Road trip

time: 20 minutes

Write about being lost somewhere geographically.


Hayley's attempt:
“We must have missed the turn.”
“Damn you and your short cuts, Mel.”
“Oh stop. I know where we are, I just missed the last turn.”
Mel’s sister, Beth was frantically trying to shake her cell phone into picking up a signal. She was pacing along the side of the dirt road, kicking up dust and getting rocks stuck in her sandals.
“And apparently you missed the last gas station too. Why didn’t you stop before we left the last town.”
“Cause I know there’s a gas station before we get to the highway, and it has a cool ice cream shop and clean bathrooms. I wanted to get there before we stopped again.”
“Well we didn’t. Can you tell it’s Friday the thirteenth? Let’s start walking. You’re sure it’s this way?”
“Yeah I’m sure . And don’t be so superstitious.” Mel grabbed the jerry can out of the trunk and a bottle of water for each of them.
As the girls made their way along the barren dirt road, clouds were gathering above them, relieving them from the heat of the sun.
“Mom’s gonna freak out if we don’t call from Jason’s by tonite.”
“We’ll call her once we get close to civilization.” After an hour of walking the clouds got thicker, and darker as they came to a crossroad.
“Which way Mel?” Beth asked as she gulped down the rest of her water.
Mel was looking pensively down all three directions, staring at each road sign, each giving no more that a line number.
“Mel, where’s the map?” Mel was ignoring her sisters rising panic, still convinced she knew where she was.
“Mel, where’s the MAP?”
“I left it back in the car, but don’t worry. This road will lead us to the main road,” Mel pointed to the left.
Beth didn’t think Mel sounded as sure of herself anymore, but before she could voice her doubt, thunder clapped around them, and released thick drops of rain. As the sky darkened suddenly, they noticed lights in the distance, in the windows of an old farmhouse, the first they’d scene since they left the car. Silently they headed towards the house, getting drenched and tired.
As they got closer the house, they could see better the faded wood siding and the abandoned projects in the front yard as the grass started to grow overtop of bicycles, and crates.
“Should be go knock on the door?” Beth asked her sister.
“It looks creepy.”
“We getting a little desperate here. Come on.”
“I don’t like this Mel. It Friday the thirteenth, it’s storming, we’re out of gas, and we about to knock on the door of this gloomy old farmhouse, with one faint light on in the window. Doesn’t this seem like the beginning of horror movie to you?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Beth. Besides, I think I really am lost.” Mel, said as she knocked the front door of the house.