The Hitchhiker
by
anais
Disclaimers:
This
story might be helped out by reading last year's Halloween submission,
Make
a Wish which introduces these characters. While some reference is
made to that story, this one can certainly stand on its own.
Thanks very
much to my good pals who helped me out. Midgit, I love ya even if you
do speak funny and try and trip me up with those British spellings.
Idryth, thanks for putting up with me <g>. Thanks to the Academy
for coming up with these "specials."
These characters
might physically resemble characters created by Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi
but that's where the similiarity ends. Thank you for allowing me to
mess with the prototypes, but these two are mine.
Some girl on
girl action is in this story so if it's not your style or if you are
too young, whatever age that may be in your location. Go back!
I appreciate
feedback, but hate mail goes where it belongs, in the trash.
Two women
planning for a trip away. A trip to help them forget their demons...as
it were. A peaceful ride interrupted. A bump in the road, a bump in
the night. What else could be bumping? Let's take a look through....the
Twilight Zone
Part 1
"Ok honey, I've got the
car packed. Are you ready to go?" Jessica lifted the baseball cap covering
her sweaty dark hair and wiped her brow with her forearm.
Andi stood in the yard,
watching the sweat drip down the side of her soul-mate's face, inexplicably
making a blush race up her face. Look at her, damn... she's beautiful.
Ok, so maybe the blush was explicable.
"Hello, Earth to Andi.
Are you in there?" The darker woman put her face within four inches
of the blonde's with no recognition. "Hey!" she said louder.
Andi's glazed over eyes
were testament to her mind wandering, and to what they could do once
they got to the condo.
"Oh yeah, sorry, was
just..uh...thinking." She shook herself out of the trance, took a step
back and grinned innocently. It would be late when they arrived at their
destination but the previous Halloween had proven a bit unnerving for
them. Instead of tempting fate, the women had decided on a quick getaway
to the beach about 300 miles away
Walking away, Jess shook
her head and smiled, then threw the cap at her partner. "Ready to get
out of here?"
"Oh yeah..." Andi purred
with a wide, rakish grin. "I'm so ready."
Part 2
The road was dark. They
had been traveling for over three hours. The only light shone from the
stars above and a slight orange glow on the horizon from a small town.
The ride had been pleasant so far with the conversation flowing freely.
The drive had allowed the women to re-connect after too many work hours
and conflicting schedules. Plus a road trip was always fun for the two.
Jess reached over and
tangled her fingers with Andi's. A satisfied sigh escaped the smaller
woman's lips. "Who would have thought...huh, babe?" she said after a
minute of quiet contentedness.
Jess sneaked a glance
at her partner, while still trying to maintain her view of the road,
"Thought what? " she questioned.
"Oh I don't know, just
that I don't think a lot of people thought we would still be together.
I got the feeling most of our friends didn't think we would last nine
months, much less nine years." She squeezed her partner's hand and snuggled
closer to Jess.
Jess smiled. "Where did
that come from?"
Andi, lost in her memories,
continued, "Funny thing is," she took her partner's hand, covering it
with her two. She paused and pulled the hand to her lips and gently
kissed it. "I knew we'd still be together, I know we'll always be together.
It's like when I first saw you. It was love at first sight and every
glance since then."
"Why, Miss Andi Belle
Henrietta McDonald, you certainly do have a way with words. I do declare
your southern charms are enough to even melt my Yankee heart," Jess
drawled in a fair imitation of Scarlett O'Hara
Andi dropped the hand
and playfully slapped her partner's arm. "Don't make fun of my romantic
side!"
"I'm not making fun at
all, sweetheart. Just darned lucky that I was able to snag me a southern
belle," Jess returned just as playfully.
As Andi was preparing
her next retort, a sudden bump in the road threw them off-course and
into a skid. Jess slammed on the brakes which caused the car to spin
around in the roadway. When they came to rest, the car's headlights
were pointed directly at tail lights that belonged to a sedan sticking
out of a drainage ditch.
They got out of the car
and approached the other. "What..?" the smaller woman looked at her
partner.
