VIDEO 9: The Gas Station

 You know, I always liked road trips, as a little kid my parents would wake up me up every few months with a surprise trip to some national park/zoo/theme park/resort/you name it. I have been to every state, every major city, seen it all. That hypnotic stretch of road that went on forever, disappearing into the horizon, always felt more at home than anything. It’s probably what drove me (pardon the pun) to become a truck driver.

The company I work for makes deliveries to all sorts of places in the US of A, many of which are very familiar to me. It’s all become so familiar, in fact, that there are times that I seem to blink my eyes and suddenly I am at my destination, hours and miles melting away while I drive my rig on autopilot, muscle memory guiding me instead of my eyes.

That’s why that stretch of road in Kansas stood out to me so much. I’m not sure how it happened, but somehow my trusty muscle memory must have had a brain fart, because one minute I was heading down a familiar highway, the next I was traveling down a two way road surrounded by nothing but miles of wheat. I eased up on the gas, slowing to a crawl, taking in my surroundings. I was confused, had I taken an exit too early? That never happens to me. Not since my first day!

I hit the brakes, my truck and trailer groaning and squealing in complaint, and grabbed my phone. To my chagrin, there was no service. I shook my head, for all the driving I did, all the places I went, you’d think I’d pay for a phone plan with better coverage. So on I went, driving down the road, looking for someplace to turn around, or someone to ask for directions. I drove, thirty minutes, an hour, two hours, starting to feel the pressure of my company’s on-time-delivery-quota pressing down on me. Just as I was starting to wonder if it would be illegal to turn around in a wheat field, I spotted a speck off in the distance.

I accelerated, the speck becoming a block, and the block revealing itself to be a building! Finally, civilization!

With a grin I pulled into the parking lot, all but bouncing in my seat with joy. I mean, like I said, I loved driving, but I never said I loved being lost!

The miraculous building was one of those gas stations with a fast food joint built into it, giving it a strange misshapen appearance. The differences in brick used in the two buildings made it quite apparent that one was built before the other, but upon closer inspection, I wasn’t exactly sure which came first. Both seemed ancient, run down. The signs that told me what chains the gas-restaurant-combo-store were faded into oblivion, the glass murky, streaked with dust and dirt. The pumps were bleached bare too, not a single sign of what color they had originally been painted. The whole place looked like it had been here since the dawn of time.

There weren’t any vehicles in the parking lot, besides my own, but I hopped out of my truck and jogged over to the building, the flickering neon lights that announced “open” several times a second giving me all the invitations that I needed.

I caught my breath at the door, peering in past the grime streaked glass to see someone standing at the counter. I silently cheered, humanity at long last!

I quickly opened the door, the tinkle of a bell announcing my entrance. The figure behind the counter was a teenage boy, whose head snapped to me with a sudden quickness. I took in his wide, unblinking gaze, and shrugged apologetically.

“Sorry about that kid, I didn’t mean to scare you out of your daydream!”

The teen just stared at me, unblinking, mouth open just a tad. I approached the counter, leaning against it. “I’m a bit lost,” I continued. “Do you have a map or something I can look at?” The teenager slowly shook his head, a full ninety degree turn to the left, and full one-eighty degree turn to the right, and then back to looking right at me.

“Ooo-kay…” I said, beginning to wonder if the kid had some sort of learning disability. Something about him was definitely off, and his whole vacant stare thing was beginning to get to me. I mean, I’m sure I was weird as a teen, but I wasn’t at all as weird as him. The boy suddenly shot his arm up, causing me to jump in surprise. He held his arm pointed straight out, away from his side, pointing stiffly to his right. “Fff-fff-ooo-ooo-ooo-ood?” He asked, more in a groaning exhale than any sort of speech.

I followed the pointed finger to a doorway connecting the gas station side to the fast food side. My stomach grumbled, and I realized just how hungry I was.

