly getting sick of her.
Before walking back to his side of the car, he looked around again hoping God would smile down on him and show him where Jill was so he wouldn’t have to go anywhere with Maria but God must not have been watching. He saw nothing. Resigned to his fate he went back to his side and got in. As he slid the key into the ignition he was startled to feel Maria’s arm snake around his. Looking at her in almost undisguised horror he saw that she’d also taken it upon herself to slide as close to him as she could get.
“See,” she said when she saw that he’d noticed her moves, “we do get to have our date after all.” Jim was sure she would feel his skin crawling as it tried to get away from her touch. Evidently not since she tightened her grip and smiled even wider than before.
“Look this isn’t a date,” he said as he shook her off as politely as he could. “You’re just taking me to where ever you sent Jill. That’s it! Nothing more! There is no date! There is no you doing anything for me! There is nothing! Get it through that thick skull of yours! There is nothing between us! There never will be! Period! Understand?”
Everything came out in a rush and a little bit harsher than he’d planned but he felt much better afterwards. The instant he’d started yelling she’d recoiled as if he’d struck her and scooted back to the other side of the car. After that she’d just stared at him until he’d finished. He hadn’t wanted to be so nasty about the whole thing but she needed to get it out of her head that he would ever go out with her. If this was what it took then so be it. She would just have to finally act like an adult and deal with it.
“Are you ready to go now?” he demanded still a little mad. He almost expected her to tell him to go to Hell and get out but instead she just shook her head up and down and looked straight ahead ignoring him. When they finally pulled away from the restaurant Jim figured they’d wasted about twenty minutes. That was twenty minutes he could’ve been using to find Jill. With the sun gone and the temperature dropping every minute might count.
He glanced at Maria from the corner of his eye and found that she was apparently pouting. She huddled as close to the passenger door as she could, sitting still and ignoring everything around her. She almost looked like some warped type of doll.
Oh well, he thought as he focused back on the road, as long as she takes me to Jill I don’t care if she doesn’t talk to me for the rest of our lives. He’d had enough of her antics for a lifetime. The only things that matter now were finding Jill and getting the home. Screw Maria and screw the Goatman as far as he was concerned.
13
Maria gave no directions so Jim decided to drive whichever way he wanted. He was following Main Street leading in the direction of Tommy’s house and then the country beyond that. Even though he was doing the speed limit the edge of town was fast approaching and she was just sitting there pouting. He wished she would stop acting like a child and give him directions like she said she would. He had no idea where to go. The only thing he knew about Tommy’s death was that it had happened off in the woods somewhere. Looking out the windows he figured that could be anywhere. The town was surrounded by an intermingling of open fields and woods. If she didn’t get on the ball soon he would have no choice but to stop and force her to tell him something. He didn’t know how he would do that but he would figure something out if he had too.
The last vestige of civilization came and went and still she said nothing. What he could see of the town was slowly getting smaller and smaller in his rear view mirror and he was about to slam on the brakes and demand to know where they were going when Maria finally said something.
“Turn right,” she whimpered.
Jim stopped and looked to his right. There was no road there. He was about to tell her so when he noticed something. There was a small path that led out into a field. Beyond that he couldn’t see. The darkness wouldn’t let him.
“That’s not a road ya know,” he yelled.
“Well, that’s where your precious Jill went so if you want to find her then that’s where you have to turn,” she yelled right back.
Cursing under his breath he turned and drove into the weeds at the edge of the road as directed. After driving for so long on a smooth surface he was unprepared for what the field held for him. Ruts and bumps and holes seemed to jump under his tire with a frequency that was unbelievable. Most of the time when you looked at grass swaying in the wind it looked so smooth and gentle that you thought you might be able to lie down and take a nice relaxing nap in it. You never thought about what might be underneath that calm exterior. Jim’s poor car was now finding out. The two of them were being thrown around from one side of the car to the other. The only thing that kept Jim where he was supposed to be was his vice like grip on the steering wheel. He felt Maria slam into his side a few times and could’ve swore he felt her coping a feel but he was too busy trying to avoid what few holes and hills he could. He didn’t really want to have to pay for a new suspension on the rental car but, Jill was out here somewhere so he didn’t have much of a choice.
They drove slowly down the road bouncing up and down whenever they hit an especially big hole until Maria yelled for him take another right. The road they turned onto wasn’t much better than the other but it seemed to have a few less holes than the previous one so Jim counted himself lucky. After being on the new road only a few minutes she had him take another turn and then another. The second one he almost missed because it was so overgrown with weeds. This type of twisting and turning continued for the better part of a half hour before she quietly told him to stop. He strained his eyes trying to penetrate the darkness surrounding the car. From what little he could make out, there was nothing there.