"I'm not sure. Why don't
you grab your cell phone, Babe, and call 9-1-1. Tell them there's a
..." Jess steadied herself as she approached the slippery slope. She
placed her hand on the back of the car and then leaned a bit to inspect
the vehicle, "A mid —80’s Mercury Cougar sedan. I can't tell
if anyone is in it or not, there's no license plate." The animal control
officer had plenty of experience responding to accidents, but usually
the victims weren't of the human variety. She straightened and took
in the area. "You know, I haven't the faintest idea where we are. It's
too dark to see anything but the fields. I don't know how we'll be able
to tell the dispatcher where we are"
"It doesn't matter,"
Andi threw the phone back into their open car window disgustedly, "No
signal."
A sudden breeze
chilled the air. Fog quickly formed making it that much harder to distinguish
the surroundings. Perhaps it was because of this, or the fact that both
women were concentrating on the car, that they didn't see the figure
advancing from the fog.
The figure slowly made
its way through the haze. The thickness of which made it appear as if
it were gliding on air.
Another breeze swept
past the two women and made the taller one stand at attention. She slowly
turned around feeling something behind her. As she turned, she
pushed the smaller woman behind her in a protective gesture.
They both saw the person
approaching. "Oh shit," Andi whispered hoarsely, "Not again..." she
said in reference to their last Halloween experience. "This is the reason
we were trying to leave town for the weekend."
Jess tried to forget
what happened last year, it couldn't happen again anyway...could it?
"Hey," Jess steeled herself and called towards the figure, "Is this
your car?"
The question was ignored,
and the distance between the two women and the figure closed.
Jess readied herself
to take whatever this thing was going to send their way. She squared
her shoulders effectively covering Andi and hopefully keeping her from
harm.
Closer it came, until
finally they could make out it was a woman.
"Hello," Jess tried again,
"Is this your car?"
"Y-yes," the woman found
her voice. "It's mine. I've obviously been in a wreck and I need to
get home. I've some unfinished business there."
Andi stepped from behind
Jess, her rapidly beating heart slowing as she realized this was just
someone who needed their help. "Hey," she approached the woman who now
looked battered and small, "You're hurt." The blonde went to their car
for a towel. When she brought it back, she pressed it against the woman's
temple where a small amount of blood had congealed.
"Do you want us to take
you to a hospital?" Jess offered, suddenly equally concerned at the
vacant look in the woman's eyes.
"No, but could you take
me home? I can take care of what I need to, if only I can make it home.
It's not too far from here."
Jess looked at Andi.
A slight nod of the blonde head solidified the decision.
"Of course." The taller
woman offered her hand, "Just tell us how to get there."
The three made the short
two mile trek to the accident victim's home in relative quiet; both
women in the front listening to the precise directions to the woman's
house.
"Here's the street,"
the stranger uttered, almost to herself.
Jess pulled the car onto
the cul-de-sac, and left it idling, waiting for further direction. Silence
overtook the automobile, the tick-tock of the car clock perceptible
normally to only the keenest of ears threatened to deafen the passengers
the longer they waited. After a couple of minutes, which passed as slowly
as an ant through a drop of molasses, the woman spoke.
"Thank you," she rasped.
"I have been trying to get back home. I just hope it's not too late."
"Too late for what?"
Andi's natural curiosity couldn't help but inquire.
The woman stared ahead,
her glazed eyes fixed on the porch light of the two story brick Tudor
style house in their path. Framed in the picture window was the silhouette
of two people, who appeared to be dancing.
Her voice void of emotion,
the woman replied, "I've some unfinished business to tend to."
She quickly exited the car and the lives of Andi and Jess.
Part 3
The bright sun of the
crisp autumn morning trickled in through the bedroom window. Jess began
to stir as the light illuminated the surroundings slowly at first, and
then with a great urgency.
She raised her arms above
her, stretching her muscles and popping her joints back into place.
When she was satisfied with the feeling, she turned to her side, and
rested her head on her hand. A smile spread as she watched her lover
sleep. The smile grew wider still as her partner's face mirrored her
expression.
"Awake, huh?"
"Yeah...I was just smelling
you," the blonde released a wistful sigh.
"Smelling? You smell
me?" Jess moved her head back a little to get a better view at the strange
little blonde woman sharing her bed. She had to make sure it was still
her Andi Belle and not some freak from the Twilight Zone.
A blush crept up the
prone woman's face ending in bright crimson at the top of her ears.
"Uh, well, yeah...smelling.