“Yeah, why not.” I said, turning back to him. “I could go for some-” But the boy was gone, the space where he was standing vacant.

I stood there for a few seconds, my mind not quite able to grasp what had just occurred until my stomach rumbled again, urging me on to grab something, at least some fries for the road. To my surprise I saw three other people, all seated around the restaurant. Two men, unmistakably truckers like me, and a young woman, her belly swollen in a way that could only be explained with pregnancy. When I walked in, all three looked up from their meals in unison, watching me with a steady, unblinking gaze. I nodded my head at the men, giving a small wave to the woman, and made my way up to the counter.

I paused though, as the teenager from the gas station side rose up from behind the counter. I wasn’t sure how he got there in such a short time, unless this was his twin.

I approached him, cracking a joke. “Long time no see!” I said, laughing. I tried to make the laugh sound genuine, but truth be told the entire situation I was in made me feel something close to fear. Concern maybe? At the time I wasn’t sure, but I was definitely uneasy.

I ordered a burger and some fries to go, the kid making a quick about face and walking behind some shelving, off to fulfill my order. I stood there waiting, minding my own business, feeling the three sets of eyes of the other restaurant goers boring into the back of my head. At least, I thought I did. When I glanced behind me they were all staring down at their respective foods.

The sound of a tray being placed down, caused me to turn back, where I was greeted with the sight of the teenager and my food. I frowned, distinctly remembering ordering it to go. I thought about asking the kid to correct my mistake, but instead decided it wasn’t worth it. Hell, I had been sitting in my truck all day, might as well sit somewhere else!

I made my way to an empty booth, side eyeing the other people, all who were still just sitting still, staring at their food. I reached down, grasping a greasy fry, and brought it to my mouth.

I retched, spitting, dropping my tray in the process. The fry was disgusting! Stale and rotten! I gagged, looking down at the mess I had made, the burger scattered across the floor, revealing a maggot filled patty and moldy buns. “What the fuck!” I said, turning around. “The hell kind of place are you-?”

The teenager was directly in front of me, his acne covered face a single inch from mine. I took a step back, and bumped into the body of one of the truckers. I looked around, the pregnant woman to my left, the other trucker to my right. They had boxed me in, looking at me with the same, unblinking gaze.

“Sss-sss-ttt-aaa-aaa-aaa-yyy,” They all groaned out, in the same, breathy voice. “Sss-sss-ttt-aaa-aaa-aaa-yyy.”

I don’t know what came over me, but I lashed out, clocking the teenager right in the mouth, feeling his peach-fuzz mustache brushing against my knuckles. But my hand didn’t stop there, I felt something give underneath my fist, heard a sharp crunch, and watched as the kid dropped like a stone. He went down, hard, clattering to the floor with a sound like a bundle of sticks. Not thinking, not waiting to accept the consequences of my actions, I leaped over him, running away, faster than I ever ran before. Out of the fast food place, out of the station, out and across the parking lot, and into the cab of my truck. I slammed the door shut behind me, turning my truck on, and slammed my foot on the gas. It took longer than I wanted to get moving, and in that time, while my truck was struggling against it’s own mass, I looked out the window, across the parking lot.

The two truckers and the pregnant woman were standing shoulder to shoulder, directly in front of the gas station. I watched, horrified, as the teenager joined them. He didn’t walk up, no, he was dragged out of the store, as if some invisible force was tugging him along. He was lifted up, arms, legs, and neck all slack, and set down on his feet. He immediately stiffened, his head jerking up, revealing his cracked face. My punch had split it right down the middle, revealing a nothingness inside him. He was hollow, an empty husk.

And then I turned forward, accelerating, and I was gone. It took me a few hours to find the highway again, I’m not sure how, I just did. I didn’t question it, didn’t want to, I was just glad to be surrounded by other cars and back in my own territory.

I have been to every state, every major city, seen it all, but now I know there are some places hidden among fields of wheat that you never, ever, want to have been.