Lucid Waking

The Hitchiker

            Shayna stopped the car in front of the old railroad station and clicked the button in her new car to unlock the doors. Her hitchhiker got out and bowed his head to her.
            “Thank you very much, ma’am,” he said with a slight English accent. He pulled the collar of his navy blue trench coat closer against the new wind. His short leather-brown hair glistened in the moonlight and blew over his face with the sudden gust. She could have sworn his brown eyes glow in the light as he closed the door gently and start walking towards the tracks.
            A train hadn’t gone down those tracks in at least a decade, but Shayna was never one to question or argue when a stranger stood in the pouring rain against the edge of the woods waiting for a passing car. She didn’t ask where he had come from either when he pulled out a train ticket and very politely asked to be taken to the old station from the train number on the card. She sighed and put her handheld pistol back in the glove box before quickly driving away.
            A few miles down the street, she glanced in her rearview mirror at the blaring cop car following her. She stopped on the shoulder of the road and rolled down her windows.
            “Sorry to bother you ma’am,” the police officer said, “but have you seen a man about age twenty wearing a blue trench coat with dark brown hair and brown eyes? He’s been seen about the area.”
            Shayna’s mind went utterly blank. Her thoughts scattered like rabbits when they hear a gunshot and she looked around her, bewildered. Why the hell am I driving right now? she thought before looking back at the cop, pretending that she hadn’t forgotten when he had pulled her over. She shook her head partly to clear away the emptiness that was pressuring the inside of her skull. “No I haven’t seen anyone like that.”
            “We’re just asking that if you do see him not to pick him up.”
            “No problem.”
            “Thank you, ma’am. Have a nice night.”
            Oh that’s right,she thought, as soon as the police car was well on its way, I’m on my way home. She stepped on the accelerator of her new car and sped on the old country road towards her house.

“Not much between despair and ecstasy”

The Hitchiker