Truth be told, that's what first attracted me to you. Your scent. You
smell like..."
"Let me guess, I smell
like cinnamon." Jess said smugly, remembering her special soap at home.
"Nope."
What else was in that
soap. "Vanilla?"
"Nuh uh."
Jess tried to visualize
the package. Vanilla bean, cinnamon stick...."Cocoa butter?"
"No." Andi suppressed
a giggle.
"What then? That's all
I have in my soap." Jess quizzed.
Andi's shoulders were
now shaking from trying to restrain her laughter at her partner's expression.
"It's not funny, what
do I smell like?" Jess then put her nose under her arm to try and find
the answer herself.
"Ok, ok, you're going
to make me have an accident in bed if I don't stop laughing. It's Head
and Shoulders."
"Head and Shoulders?
I smell like cheap dandruff shampoo?" Jess was incredulous. "And you
like it?"
The blonde had to cross
her legs as she continued the snickering that threatened to turn to
a guffaw.
"Well?" Jess wasn't
sure if she was more suprised Andi thought she smelled like that nasty
stuff or that she apparently liked that fragrance...if you can call
it that. "Explain to me why I spend all the money I do to smell
good for you and then you tell me I smell like Head and Shoulders."
As Andi was able to calm
herself, she explained. "I think it's your body lotion actually, that
mixed with the soap or deodorant or something smells like Head and Shoulders,
and Head and Shoulders is what the first girl I had a crush on smelled
like. When I met you and I got a whiff of it when you walked past me,
that was it. It turns me on, what can I say?" Another blush rose on
Andi's face.
"Well..." Jess pondered,
"in that case, screw the good stuff, I'll just go to the wholesale place
and get a gallon of it. I'll be able to keep you in bed for a week then."
Jess grinned and leaned in for a kiss.
"Trust me, you hot thing
you, you don't need cheap shampoo to keep me in bed for a week." The
kiss deepened and Andi proved how important having a powerful sense
of smell was to Jess.
Part 4
Sometime later, the lazy
women meandered out of bed. Jess drew a steaming bubble bath for her
love and announced she was going to the store to pick up some groceries.
In actuality, she wasn't being nice, she just didn't want Andi to be
there to hear her ask the store manager how she could special order
a certain shampoo by the case.
By the time Andi extracted
herself from the relaxed soaking, Jess had arrived with all the makings
of a huge breakfast, even if it was afternoon by then. Although Andi
usually did most of the cooking, Jess took advantage of the other woman
dressing to quickly prepare a huge repast of eggs, toast, sausage, bacon,
hash-browns, coffee and orange juice. Well the orange juice was from
a carton, but it still counted because it was not from concentrate.
Andi, once again drawn
in by her olfactory senses, floated to the kitchen just in time to help
set the table. As they worked in unison, everything was promptly deposited
on the table and they were soon ready to eat, if not devour, the food.
After fulfilling two
healthy appetites, the breakfast in the afternoon was put away. Dishes
scraped, cleaned, and dried. Before long, the kitchen looked like no
one had ever been there. Satisfied that the area was in good shape for
their departure the next day, Jess suggested they go for a walk on the
beach. After leisurely taking in the fresh sea breeze, raiding a few
of the beachside shops and having dinner, they returned to the condo
and prepared for bed.
The next morning there
was another leisurely bath, this time with two women fitting themselves
in the oversized tub, another breakfast, more cleaning and more....well
more of everything not necessarily in that order.
They then packed up for
their 4 p.m. check out and filled their car again. Andi spied a folded
paper on the kitchen counter and carried it with her to the car, tossing
it on the floorboard as she plopped into the passenger seat.
They traveled just a
bit before they found themselves just a few miles from the accident
scene of two nights before. Storm clouds darkened suddenly. A cold wind
whipped things around and cut a path through the car. Although they
both quickly rolled up their windows, the smell of a storm permeated
everything. The windows were fogged up beyond the abilities of the defroster,
so Andi reached down for the newspaper she'd brought with her. She unrolled
it and noticed the headlines, afterall a good murder mystery always
deserved her attention.
Doctor
and Husband Found Dead Under Mysterious Circumstances
was what the headline
read. She looked at the pictures of the unfortunate victims and jumped
when the peal of thunder announced the deluge of rain suddenly pounding
their car. She continued reading...